Villa Regina
About
Eighteen wine vats filled this Campanian farmhouse's cella vinaria, the working heart of a busy wine-producing estate outside Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius buried the whole property under volcanic ash and pumice on 24 August 79 CE, entombing its dolia and its wine press mid-operation. By 117 CE the villa had lain sealed underground for thirty-eight years, its productive life already over.
What happened here
Land held in one ownership and worked as a unit, whether the owner is a senator, an emperor or a town. Day to day it is run by a manager who keeps the accounts, allots the tasks and answers for the shortfall. The workforce is mixed — slaves in gangs, tenant farmers on shares, and seasonal labour hired for the harvest and the vintage. Tenants owe a proportion of the crop and a fixed number of days' work, and the terms are posted publicly, which is how we know them. Buildings cluster: presses, granaries, a smithy, quarters, a shrine. Disputes over water and over how many days are owed go to the estate's own procurator first and to the emperor if that fails.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →