There has long been a widespread view that the economy of the North Syrian limestone massif in Late Antiquity was largely based on the production of olive oil. Over the years, however, it has become clear that the archaeological evidence to support this view is ambiguous in all senses. While certain installations are definitively large oil presses, a particular category of presses that used stone rollers in processing was most likely involved in the production of wine, rather than olive oil. The archaeological and literary evidence hereby points in particular towards the existence of a large-scale industry of sweet wine made from semi-dried grapes; a beverage whose production in the region was facilitated through particularly favorable environmental conditions and the practising of low-lying vine growing.

Grape cultivation reached Greece towards the end of the 3rd millennium bce, and Italy around the beginning of the 1st millennium bce. From the 8th century bce onward, systematic viticulture expanded, and wine became deeply embedded in Greco-Roman society at all levels. It was the beverage of choice for both the wealthy and the poor, a major intoxicant in the ancient world, and an essential source of energy in the daily diet. Wine was widely used in religion, feasts, and medicine, and was considered a key marker of civilized culture. Combined with the vine’s high productive potential and its low agronomic needs, all this made wine a primary feature of the agrarian economy and an important product of (inter)national trade. Literature, iconography, and archaeology sketch a picture of significant Greek and Roman realizations in vine-growing techniques and winemaking technology, thus testifying to a level of scientific expertise unmatched until the 19th century. The consumption of wine was stratified and diversified, with the market divided between premium vintages for the rich, ordinary wines for the masses, and winery drinks for the lower classes.

Summary Since Maria Teresa Cipriano's and Marie‐Brigitte Carre's seminal 1989 paper ‘Production et typologie des amphores sur la côte adriatique de l'Italie’ in the volume ‘Amphores romaines et histoire économique’, our knowledge of Adriatic Italian wine amphorae has much improved. Most of these ‘new data’, however, remain poorly known among the wider scholarly community and no real update regarding their production loci and distribution patterns has as yet been attempted. This paper fills the void for the central part of the eastern coastline between Rimini and Pescara and reviews the latest evidence regarding the manufacture and circulation of these amphorae. In the process, the central Adriatic area of Italy emerges as a key player in the Late Republican and Early Imperial wine trade. This reassessment provides a new starting point for the diachronic exploration of the Adriatic wine commerce between c.250 BC and AD 150.

This article reviews the current state of affairs regarding our knowledge on eating habits and dietary proportions in the Roman world. The narrative is centred on the main components of the ancient diet : cereals, wine, olive oil, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and pulses. Focal points in the discussion are food types and calories. The author integrates literature, archaeology and natural sciences, and devotes particular attention to the possibilities and constraints of our datasets. What emerges is a complicated picture in which it remains difficult to answer basic questions and to identify general patterns. By offering a series of thinking tools, however, the article provides a new framework for researchers to increase our understanding of the classical diet in the future.

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