Archeological discoveries as proof of viticulture and winemaking in Slavonija and Baranja
Writers of the Antiquity have left us plenty of accounts of the war campaigns and other events that took place in the province at the time of the Empire, but very few about viticulture in the area. Apart from the sparse sources, our knowledge of viticulture and winemaking in the Antiquity is based on epigraphic monuments and other archaeological discoveries.
Ceramic, glass, and bronze jugs and cups were used to serve and drink wine in the Roman age, and ceramic amphorae and wooden barrels were used to transport it. These archaeological discoveries tell the story of wine drinking and production in our region today.
OSIJEK-BARANJA COUNTY
The Roman name for present-day Bansko brdo in Baranja was Mons Aureus (Golden Hill), probably because it is ideally suited for the cultivation of grapevine and the production of delicious wines. The probably most important monument to viticulture of the Antiquity in this region was discovered in the 18th century on the Pogan hill in Popovac. The altar, originating from the 4th century, was dedicated to the god Liber Pater by Aurelius Constantius, who had 400 arpents (around 50 hectares) of vineyards planted at the request of his son, Venantius. The condition of the altar is not great: some of the rows have been damaged and deleted, making it difficult to read and interpret the text. As a result, several different translations have been proposed so far. According to the inscription, the dedicant, probably a former vineyard procurator, had grapevine planted on a large surface on his estate in Baranja, which he financed with his own funds. The inscription goes on to list the various varieties that were planted, such as cupenis, terminis, vallesibus and caballiori, which are sadly unknown today. Varieties are rarely mentioned on monuments, which makes this one all the more important. The altar is also an important monument to Liber, Roman god of fertility, grapevine and festivity, who was celebrated by drunken, wanton processions at harvest time. Liber was later equated with Dionisius and Bacchus, Greek and Roman gods of wine. Generally, altars dedicated to Liber are counted among certain evidence of viticulture and winemaking in this area.
A fragment of an inscription mentioned by Matija Petar Katančić, now sadly lost, also originates from Popovac. In addition to the names of the deities Liber and Libera, and the beginning of the dedicant’s name (SEXT...), this inscription included an image of the grape harvest, showing a peasant pouring wine from a wineskin into a wide vessel, and a woman carrying a basket full of grapes behind him. The relief probably included the images of Bacchus and Ceres (the goddess of agriculture) as well.
(© Arheološki muzej Osijek)
The funerary stele of veteran Titus Aurelius Avitus and his wife Ulpia Appiana, discovered in Osijek, is adorned with semi-figures depicting the husband and wife in the upper section, with a kantharos in the middle and grapevine tendrils rising out of it, each bearing one bunch of grapes. The tendrils also snake around the pilasters framing the husband and wife. The sides of the stele are adorned with vertical grapevine tendrils. Leaves are attached to the tendrils, with one man wearing a short tunic standing on the tip of each leaf. On one side, the main holds a basket in an upraised arm, and on the other side, the man has one of his arms lowered, probably holding a bunch of grapes, while his other arm is upraised, and could have held a basket. Grapevine and grape harvesters are not common funerary stelae motives in Pannonia, unlike in Dalmatia in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and are mostly associated with the cult of Bacchus/Liber.
(© Arheološki muzej Osijek)
La Tène kraters (vessels used for diluting wine with water), discovered in Zeleno polje in Osijek, are also proof that imported wines were drunk in the pre-Roman era. Two disk fragments from a shell-shaped lamp, depicting a naked Liber holding a thyrsus and standing beside a grapevine, and a fragment of a cup made by the master potter Acastus Aco, discovered at the Osijek docks, were imported from northern Italy, and were both associated with wine. The cup is decorated with a relief depicting a wicker basket and bunches of grapes underneath arcades, with the following inscription between the basket motive on the top and the arcades: (N?)DVM.ESSE.NECESSARIO.CEDO.BIBER. The inscription is followed by the depictions of a leaf and a bee. Mirko Bulat offered a possible translation of the transcription: If I have to live, I will drink.
VUKOVAR-SRIJEM COUNTY
A damaged altar, dedicated to the god Liber and the goddess Libera (2nd century) by high-ranking city councillor Marcus Ulpius Frontus Emilianus, was discovered in Vinkovci (Cibalae). The altar is adorned with the relief depicting a jug on the left, narrower side, and a wooden wine barrel on the right side, a unique depiction in this region. This monument supports Strabo’s account that wine was shipped to this region in wooden barrels.
(© Arheološki muzej Osijek)
VUKOVAR-SRIJEM COUNTY
A damaged altar, dedicated to the god Liber and the goddess Libera (2nd century) by high-ranking city councillor Marcus Ulpius Frontus Emilianus, was discovered in Vinkovci (Cibalae). The altar is adorned with the relief depicting a jug on the left, narrower side, and a wooden wine barrel on the right side, a unique depiction in this region. This monument supports Strabo’s account that wine was shipped to this region in wooden barrels.
(© Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu)
Žrtvenik Liberu i Liberi, posvetio Marko Ulpije Front Emilijan, Vinkovci (prema: M. Vukov, Instrumenta sacra depicted on votive altars from Croatia, TAF 31, 2021.)
A number of ceramic and glass jugs and cups were discovered in Vinkovci, along with amphorae that were used to transport wine, and other mobile items associated with wine, such as bronze Liber figurines.
An altar dedicated to Liber, bearing the epithet Pater, dedicated to him by Caius Antonius Sabinus, consular beneficiary from an unknown regiment, which is now located in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, was discovered in Sotin (Cornacum) in 1906.
(© Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu)
Sources from the Antiquity indicate that viticulture and winemaking in Pannonia flourished after the amelioration projects in the 2nd century in spite of the initial unfavourable conditions. The wine from Pannonian vineyards could clearly not compete with its Mediterranean counterparts in terms of yield and quality, but the number of archaeological discoveries, now kept at the museums of Slavonija, points to an important role of viticulture and winemaking in the social, economic and religious life of this region in the Antiquity.
