Wine Imports and Economic Growth in Rome Between the Late Republic and Early Empire

Scholars of the ancient economy have recently focused on archaeological evidence that could confirm or reject the existence of sustainable per capita economic growth in antiquity. Studies on wine amphoras imported to Rome shed new light on this issue. First of all, the sheer number of imported containers indicates that considerable economic growth of an extensive character took place in the city between the late republican and middle imperial period. Secondly, analyses of the types of imported wines suggest that this growth might also have had an intensive character.