Cultures of honor tend to take root in highlands and other marginally fertile areas, such as Sicily or the mountainous Basque regions of Spain. If you live on some rocky mountainside, the explanation goes, you can't farm. Your probably rqaise goats or sheep, and the kind of culture that grows up aorund being a herdsman is very different from the culture that grows up around growing crops. The survival of the farmer depends on cooperation of others in the community. But a herdsman is off by himself. Farmers don't ahve to worry that their livelihood will be stolen in the night, because their crops can't easily bbe stolen unless of course, a theif wants to go to the trouble of harvesting an entire field on his own. But a herdsman does have to worry. He's under constant threat of ruin through the loss of his animals. So he has to be aggressive: he has to make it clear, through his words and deeds, that he is not weak. He has to be willing to fight in response to even the slightest challenge to his reputation - and that's what a "cutlure of honor" means. It's a world where a man's reputation is at the center of his livlihood and self-worth.
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