The wine culture grew up when the Old Greece had contact with Near Est cultures
(specially during the Alexander The Great Empire).
Greece was, in the history, the receptacle of all the knowledge of the ancient world. For that, Greece is known as the "teacher of the Western World". About how the win culture was spreading into the classic world, we can answer it thanks to papers leaved down by famous people as the poet Hesiod, the historians Herodotus and Xenophon, and the geographer Strabo. In this way we can know how was spreaded the vineyards in the Classic History.
Places:
- In Asia: On the edge of the Persian Gulf, Babylon, Assyria, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and at the edges of Caspian, Black, and Aegean seas.
- En Africa: Egypt.
- Europe: Greece and the Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos, Rhodes and Crete islands.
The Greeks had learned well not only the viticulture art, but also become to spread it around the Mediterranean World, together with the Phoenician people. The Greeks introduced the viticulture in the Western Mediterranean Sea by their established colonies in Italy (Magna Graecia) and Spain (Empúries). On the other hand the Phoenicians introduced it at the north of the Saharian Africa, in the colony of Carthage (today Tunisia), and in Spain too (Barcelona).
Origins of Rome and its late insertion into the wine world.
Rome was founded, according to the legend, by Romulus at 753 b.c. The tales related with the fundation of the 'eternal city' could be enough to make up a soap opera. In summary, in the region of Lazio it was the old city of Alba Longa. This city was a legend because was founded by Ascanius, mythical Trojan hero son, Aeneas, the one who escaped from the Troy destruction in 1184 b.c. After four centuries, Amulio snatchesed his brother, king Numitor, killing all his nephews.
His niece, Rhea Silvia, was pregnant and she hided this fact. After some months she gave birth her twins Romulus and Remus. She left them into a basket on the waters of the Tiber river to avoid be killed. The twins were miraculously saved and protected by a wolf called Capitoline. After that, they lived with a shepherds couple (Faustulus and Acca Larentia). When the twins were teenagers took part in a hooligans band. When they took knowledge about their lineage, they returned to Alba Longa to fight versus Amulio. When their grandpa, Numitor, was returned as king, he gave them the lands where they had lived with Capitoline (at Lazio northwest) in gratelfuness. In those lands the twins decided establish a new city. This city are going to be refuge of slaves, refugees, freedmen, fugitives and inmigrants from other lands, eg. Latin people, Etruscans and Sabines. Due to a discussion Romulus killed Remus. Romulus penitent decided call to the new city Rome in memory of his brother.
At the beginning, the kind of people in Rome were of simple customs, rue and frugal. They did not have the habit of develop art, and their knowledge about culture wine was poor. Neither had the sense about keep treasures. They gave more importance to practical stuffs and everything related with militar industry and equipment to their seasoned legions.When Rome had its first contacts with ambassador from Carthage, a tale says that the principals of the roman royalty borrowed among them the golden dishes and silver cutlery in secret. The ambassadors did not have any idea that they were eating with the same cutlery.
Insertion of Rome into the wine culture and the diffusion of the wine in the Roman world.
Perhaps the first Roman contact with the wine culture was the war againts the Etruscans (or Rassenas called by themselves), who had a high reputation in the production of wine .Before the Roman republic, the last three Roman kings were Etruscans. In that period began growing up grapevine slowly. Rome was a civilization with lacks in an own idiosyncrasy, then adopted several customs and cultures from the conquered countries. First from the people of their own peninsula, later from the people of the Mediterraneam world and far away. Rome copied specially so many knowledge and customs from the greeks, as its philosophy, the art, hygiene habits, the theatre and of course the viticulture. The Romans developed up a high wine culture through the contact with so many and different cultures. Columella (Roman writer, from Cadiz, 1th Century), described in his De re rustica the Roman viticulture practices: the way, growing, taberning, grafting, amugronamiento (propagation), pruning, etc, and winemaking. These ways are continuing today. There is the knowledge that Magna Graecia and Lazio Valley were famous due to the Mamertine and Falernian wines.
The wine culture became extreme in the Roman culture. As an example, the wine for the woman was prohibited in public by law, but it is known that furtively they were organizing orgies following Egyptian rituals. Emperators as Tiberius, Nero, Elagabalus and Caracalla were famous due to theirs orgies. On the other hand, the Roman legionaries take away the viticulture to the Gaul through Rhone river until Lyon, and Burgundy. After this to Germania through Rhine river, and Switzerland. It is right that those areas known the wine, however it was not in standart form as the Mediterranean cultures. There were Gaul and Germany prohibited regions for merchant wine because they were afried that this coveted beverage could fall down their combat energy as it was related by Julius Caesar in his book Gallic Wars.
Cuando los galos y los germanos apreciaron adecuadamente el consumo de la vid, su práctica se generalizó.Con el tiempo el cultivo del viñedo alcanza Burdeos y en el siglo III las riberas del río Danubio gracias, en parte, al emperador Marco Aurelio Probo, ya que en tiempo de paz cambiaba el oficio de guerra de sus legionarios por el de vitivinicultores. Sin embargo, debido a la superproducción de vinos en todo el Imperio Romano, hubo una crisis de precios.Para evitar el colapso, el emperador Domiciano ordenó que fueran destruidos los viñedos que produjesen vinos de mala calidad.
El vino prosperó pese a la caida del Imperio Romano de Occidente gracias a los obispos, quienes se erigieron en los nuevos señores de no pocas villas y pequeñas ciudades; y también gracias a la afición al vino de los conquistadores bárbaros. Mientras que en el Imperio Romano de Oriente sobrevivió mil años más, y además de que en Asia se continuó su cultivo.
