The production of olive oil and wine in the Roman villa of Milreu (Estói): a success for Cato’s system in Lusitania

Abstract

Thanks to many years of German-Portuguese research on the Roman villa of Milreu (Estói), it is now possible to detail the agricultural production of the territory of the port of Ossonoba (Faro), the metropolis of the Lusitanian south. Following exactly the standards postulated by Cato, an agricultural industry focused on exporting oil and wine developed there at the beginning of the Imperial Period. The pars rustica has two economic sub-divisions: an oil mill with five presses and a winery with three further presses.

The oil mill deserves special attention since it is the largest and best investigated of these facilities in the province of Lusitania. The production volume that can be calculated points to a direct connection between the south Lusitanian coast and the economic structures and channels of distribution of the adjacent province of Baetica. The Milreu winery had reached, at least by late antiquity, a capacity that is comparable with that of the well-known Lusitanian villae viticoles at São Cucufate (Vidigueira) and Torre de Palma (Montforte).

Furthermore, the investigation of the construction history and stratigraphy make it possible to consider the development of the pars urbana in a chronologically differentiated way. The development from the simple peristyle house of the middle Imperial Period to the luxurious villa suburbana of late Antiquity may be seen as an expression of the owner’s economic success. This success is also reflected in the rich building ornamentation, mosaics and sculptures.