Today I Learned

A farming manual written by the Roman writer Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella in the 1st century CE is a window into the roles of the female manager.

An upper-class landowner himself, Columella lists the responsibilities of farm managers, who were probably enslaved. The male manager was termed the vilicus, and the female manager the vilica, terms derived from their roles at the "villa."

But many historians reading this text have been sidetracked by a false lead: Columella begins his section on the vilica with a long quote from the Greek philosopher Xenophon, who wrote in Athens more than four centuries earlier.

The "natural" role of women, according to Xenophon, was to work indoors. Therefore, in his discussion, the ideal upper-class married woman is depicted staying inside her townhouse to supervise the domestic work of enslaved people.

The Greek writer is not discussing farm workers. In fact, Columella says four times that these ideas are not his own but those of Xenophon, writing long ago.

Columella lists a completely different set of responsibilities for the vilica on a Roman farm: most importantly, the making of wine and olive oil, which were highly valuable commodities—the backbone of landowners' profits.

In his description of the vilica's duties, Columella includes extracting juice from grapes during the harvest; adding flavorings and preservatives such as salt, wormwood, fennel or boiled grape juice; and overseeing successful fermentation into wine.

According to Columella, the vilica also managed the processing of other farm products to make them long-lasting and profitable, such as turning inedible olives into olive oil for sale.