Wine vs Cereals in Pompeii's Economy

When we went on our tour of Pompeii, one of the first things our guide said was that Pompeii's economy was built on wine and olive oil, but mostly wine. "It's ok, you can laugh, it's funny," she said. Indeed, in the ruins we could find a great number of amphoras, vessels used to store wine (among other liquids... some of which you would perhaps be better off not knowing).

However, the article I read goes against the common assertion that the people of Pompeii survived off of their grapes. Not only would this be difficult to sustain a densely populated city with, but the quality of the soil in Pompeii likely made the wine inferior to their neighbors, and thusly not capable of exporting the wine on a large scale.

Vesuvius overlooking the mostly-flat Pompeii

Pompeii had a population that could be estimated to be around 36,000, with up to a third of that population being in the densely packed urban city area. Although we may not consider this to be dense by modern standards, keep in mind that modern city standards are supported by skyscrapers of apartments, and back in the time of Pompeii houses were 2-3 stories on average. The outer city area did involve some slopes thanksVesuvius, but the majority of farmland in the region was plains. The article asserts that not only are cereals the most efficient way to feed large numbers of people, but plains are also the ideal soil type for cereal agriculture, whereas hills and slopes are better for vine plants.

We also know how Pompeii compared to other towns in the Campagnia region thanks to writers like Pliny. Depictions of Pompeii do describe the soil as being fertile, but this was also simply a literary mannerism of the time. What is perhaps more telling is writers like Pliny who describe that Pompeii has strong wine that would give you a headache the next day even if aged for 10 or more years, a distinct characteristic of wine grown in suboptimal soil conditions.

There is some archeological proof of a wine villa in Pompeii, but most villa excavations are a matter of being biased towards finding large elaborate sites, as opposed to more simple shelters for grain farmers. Some of the strongest evidence to Pompeii's wine economy has been the aforementioned amphoras, a large portion of which can be traced back to the Campagnia region. However, based on what is like the ancient equivalent of Yelp reviews, Surrentum wine was much more favored, and it is likely that many of those amphoras were nearby imports.

As for the cereals, who could Pompeii become rich on something so humble as cereal grains? The average grain production was likely enough to feed the population each year with some surplus for exporting. However, the article explains that "average" production almost never occurred for any agricultural communities. In years when production was low, grain could be imported from Rome. It was Pompeii's ideal proximity to Rome which was also to thank for their profit.

Although it might seem more fun on tours to think about an entire city rich from wine production, it is important to keep in mind that history is often exaggerated towards what seems more whimsical to us. However, the Pompeii citizens did not likely become wealthy on wine any more than Alec lives in an igloo.