Chapter 7
In this chapter, we focus on the Roman Empire’s period of maximum expansion and its rivalry with the Punic civilization. A knowledge of viticulture was initiated under Mago I of Carthage, but was pursued further by Roman figures such as Cato the Elder, Varro, Columella and, in particular, Pliny the Elder.
We explore Roman winemaking practices and examine the wines they produced, including the wide variety of aromatised wines and the extraordinary Falernian wine. Surviving glassware from the Roman period is also studied.
We also meet the great gastronome Apicius, a pivotal figure who produced one of the first wine guides and wrote a legendary treatise, De re culinaria. Dionysus, the god of wine, was called Bacchus under the Romans. An attempt was made to ban his cult, with little success.
