Late Roman viticulture in Rough Cilicia: an unusual wine-press at Antiochia ad Cragum

Extract

Rough Cilicia is well-known for the number of wine-presses found,¹ which shows that viticulture was important locally as well as wine being a likely candidate for export.² Excavation and survey here has generally lagged behind other regions,³ and work at Antiochia ad Cragum (Güney Köyü, Gazipaşa) in particular is relatively recent, starting with the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project (RCSP) and continuing with its offshoot, the Antiochia ad Cragum Archaeological Research Project (ACARP).⁴ The city, founded by Antiochus IV of Commagene in the Julio-Claudian period, lies on an important road along the S coast with direct links to settlements of the central Anatolian plateau;⁵ it also lies on the maritime trade route extending from Syria and Palestine to Constantinople and the area of the Black Sea, with another going to central and W Mediterranean lands.⁶ Occupied continuously from the Imperial to the Byzantine period,⁷ it achieved a considerable size.