wine (Greek and Roman)
wine (Greek and Roman)The grape vine, which grows naturally in the highlands between the 10° C and 20° C annual isotherms (approximately between 30° and 50° north), had appeared in a cultivated form (vitis vinifera sativa) in the Caucasus at least by the neolithic period. Viticulture had become fully established in the Greek world by Mycenaean times, as it had even earlier in its near eastern neighbours. By the earliest historical period wine had already become a fundamental component of classical culture. This is not simply the result of ecological determinism; viticulture represented an important cultural and social choice. Contemporaries were aware that the considerable geographical expansion of vine-growing which happened throughout classical history (in the Black (Euxine) Sea region in the Hellenistic period and, most notably, in southern Spain and France after the Roman conquest) was closely associated with the dissemination of classical...
[The entire page is 987 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
