annona (Roman grain supply system)
E719646
The annona was the Roman Empire’s state-organized grain supply system that ensured the regular provisioning of Rome and other key cities, particularly through large-scale maritime imports from regions like Egypt.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| annona (Roman grain supply system) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8226460 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: annona (Roman grain supply system) Context triple: [Classis Alexandrina, associatedWith, annona (Roman grain supply system)]
-
A.
Croton Aqueduct system
The Croton Aqueduct system is a historic 19th-century water supply network that delivered fresh water from the Croton River to New York City, enabling the city’s rapid growth and improved public health.
-
B.
Falerii Veteres
Falerii Veteres was the principal ancient city of the Falisci in central Italy, known as a significant pre-Roman urban center later incorporated into the Roman sphere.
-
C.
Aqua Augusta (Serino aqueduct)
Aqua Augusta (Serino aqueduct) was a major Roman aqueduct system in southern Italy that supplied water to multiple cities and naval bases in the Bay of Naples region.
-
D.
Espada Aqueduct
Espada Aqueduct is a historic 18th-century stone irrigation structure in San Antonio, Texas, built by Spanish missionaries to supply water to Mission Espada and its surrounding farmlands.
-
E.
Valens Aqueduct
The Valens Aqueduct is a late Roman-era aqueduct in Istanbul, Turkey, that once formed a key part of the city’s water supply system and remains a prominent historic landmark.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: annona (Roman grain supply system) Target entity description: The annona was the Roman Empire’s state-organized grain supply system that ensured the regular provisioning of Rome and other key cities, particularly through large-scale maritime imports from regions like Egypt.
-
A.
Croton Aqueduct system
The Croton Aqueduct system is a historic 19th-century water supply network that delivered fresh water from the Croton River to New York City, enabling the city’s rapid growth and improved public health.
-
B.
Falerii Veteres
Falerii Veteres was the principal ancient city of the Falisci in central Italy, known as a significant pre-Roman urban center later incorporated into the Roman sphere.
-
C.
Aqua Augusta (Serino aqueduct)
Aqua Augusta (Serino aqueduct) was a major Roman aqueduct system in southern Italy that supplied water to multiple cities and naval bases in the Bay of Naples region.
-
D.
Espada Aqueduct
Espada Aqueduct is a historic 18th-century stone irrigation structure in San Antonio, Texas, built by Spanish missionaries to supply water to Mission Espada and its surrounding farmlands.
-
E.
Valens Aqueduct
The Valens Aqueduct is a late Roman-era aqueduct in Istanbul, Turkey, that once formed a key part of the city’s water supply system and remains a prominent historic landmark.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Roman state institution
ⓘ
grain supply system ⓘ imperial provisioning system ⓘ |
| administeredBy | praefectus annonae NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedPolicy |
frumentatio
ⓘ
grain dole ⓘ |
| controlledBy | Roman emperor NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| country | Roman Empire ⓘ |
| economicRole |
integrated provincial agriculture into imperial system
ⓘ
regulated grain prices and supply ⓘ |
| etymology | derived from Latin annus (year), referring to yearly harvest ⓘ |
| impact |
contributed to growth of Rome’s population
ⓘ
linked imperial legitimacy to reliable food supply ⓘ |
| keyDevelopmentPeriod | early Principate ⓘ |
| languageOfName | Latin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| legalStatus | state-controlled system ⓘ |
| logisticalFeature |
state contracts with private shippers
ⓘ
storage in horrea (granaries) ⓘ use of large grain ships (naves frumentariae) ⓘ |
| mainDestination | city of Rome NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| mainSourceRegion |
Egypt
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
North Africa NERFINISHED ⓘ Sardinia NERFINISHED ⓘ Sicily NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| notableEmperorInvolved |
Augustus
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Claudius NERFINISHED ⓘ Trajan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| periodOfUse |
Roman Empire
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Roman Republic NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| portOfEntry |
Ostia
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Portus NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| primaryFunction |
ensure regular grain provisioning of Rome
ⓘ
organize large-scale grain imports ⓘ stabilize urban food supply ⓘ |
| productHandled |
grain
ⓘ
wheat ⓘ |
| purpose |
maintain public order through food security
ⓘ
prevent famine in Rome ⓘ support free or subsidized grain distributions ⓘ |
| relatedInstitution |
cura annonae
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
praefectus annonae NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| servedCity |
Ostia
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Puteoli NERFINISHED ⓘ Rome NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| servedRegion | Italian peninsula NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| supervisingOffice | prefect of the annona ⓘ |
| symbolicRepresentation | personified as the goddess Annona on Roman coinage ⓘ |
| transportMode |
maritime shipping
ⓘ
river transport on the Tiber ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: annona (Roman grain supply system) Description of subject: The annona was the Roman Empire’s state-organized grain supply system that ensured the regular provisioning of Rome and other key cities, particularly through large-scale maritime imports from regions like Egypt.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.