Cura annonae

Cura annonae vs Government Dole

The cura annonae ("care of Annona") was the comprehensive logistical system in ancient Rome responsible for procuring, transporting, storing, and distributing grain (and later other staples) to feed the city's massive population.

Like the Turtledove Goddess of Sumer which personifies the administrative apparatus managing the grain supply, referring to both the physical supply of food and the means and methods of providing the public religion of a socialist society through the civil power of the welfare state.

Annona was the goddess personifying that grain supply (Latin annōna “corn, grain; means of subsistence”) and eventually other sources of the public dole.

The "lex curiata de imperio" (literally from Latin "the curiate law concerning imperium" or "the law of the curiate assembly regarding supreme commander in chief" and was a legislative act used to invest a higher magistrate with imperium, or supreme executive including both the military and religious authority.

Augustus filled the gap created by the assassination of Julius Caesar. The assassination was unable to restore the republic but eventually install Octavius as the overseer of a new system. He assumed personal responsibility for this new system around 22 BC to ensure civil stability. By 7 BC, he specified that two former praetors be appointed annually to be the cura annonae (care of the grain supply) manage the functions with a civil authority as the praefectus annonae (Prefect of the Grain Supply), a single powerful official appointed directly by the Emperor.

It is true that there was no operational relationship between the Comitia Curiata and the cura annonae but those who did not contribute to the daily administration could be civilly or even criminally punished.