Ancient Roman farm women made wine, oil and profits. Historians dismissed them as 'housekeepers' - Other Sciences - Archaeology

A quote from Greek philosophy led many to misunderstand the roles women played in ancient Roman farming. Credit: Mahmoud Amer/Pexels

Female farm managers are hidden in plain sight in ancient Roman texts, mentioned in laws, literature and grave inscriptions across five centuries. Modern historians have generally assumed they were housekeepers, in charge of domestic tasks and household meals, and segregated from the productive business of the farm.

My new paper, published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, challenges this assumption.

In fact, evidence suggests that many Roman female farm managers supervised wine production and other processes vital to farming and profits.

A false lead

A farming manual written by the Roman writer Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella in the 1st century CE is a window into the roles of the female manager.

An upper-class landowner himself, Columella lists the responsibilities of farm managers, who were probably enslaved. The male manager was termed the vilicus, and the female manager the vilica, terms derived from their roles at the "villa."

But many historians reading this text have been sidetracked by a false lead: Columella begins his section on the vilica with a long quote from the Greek philosopher Xenophon, who wrote in Athens more than four centuries earlier.

A mosaic shows Roman farm women at the Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily. Credit: Joe Lynch

The "natural" role of women, according to Xenophon, was to work indoors. Therefore, in his discussion, the ideal upper-class married woman is depicted staying inside her townhouse to supervise the domestic work of enslaved people.

The Greek writer is not discussing farm workers. In fact, Columella says four times that these ideas are not his own but those of Xenophon, writing long ago.

Columella lists a completely different set of responsibilities for the vilica on a Roman farm: most importantly, the making of wine and olive oil, which were highly valuable commodities—the backbone of landowners' profits.

In his description of the vilica's duties, Columella includes extracting juice from grapes during the harvest; adding flavorings and preservatives such as salt, wormwood, fennel or boiled grape juice; and overseeing successful fermentation into wine.

According to Columella, the vilica also managed the processing of other farm products to make them long-lasting and profitable, such as turning inedible olives into olive oil for sale.

From archaeology, we know that production of wine or oil, using huge machines in substantial buildings, could reach 50,000 to 100,000 liters per year, or even more. The vilica was therefore responsible for overseeing large-scale work essential to the operation of the estate.

Calling on the gods

Correct sacrifices to the gods were seen as vital to the success of the farm. Archaeology has uncovered altars for offerings in Roman wine-making buildings.

Wine-making in the Roman world was a precarious process because of uncontrolled temperatures, bacteria or oxygenation. Wine could easily go moldy or turn into vinegar.

A striking element of Columella's account is that he includes offerings to avert such a disaster in his instructions for the female farm manager.

Looking for more clues

Other texts contain barely more than a mention of the vilica, revealing only her presence.

But we can still put together some clues.

Legal writings on inheritance, quoting the 1st century BCE jurist Trebatius, include her in the instrumentum fundi—whatever, including enslaved personnel, is required for productive work, gathering and preserving the estate's produce.

Another aristocratic landowner and writer, Cato the Elder, living two centuries before Columella, lists both the female and male farm managers as essential staff for a vineyard or olive farm.

He devotes only one small section to outlining the female farm manager's tasks, but a close look shows these are not predominantly domestic. Cato includes keeping poultry and processing seasonal farm products. Although he does include supervision of cleaning, this could refer to maintenance of workspaces such as stables and wine-making buildings, an integral part of estate management—and also listed by Columella among the vilica's duties.

Cato also gives the vilica responsibility for making sacrifices to the gods for the success of the farm. She must regularly offer garlands at the altar "for abundance," he writes.

A Roman mosaic showing estate work in different seasons depicts a scene of sacrifices for abundant crops to the god Jupiter (in his Celtic form as a sky and weather god). A woman is shown holding an offering of garlands, just as Cato instructs. Beside her are a jug for wine offerings and a male figure.

Perhaps this mosaic shows the vilica and vilicus, both essential to the success of annual harvests. While such images of female figures are rare, one fragmentary wall painting from Rome shows a female overseeing wine-making workers, just as Columella describes.

This combined body of evidence suggests we should expand outdated understandings of the roles Roman women played in farm production, the dominant sector of ancient economies.

No vilica has left us an account of her work in her own words. But by paying careful attention to the evidence, we can hear an echo of her voice. 

Provided by The Conversation 

by Tamara Lewit, The Conversation

edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin 

Source: Ancient Roman farm women made wine, oil and profits. Historians dismissed them as 'housekeepers'