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Franco Cambi (Landscape Archaeology, University of Siena) Antonio Arrighi (Azienda Agricola Arrighi, Island of Elba) The Wine of the Romans, between landscape, technology and taste…an interesting experiment Wine at the origins of Roma King Numa Pompilius (2nd king of Rome 753-673 BC) is attributed to have made a law forbidding women to drink wine -Vinalia Rustica. A rustic harvest festival celebrated on 19th August, conducted by the “Flamen Dialis” [the high priest of Jupiter (The most important of all priests and the only one entitled to a seat in the Senate)] - Meditrinalia. The end of the Grape harvest consisting of many festiviteis exhalting the medicinal properties of wine. - Vinalia priora . A wine festival, the end of the winemaking process and the beginning of its consumption (23rd April). VINUM – VENENUM – VENUS Vinalia priora (23rd April ) were festivities dedicated to Venus. Wine was considered dangerous because it lowered inhibitions and promoted promiscuity. The connection with sexualtity explained why King Numa forbade women to drink it. Wine in the Archaic Period In actual fact, the number of wine amphorae and symposium vases found in many female tombs show that women drank quite alot!, whatever Numa thought. The ban did not concern all types of wine but only the purest (temetum) which was reserved for sacrificial libations. Wine made from grapestalks, raisin wine, and so forth could instead be drunk freely. The ban on pure wine is explained by the fact that this was destined for Jupiter and that women were excluded from direct relationship with Jupiter while in other cults (Bona Dea) they could do it safely. Double regulation of wine:-pure: reserved for men (priests, magistrates, “paterfamilias” head of family) for sacrifices to Jupiter (Vinalia) and as a drug (Meditrinalia) -Manipulated or imported wines, were considered as goods of prestige for which religious prohibitions were not valid. Therefore women could participate fully in the consumption of wine in virtue of their status as members of the aristocracy. Wine in the Archaic Period Press with vessel containing the grapes Counterweights Corinthian Amphora in which the must is collected A Skyphos (greek drinking cup) from Attica with figures in black representing a scene of winemaking (late VI – early V centuries BC) Wine in the Classic Period Significant elements of this depiction of the mid-fifth century: the basket with the harvested grapes, the crushing with feet in a special wicker container, the must running out into the basin below, an amphora depicted bottom centre. Catonian Winepress (II century BC.) The Roman Food Calendar Fornacalia. The roasting of barley. mid February Terminalia. [Dedicated to the God Terminus at the end of the Roman year,] 23 Feb Cerealia. [Dedicated to Grain goddess Creres] 12 - 19 April Vinalia priora, 23 April [the blessing of the previous vintage and asking for good weather till next harvest] Robigalia, 25 April [to protect grain fields from disease] Vinalia rustica, 19 August [celebrating the grape harvest, vegetable growth and fertility] Opiconsivia, 25 August [honouring Ops the goddess of “plenty”] Meditrinalia, 11 October [celebrating (and drinking) the new vintage and its medicinal properties] Wine in the Roman Era Unit of measurement Amphora (or quadrantale). 26 litres Emina. 0,274 litres Sestario. 0,57 litres Congio. 3,28 litres Urna. 13,10 litred Culleo. 20 amphorae (520 litres) Wine in the Roman Era A few questions from the great French Archaeologist André Tchernia - Did the Italics of the late Republic and the first Empire all drink wine? - Did they all drink the same wine? - Wine is a fundamental element. The gods Ceres and Libero provide the products necessary for life. - Horace: bread, wine, legumes, this is what is necessary to live. - Inscription: “pauperis cena pane, vinu, radic” [Bread, wine and radishes are the dinner of the poor] (CIL III, 14114, 13; CIL IX, 2689 = ILS 7478*) [*Roman measurements concerning wine] Types of Wine Posca: a drink made of water and vinegar or acidulated water with a small amount of grape juice destined to become vinegar. Corresponds to the French piquette. “Posca does not cause drunkenness” (Plaut. Mil. 386) Posca was consumed by soldiers: The Crucifiction(Matthew 27,48) [The drink offered to Christ on the cross by the roman soldier was not vinegar but his own ration of wine] Lora. Acidic wine obtained by running water over what was left of the the grapes after pressing. Classified as vina operaria [working man’s wine] Wine in the Roman Era Liqueur wines: wines rich in sugars and with a higher alcohol content and “cooked” wines, obtained by boiling the must. The operation allowed the improvement of mediocre wines, which were not suitable for preservation(Pliniy, n.h. 14, 102-104). Defrutum. A wine obtained by boiling the must reducing it by half. Sapa. Must boiled to a third of its original volume Mulsum. Wine with honey(Col., r.r. 12, 41; Palladio, 11, 71). A blend of 13 litres of fine wine and 3 kilos of honey, suitable for meals but above all for “gustationes” (Roman aperitif). Wine Comsumers in the Roman Era Dis everybody drink wine? Orazio's vilicus (bailiff of his farm) had no wine. A situation common to many inland areas of ancient Italy, perhaps rich from an agronomic point of view but unsuitable for viticulture, or far from markets and ports. Terms of comparison: litres on average per person per year Italy, 1930. 100 litres (0.27 litres per day) Palermo, 1580. 83 litres. Palermo, 1650. 137 litres. Rome, 1630 -1812. 280-200 litres. Florence, XIV century. 248-293 litres. Genoa, XIV century. 286 litres. Siena, XIV century. 419 litres 450 419 400 350 293 280 300 286 XIV 248 250 XIV2 1580-1630 200 137 137 100 1650 150 40 1930 100 Oggi 0 0 0 1930 50 0 0 0 0 0 1580-1630 XIV Wine in the Roman Era A projection on the consumption of wine in Rome. Considering: 35% men 30% women, who should drink half the amount 35% boys, who should not drink wine at all Consumption predictable: between 146 litres per year per inhabitant of free status (0.80 per day) and 182 litres (1.08). These figures are lower than those recorded in the Tuscan Middle Ages. Population of Rome:Lowest calculation: 700,000 inhabitants = 1,000,000 / 1,250,000 hectolitres minimum consumption High calculation: 1,000,000 inhabitants = 1,450,000 / 1,800,000 hectoliters Paris, end of XVIII: 600,000 inhabitants = 730,000 hectolitres of wine + 54,000 of beer In comparison Rome actually had a fabulous consumption How much wine did they drink? Horace drank a “sestario” of wine a day (= 0.54 liters). For the austere Augustus this was the maximum limit measure. The pleasure-loving poet Martial got drunk with 10 “quincunces” (2.27 litres !!!). In the inscription of Aesernia (CIL VI, 10234 = ILS 7213) it says: Habes vini unum (sextarium) , panem ... (you can get a sextarium of wine, bread…all at the cost of one aes [bronze coin, the lowest in value]. Wine in the Slave’s diet The slaves of Cato: -1 emina (0.27 litres) in Autumn- Winter. -2 eminae in the Spring. -3 eminae (0.81) between Spring and Summer. The increase was proportional to that of grain rations and the greatest expenditure of energy in periods when work in the countryside was more intense. (A. Tchernia 1986, 21-22) Wine in the Roman Era There were grand crus and other wines, different in quality and social rank. The jurist Ulpian considered the wine of the previous year as old. Few good wines aged and those few had fabulous prices. Athenaeum: the optimal age ranges from 5 to 25 years of aging in amphora, which, sometimes, can be added to the 5 years of aging in dolia. Centenary amphorae were opened on great occasions: -Martial 8, 45, Juvenal 5, 36-37.-Columella (r.r. 3,21, 6-10): -Wines of second quality level were made to age at least a year in order to sell them at a higher price. Contrary to the Middle Ages and Modern times, in Roman times old wine was worth much less than young wine. The famous French “Grand Chateau Lafitte, Latour, Crus” did not appear till the end of 1700. Margaux Barolo Grand crus. Il caso del Falernum Production area. Ager Falernus, the northern part of ancient Campania (Mondragone ...). Today: Falerno del Massico. Pliny (n. 14, 95): "... the wines of overseas maintained their prestige and this up to the time of our grandparents, even when the Falerno had already been discovered ...". The “Grand Crus” of Roman Italy Grand crus. The case of Falernum Praised by: Cicero, Varrone, Diodorus Siculus, Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Livius, Vitruvius, Tibullus, Ovid, Pliny, Martial, Silio Italicus, Statius, Macrobius. Pompeii. "Edone makes it clear: here you can drink for 1 aes; if you pay 2, you can drink a better wine; with 4, you can have Falerno wine "(CIL IV 1679). 1. Caecubum. The production of Caecubum would have been, however, compromised by the microclimatic variations in the soil induced by the excavation of the Neronis canal in the plain of Fondi (Pliny the Elder (n.h., 14, 61) Grand crus. The case of Falernum Three varieties: - Faustianum, middle hill, from the hill territories of Falciano del Massico and Carinola of today. Considered of the most prestigeous quality. - - Caucinum, hill top. - Falernum called “in the plain” (Plin., N.h., 14, 6). - The most ancient archaeological documentation dates back to the beginning of the III century BC - Ateneo (Deipn., I 31, d) quotes as a good wine, the Anadendrite, produced at Capua (Is this the future Falerno?).
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