The desert locust,Schistocerca gregaria, and its control in the land of israel and the near east in antiquity, with some reflections on its appearance in Israel in modern times

Abstract

Locusts and grasshoppers have caused periodic devastations since the very beginning of recorded history and are a threat worldwide until this very day. The most feared of all locusts was (and is) the desert locust,Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.) (’arbeh’). This review deals with different aspects of man’s interaction with this pest in the Mediterranean and Near East regions as reflected by ancient literature: decorations found in Egyptian tombs (6th Dynasty, 2420-2270 B.C.), in the Har-ra=Hubullu list (Assyria — the Ashurbanipal Royal Library, 669-626 B.C.) and in Biblical, Rabbinical, Greek and Roman literature. The aspects covered herein are those of locust nomenclature, terms used for the development stages (life cycle), outbreaks, plagues and their consequences (famine), locusts as food, etc. Some control measures during Biblical, Grecian, Roman, Mishnaic, Talmudic, Byzantine and modern times (19th and 20th Centuries) are reviewed. Nowadays, the total area invaded during desert locust outbreaks and plagues extends over 29 million square kilometers of desert and subdesert, involving more than 60 nations. Between plagues the ’natural’ locust population occupies an area of approximately 14 million square kilometers of desert and subdesert.

An attempt is made to identify various terms for locust in the pre-Biblical, Biblical, Rabbinical, Greek and Roman literature according to modern nomenclature.