Fruit of the vine

According to Athenaeus of Naucratis, the 2nd-century AD author of The Sophists’ Banquet, the ancient Sybarites kept the capital of their city-state in southern Italy supplied with wine through a network of ‘vinoducts’ that reached far out into the surrounding countryside.

According to Athenaeus of Naucratis, the 2nd-century AD author of The Sophists’ Banquet, the ancient Sybarites kept the capital of their city-state in southern Italy supplied with wine through a network of ‘vinoducts’ that reached far out into the surrounding countryside.

Amusing though this high-table story was, it reflects the extent to which ancient Mediterranean civilisations were fuelled by the fermented grape, a sacred fluid central to the imagery and practice of Judaism and Christianity. The origins of wine and its role in inspiring antique religion, philosophy, science, commerce, culture and social life are the subject of Vinum Nostrum, curated by Giovanni di Pasquale, a sequel to the diverting exhibition The Ancient Garden from Babylon to Rome, staged in the Orangery of the Pitti Palace in the Boboli Gardens three years ago.