The Consumption of Aegean wines in Roman Tyrrhenian Italy: between literary and archaeological evidence

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present both literary and archaeological evidence that concerns the consumption of Aegean wines in central Tyrrhenian Italy (Latium and Campania in particular) in the Roman age. An attempt has been made to outline the time frame in which the drinking of Greek beverages was practised by the Romans. Moreover, the qualities of these wines are described and the scale of the consumption of different varieties is estimated. It has been noticed that the literary evidence suggests that wines from Chios, Lesbos, and Thasos were very famous in Rome; however, amphoras from these islands are rarely attested in Roman Latium and Campania. Some explanations for this are proposed.