Agriculture was a subject of the highest social relevance to Rome. Thus it is no surprise that Cato’s, Varro’s, Columella’s and Palladius’ handbooks on farming, written at key moments in Roman history and reacting as they do to economic and socio-cultural upheaval, have survived. Silke Diederich shows that Rome’s elite handbooks on farming became more than just a means of disseminating knowledge of the“science of power” and a form of sophisticated literature; they also became a medium for the preservation of identity and ensuring intellectual continuity.