Wine and oil presses in the Roman to Late Antique Near East and Mediterranean:

Lewit, Tamara; Burton, Paul J.

doi:10.2307/j.ctvndv6xd.12

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Frankel [17] noted that the first advance in pressing was the introduction of the simpler lever and weight press in Syria and Cyprus during the Bronze Age (c. 1400 BC). The popularity and effectiveness of these presses is reflected in their regular appearance in the Near East from Roman times to Late Antiquity (5th-6th century AD) [36]. Greenberg and Cinamon [29] noted that in the Iron Age, Persian Period, and Early Roman Period, niches were cut into the back wall of treading floors in which pressed beams could be anchored.…”

Section: The Introduction Of Grape Pressesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same type of facilities was found by Avrutis [19] in a quarry in southern Israel and illustrates 1000 years of development since the former foundation stone facilities of the Persian (6th-4th century BC) and early Roman periods (1st century BC) with cisterns carved into the rock, plastered floors, and channels. The next type of press consisted of a lever and screw, followed by a direct screw system, which was widely used in the Roman period and represents a significant improvement in the process throughout the Mediterranean [4,[36][37][38].…”

Section: The Introduction Of Grape Pressesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Historical and Heritage Sustainability for the Revival of Ancient Wine-Making Techniques and Wine Styles

Harutyunyan

Malfeito‐Ferreira

2022

Beverages

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The purpose of this review is to provide a general description of ancient winemaking techniques and wine styles that were most lauded in antiquity, in support of their revival and dissemination today. From the first fully excavated winery, dating from the late fifth to the early fourth millennium BC, the gentle crushing of grapes by foot and the probable absence of maceration indicate that most wines were made with the aim of reducing astringency. The oxidative nature of winemaking would have resulted in rapid browning, so that wines made from red grapes would have had a similar color to those made from white grapes after being aged in clay vats for several years. The difficulty in preventing the wine surface contact with the air would have resulted in biological ageing under the yeast pellicle being a common occurrence. This phenomenon was not considered a flaw, but a characteristic feature of highly prized wines. Dried grapes were used to make sweet wines, which were also highly prized, therefore justifying the construction of dedicated facilities. The addition of boiled juices, salt, resins, mixtures of herbs, spices, fruit juices, flowers, or honey to the wines would have increased their taste pleasantness while improving their preservability and medicinal properties. Indeed, today’s preference for flavored wines with a soft mouthfeel seems to have been representative of the ancient elite consumers. Overall, the technical interpretation of winemaking described in this review will provide solid historical support for the current rebirth of ancient production methods, particularly those using pottery vessels.

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Section: The Introduction Of Grape Pressesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Introduction Of Grape Pressesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and Heritage Sustainability for the Revival of Ancient Wine-Making Techniques and Wine Styles

Harutyunyan

Malfeito‐Ferreira

2022

Beverages

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Viticulture, opus doliare, and the patrimonium Caesaris at the Roman imperial estate at Vagnari (Puglia)

Carroll

2022

J. Roman Archaeol.

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This article focuses on the establishment of a winery on the Roman imperial estate at Vagnari in southeast Italy in the 2nd c. CE and the ceramic vats (dolia defossa) needed to mature and store the estate's vintages. A scientific analysis of the clay used to make the dolia has revealed their likely place of manufacture to have been in Latium or on the border between Latium and Campania on the Tyrrhenian (west) coast of Italy. With these analytical results in hand, it is now possible to inquire into the historical and economic significance for the imperial fiscus of importing dolia for wine making in the vicus at Vagnari, the route and mechanisms by which they might have traveled to the other side of the Italian peninsula, and the connectivity between this Apulian imperial estate and other potential imperial properties in western Italy. This places the present study at the intersection of agriculture, manufacturing, and property transfer within the patrimonium Caesaris.

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Pliny’s Presses: the True Story of the First Century Wine Press

Burton¹,

Lewit²

2019

Klio

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Summary In a much-quoted passage of the “Natural History”, Pliny describes several wine press mechanisms. This description is of great historical importance, since it is the only such textual description of a vitally important class of technologies used for the production throughout the Roman Empire of both wine and olive oil, dietary staples in the ancient Mediterranean. Pliny’s text has been quoted and used as the basis for discussions of Roman farming and technological history for many decades. Yet it has never been properly understood in the light of related and recently published archaeological evidence, and close attention has never been paid to developing a precise translation, or to Pliny’s painstaking grammatical construction and word choices. A thorough and critical re-examination of the text reveals that modern scholars have routinely misinterpreted Pliny’s account of ancient press technology. In this paper, a new translation is offered, which more accurately aligns with archaeological and ethnographic evidence and which attempts to strip away the layers of modern interpretation, to rediscover previously ignored or misunderstood elements, and to restore the original sense of Pliny’s passage.

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Wine and oil presses in the Roman to Late Antique Near East and Mediterranean:

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Historical and Heritage Sustainability for the Revival of Ancient Wine-Making Techniques and Wine Styles

Historical and Heritage Sustainability for the Revival of Ancient Wine-Making Techniques and Wine Styles

Viticulture, opus doliare, and the patrimonium Caesaris at the Roman imperial estate at Vagnari (Puglia)

Pliny’s Presses: the True Story of the First Century Wine Press

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