The term Civitas Decumana meant all the cities which, under Roman rule, were obliged to send one tenth of their harvest to Rome and the rest of Italy.
After the Second Punic War, the Roman consul forced the Sicilians to lay down their arms and devote themselves to agriculture, in particular the cultivation of wheat, in order to meet the needs of Rome and the Italic lands.
Hence the historical opinion that Sicily, in that period, had become the granary of Rome.
