Aegean Enigma: The Rise and Fall of Vineyards during Antiquity

Abstract

This paper argues that the rise and fall of north and central Aegean wine exportations was caused by economic factors, such as changes in wine supply. It demonstrates that these wines disappeared from southern Gaul and central Tyrrhenian Italy when these areas started to locally produce their own wine. At the same time, north and central Aegean wines were also ousted from the Black Sea region by both local products and cheaper imports from the southern Aegean. This shows that supply and demand governed commercial activities during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, which provides new evidence regarding the nature of the ancient Greek economy.