Domitian

The Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus (51-96) had the first Limes ramparts built between the Rhine and the Danube as border protection. During his reign, the Germanic parts of the empire became independent provinces. In 79, the city of Pompeii was completely destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, thus drying up the most important source of wine for the Romans. As a result, many new vineyards were planted around Rome and cornfields were cleared for them. In his famous edict in 92, Domitian probably forbade the planting of new vines in Italy and ordered at least half of all vineyards in the provinces to be destroyed. A second edict forbade the planting of small vineyards in the cities. In this way, he primarily wanted to solve the food problem of the large cities and secure grain production. The second thesis is that he wanted to give advantages to the large vineyards. However, the ban could not be fully implemented or maintained. It was therefore not fully in force until it was lifted by Emperor Probus (232-282) in 280. See also under Ancient wines and Ancient grape varieties.

Domitian - Büste und Denarius (Hauptsilbermünze Roms)

Image on the left: By Sailko, CC BY 2.5, link
Image right: By Rasiel Suarez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Domitian

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