Salting the earth refers to the practice of spreading
saltSodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt, or halite, is an ionic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
on fields to make them incapable of being used for crop-growing. This was done in ancient times at the end of some wars as a punitive measure.
The
AssyriaAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
ns are described in ancient records as salting the capitals of neighboring countries which repeatedly rebelled against paying them tribute—including
MitanniMitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria from ca. 1500 BC-1300 BC...
in c. 1290 BC, and centuries later,
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
in c.
Salting the earth refers to the practice of spreading
saltSodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt, or halite, is an ionic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
on fields to make them incapable of being used for crop-growing. This was done in ancient times at the end of some wars as a punitive measure.
Examples
The
AssyriaAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
ns are described in ancient records as salting the capitals of neighboring countries which repeatedly rebelled against paying them tribute—including
MitanniMitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria from ca. 1500 BC-1300 BC...
in c. 1290 BC, and centuries later,
ElamElam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province , as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of...
in c. 640 BC.
According to the
Book of JudgesThe Book of Judges is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. It appears in the Tanakh and in the Christian Old Testament...
(9:45) in the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
,
AbimelechIn the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon ; thus his name אֲבִימֶלֶךְ / אֲבִימָלֶךְ can best be interpreted "my father, the king". "Abimelech", a name claiming the inherited right to rule, was also a common name of the Philistine kings...
, the
judgeBiblical judges were leaders of the Israelite Tribes during the period of the Israelite confederacy, commencing with the conquest by the Israelites of Canaan in c. 1200 BCE until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BCE...
of the
IsraeliteIn the Bible, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
s, sowed his own capital,
ShechemShechem was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and later became an Israelite city in...
, with salt, ca. 1050 BC, after quelling a revolt against him.
One example of salting the earth supposedly occurred at the end of the
Third Punic WarThe Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic...
in 146 BC between the
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
and
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
. After sacking the city of Carthage and forcing the few survivors into
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
, an area 50 miles around the city was reportedly salted. The historical verifiability of this event is often questioned: salting such a vast region would have required a tremendous amount of salt, a substance so valuable that it was sometimes used as
moneyMoney is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and occasionally, a standard of deferred payment...
— although it is well known that the
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
ns themselves were among the first to produce salt cheaply, by simply evaporating seawater. The first reference to the Roman salting of Carthage is found in the 19th century German historian
Ferdinand GregoroviusFerdinand Gregorovius was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. He is best known for Wanderjahre in Italien, his account of the walks he took through Italy in the 1850s, and the monumental Die Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter , a classic for Medieval and early...
, in
History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages — making it highly likely that the story is a later fabrication. Moreover, such an action would have hindered Rome's subsequent growth and development, which relied heavily on grain imported from
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
.
In
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and the
Spanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
, salt was poured onto the land owned by a convicted traitor (often one who was executed and his head placed on a
picota, or pike, afterwards) after his house was demolished. The practice was abandoned in the 17th century.
Likewise, in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, salt was poured onto the land owned by a convicted traitor. The last known event of this sort was the destruction of the
Duke of AveiroThe Dukes of Aveiro was an aristocratic Portuguese title with the level of Royal Dukedom, close related to the Portuguese Royal House.The title was granted in 1535, by King John III of Portugal to his 4th cousin, John of Lencastre, son of Infante George of Lencastre a natural son of King John II of...
's palace in
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
in 1759, due to his participation in the
Távora affairThe Távora affair was a political scandal of the 18th century Portuguese court. The events triggered by the attempted murder of King Joseph I of Portugal in 1758 ended with the public execution of the entire Távora family and its closest relatives in 1759...
(a conspiracy against King
Joseph I of Portugal{|align=right|-|Joseph I , the Reformer , 25th King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, was born in Lisbon, on June 6, 1714. He was the third child of King John V of Portugal and his wife Mary Anne Josepha of Austria...
). His palace demolished and land salted, a stone memorial now perpetuates the memory of the shame of the Aveiros, where it is written (English translation):
- In this place were put to the ground and salted the houses of José Mascarenhas, stripped of the honours of Duque de Aveiro and others, convicted by sentence proclaimed in the Supreme Court of Inconfidences [ie: conspiracies] on the 12th of January 1759. Put to Justice as one of the leaders of the most barbarous and execrable upheaval that, on the night of the 3rd of September 1758, was committed against the most royal and sacred person of the Lord Joseph I. In this infamous land nothing may be built for all time.
Modern usage
Today the term is used in a variety of ways, referring in general to any sort of poisoning. This varies from the direct use of
area denial weaponsArea denial weapons are used to prevent an adversary from occupying or traversing an area of land. The specific method used does not have to be totally effective in preventing passage as long as it is sufficient to severely restrict, slow down, or endanger the opponent...
or
radiological weaponA radiological weapon or radiological dispersion device ' is any weapon that is designed to spread radioactive material with the intent to kill, and cause disruption upon a city or nation....
s, to the philosophical, where it is often used to describe business strategy to avoid
takeoverIn business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
s (similar to but broader in scope than a
poison pillPoison pill is a term referring to any strategy, generally in business or politics, to increase the likelihood of negative results over positive ones for a party that attempts any kind of takeover...
).