Farming and The Cyclops

The Israelite nation was not the only one in the ancient world to hold a high view of farming.  As mentioned with Moses, the Egyptian culture was entirely dependent on farming for their civilization, and worshiped the Nile River, which made their way of life possible.  The Egyptians had a haughty view of the agrarian lifestyle and looked down on other ways of life, despising the Hebraic shepherds and nomads (Genesis 46:33-34).  Farming was the noble mark of high civilization, anything else was barbaric.

Other ancient cultures held a similar view of agrarianism.  In the 8th century BC, the time of both the poets Homer and Hesiod, most of Greece's population was rural.  This was the time between the Mycenaean Period and the Archaic Period.  The Archaic Period marks the rise of the great Greek city-states, such as Athens and Sparta, however even during this time the majority of Greece was rural.

In The Odyssey, Homer's poem telling of Odysseus' 10-year journey home to his farm after waging war against Troy, Homer not only describes the trials Odysseus endures, but also his encounters with civilizations who were more barbaric than the Greeks.  When Odysseus' men encounter the Cyclops he states:
"We came to the land of the Cyclops race, arrogant lawless beings who leave their livelihoods to the deathless gods and never use their own hands to sow or plough...They have no assemblies to debate in, they have no ancestral ordinances; they live in arching caves on the tops of hills, and the head of each family heeds no other, but makes his own ordinances for wife and children" (Odyssey IX.113-124).

The Cyclops were the very definition of a barbaric race, which is evidenced by their attitude towards farming ("never use their own hands to sow or plough"), which results in a disorganized government.  They have no assembles or laws, but are each ruled by a patriarchal caveman.  Had he known him, Homer would not have thought highly of Abraham.