Wine, 6300 years of history in Greece

Image 1. Pressed grape marc, Dikili Tash (Philippi, Kavala), 4300 B.C. Photograph from S.M. Valamoti, 2023.

Soultana-Maria Valamoti, Professor, School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

In Greece, grapes have been cultivated since the appearance of the earliest neolithic villages, in the 7^th millennium B.C, as evidenced by carbonised grape seeds discovered at archaeological sites. Furthermore, palaeobotanical research at sites in northern Greece dating to the second half of the 5^th millennium B.C. uncovered Europe’s oldest wine. Thousands of carbonised grape seeds, together with remains of marc, i.e. pressed grapes, were uncovered in a house that burned down around 4300 B.C. in the settlement of Dikili Tash near Philippi, Kavala. In addition, chemical analyses of vessels and the presence of small clay cups show that wine was made and consumed using specialised vessels almost 6300 years ago. Similar findings dating to the Bronze Age have been uncovered in Messinia and Crete. No surprise, then, that Greece was the birthplace of Dionysus, god of the vine, a deity who called many places home. His name is attested as early as the Mycenean period, in Linear B tablets, while his gifts, grapes and wine, are also recorded in these tablets under their own dedicated ideograms. Wine was a valuable commodity, its trade documented in tablets kept at the Mycenaean palaces. Indeed, a room was discovered at Nestor’s palace in Pylos stocked with amphorae bearing the ideogram for wine. In addition, wine’s ritual significance is shown through the inclusion of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of vines and wine, on Linear B tablets. Thanks to its prehistoric origins, wine continued to play a major role in Greece in subsequent periods, with palaeobotanical findings of both vines and the wine-making process in archaeological sites throughout the country. This is also depicted in art: ancient Greek vase paintings feature a wealth of depictions of Donysus together with his ritual procession, as well as participating in the stages of wine production, such as grape pressing. The ancient Greek world exhibits a stunning variety of vessels used in the preparation, serving, and consumption of wine. These vessels also travelled beyond Greece, a demonstration of wine’s popularity among the peoples of the Mediterranean in antiquity.

The Greeks introduced vineyards and the knowledge of wine production throughout the Mediterranean during the 1^st millennium B.C. through the colonies they founded, such as Massalia in southern France. In the modern day, the Greek god of the vine’s gift is cultivated on a global scale, growing wherever conditions are ideal.