ANNONA, in Roman mythology, the pe:sonification of the produce of the year (Lat. annus, year). Her attributes in works of art and on imperial coins were a corn-bushel, a ship's prow pointing to the transport of the grain over the sea, ears of corn, and a horn of plenty (cornu copiae).
The Latin word itself has various meanings: (I) the produce of the year's harvest ; (2) all means of subsistence, especially grain stored in the public granaries for provisioning the city; (3) the market price of commodities, especially corn; (4) a direct tax in kind, levied in republican times in several prov inces, chiefly employed in imperial times for distribution among officials and the support of the soldiery.
In order to ensure a supply of corn sufficient to enable it to be sold at a very low price, it was procured in large quantities from Umbria, Etruria and Sicily. Almost down to the time of the empire, the care of the corn-supply formed part of the duties of the aedile (q.v.), and possibly of certain special com missaries. As a consequence of the second Punic War, Roman agriculture was at a standstill; accordingly, recourse was had to Sicily and Sardinia (the first two Roman provinces) in order to keep up the supply of corn; a tax of one-tenth was imposed on it, and its export to any country except Italy forbidden. The price at which the corn was sold was always moderate; the corn law of Gracchus (123 B.c.) made it absurdly low, and Clodius (58 B.c.) bestowed it gratuitously. The number of the recipients of this free gift grew so enormously that both Caesar and Au gustus were obliged to reduce it. From the time of Augustus to the end of the empire the number of those who were entitled to receive a monthly allowance of corn on presenting a ticket was 200,000. A prae f ectus annonae was appointed by Augustus to superintend the corn-supply, who was assisted by a large staff in Rome and the provinces. In the 3rd century bread formed the dole. The office lasted till the latest times of the empire.