grapes and olives were introduced to greece and rome?

[Bharathi]

grapes and olives were introduced to Greece and Rome by whom?

 

[Richard American]

A team of archaeologists working in northern Greece at a site called Dikili Tash have found the remains of grape seeds and crushed grapes in one of the houses there. The site dates to the Neolithic period, around 4500 B.C. It's not clear whether the grapes were being gathered to make wine or simply used for their juice. Probably the former, as wine was being made in Iran a millenium earlier.


The Ancient Greeks introduced vines such as Vitis vinifera[6] and made wine in their numerous colonies in Italy,[7] Sicily,[8] southern France,[9] and Spain.[6]

Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the history of wine. The earliest influences of viticulture on the Italian peninsula can be traced to Ancient Greeks and Etruscans.

Wild grapevines have grown on the Italian peninsula since prehistory and historians have not been able to pinpoint the exact moment in time when domestic viticulture and winemaking first occurred. It is possible that the Mycenaean had some influences with early Greek settlements in southern Italy but the earliest recorded evidence of Greek influence was in 800 BC. Viticulture was widely entrenched in Etruscan civilization which was centered around the modern winemaking region of Tuscany. The Ancient Greeks saw wine as a staple of domestic life as well as a viable economic trade commodity. Throughout the Greek world, settlements were encouraged to plant vineyards for local use and trade with the Greek city states. Southern Italy, with its abundance of indigenous vines, was an ideal location for wine production and was known by the Greeks as Oenotria ("land of vines").[3]

As scientists tell us, the exact place where the olive tree sprung for the first time is the greater Mediterranean Basin.The first cultivation of the olive tree worldwide took place in Greece, and more specific in Crete.This happened about 3500 BC in the Early Minoan times.In this period the olive tree was in a wilder form in comparison to the tree we know today. After 2000 BC the cultivation of the olive tree in Crete was very intense and systematic playing the most important role on the island's economy.

Greeks introduced olives to Rome.