VITICULTURE AND BREWING
IN
THE ANCIENT ORIENT
BY
H. F. LUTZ
, <
LEIPZIG
J. C. HINRICHS'scHE BUCHHANDLUNG
1922
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Druck von August Pries in Leipzig.
O'
TO
PROF. DR. ARTHUR UNGNAD
UNIVERSITY OF BRESLAU
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED
IN AFFECTION
Introduction
A century ago little was known about the ancient Near
East, and that little had been transmitted by unreliable hands;
moreover, most of it came from a time which itself was much
later than the period in which the ancient Oriental nations
played an all-important role. Only a few decades ago the
whole of Western Asia and Egypt were like an immense field
of ruins lying in impenetrable silence, and the little we knew
about it came from the pen of a few Greek and Roman
writers, who on account of their foreign way of thinking, lack
of familiarity with the psychology of the Oriental and their
inability to master the Oriental languages were little fitted to
become absolutely safe guides. They understood only that
which was similar to their own culture. The treasures of
Babylonia, Assyria, Asia Minor, Syria and Arabia had. been
hidden away by fate; and Egypt had already undergone a
process of decay when the Greeks entered that country and
wrote down their cursory notices about the land and its people.
There were only fragments miserable fragments by which
posterity could behold the ancient world.
The darkness has been lifted, thanks to untiring work of
Oriental scholars in Europe and America, who have worked
feverishly during the last few decades. The day has dawned
over the Orient, but though the morning-sun has appeared, it
very often hides itself behind dark clouds. Some of these
clouds will undoubtedly be dispelled by later researches and
it will depend on the results of future excavations whether
the sun will reach its zenith at least in so far as the culture-
land of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is concerned, Egypt,
it seems, has now yielded up most of its treasures.
VI Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
The following pages purport to place together the most
important, but by no means the entire, material which has come
to light regarding the viticulture and brewing in the ancient
Orient, material which to a large degree can at best be found
only isolated in the respective literatures. To some whom the
Orient interests only as a country of religious systems or for
purely linguistic or historical questions, the gathering of such
materials as contained in this volume will seem banal, but
still the question tt Jticop.ev was at all times a cardinal question
to humanity, and the saying of Pliny "if any one will take the
trouble duly to consider the matter, he will find that upon no
one subject is the industry of man kept more constantly on
the alert than upon the making of wine" is fully verified in
our present time. In spite of all modern legislation it is still
a question often uppermost in the minds of many peoples
whose governments have made tabula rasa with it. And thus
it will probably always remain.
The present treatment, which considers the matter from
the beginning of historic time down to the wine-prohibition of
Muhammed, still contains many gaps, which can be filled only
by later discoveries. In many cases our information consists
"merely of names, for instance, the many beer-and wine-names;
and wherever technical details might have been considered
more, fully, I have avoided such details, as, for instance,, in
regard to the Old-Babylonian beer recipes; of these we
already possess a very elaborate treatment by Hrozny, who
has also announced that he will offer another work on the in-
tricate question of the materials used in the Babylonian brewery.
It will, finally, be necessary to say a few words regarding
the use of alcoholic beverages by the ancient Orientals. Far
be it from me to represent the Orientals to my readers in the
light of drunkards. From the testimony of the Classical writers
and according to the ideas of some modern scholars it might
appear as if they had been such. But this is not the case.
In certain circles, it is true, there have existed at all times
some debauchers, but history has never seen a whole people
absolutely given to drunkenness. Wherever suggestions are to
be found which might lead to such a conclusion, they are
nothing but strong exaggerations. A sane human intelligence
Introduction. VII
has preached at all times and in all climes moderation and
so also in the ancient Orient. The morality of the ancient
Near East was, after all, not much inferior to our modern
morality, only customs have become more refined. Examples
of very lofty ideals are found quite early both in Babylonia
and in Egypt.
If the history of mankind should really teach us absolutely
nothing, it teaches us at least this one thing, that mankind
has by no means kept equal pace in its intellectual and moral
development. Even though we may have become wiser, we
certainly have not improved very much morally. Therefore
we should not sit in judgement over the ancient Orientals, but
should rejoice with them in our journey through their world,
in which we see them engaged in preparing the precious juice
of the grape and in the brewing of beer, in order to gladden
their hearts at festivals and to drive away the dull cares of
every-day life. Perhaps after the perusal of this book there
may arise in the minds of some of its readers the painful
thought:
Sic transit gloria mundi!
Chapter One
The Wines of the Ancient Orient
The vine is a prehistoric plant. As such it is very diffi-
cult to determine the country of its origin. It is generally
maintained that the wooded regions which extend from Tur-
kestan and the Caucasus to the mountains of Trace are to
be considered the homeland of the vitis vinifera^. When
the dark mist that envelops the prehistoric age passes away,
and we find ourselves at the beginning of historic times, the
vitis mnifera occupies such an extended area, that it is impos-
sible to ascribe to the plant any special country as its place
of origin. The Classical writers mention quite a number of
places as having originated the vine, but this merely indicates
the very ancient extension of the plant in Mediterranean
countries, where the conditions of the soil and the climate
were and still are most favorable for its culture. Athen. XV,
675 a names the countries about the Red Sea as its place of
origin; Ach. Tat. II, 2 mentions Tyre; Hellanic. Fragm. hist,
gr. I, p. 67 Egypt; Pausan. IX, 25, l Boeotia; Theopomp. Fragm.
hist. gr. Car. Mueller I, 328 Chios; and Hecat. I, 26 Etolia. It is
quite possible to think of a spontaneous growth in many re-
gions 2 in view of its wide spread in the earliest historic times.
1) Grisebacb, Die Vegetation der Erde, I, p. 323; Koppen, Geogr. Ver-
breitung der Holzgeu'iichse des europUi&cktn Rttsslands und des Kaukastis, I,
p. 97; De Candolle, Orig. des planles cultivces, p. 153; Schrader, Tier- und
Pfianzengeogr., p. 27.
2) Regarding the soil favorable to the culture of vine see Theophr.
Caus. //., II, 4, 4. For references in Classical writers to wild-growing vine see
Pliny, N. h. XXIII, 1314, Strabo XV, i, 58 and Diod. Ill, 62, 4- On wild-
growing vine (four to five kinds) in Middle- and Northern Syria see ZDPV,
XI, p. 161.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. I
2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
The culture of the grapevine started very early in Egypt 1 .
We learn that during the time of the Thinitic rulers, and even
in pre-dynastic Egypt, vineyards had been planted for the
purpose of providing funerary wines for the early rulers of
Egypt \ Viticulture seems to have been particularly engaged
in during the time of the IV., V., XII., XVII. and XVIII. to
XIX. dynasty, judging from the pictorial representations of
those periods, which refer to viticulture, vintage and the mak-
ing of wine.
The best vineyards of Egypt were situated in the Delta
and the country not far south of it. The oldest vineyards
had been planted in the vicinity of Memphis. South of the
Delta the wine produced particularly in the Arsinoitic nomos
(i. e., modern Fayyum) was renowned. The capital of'the Arse-
noi'te nome was Crocodilopolis-Arsinoe, Egyptian Shedet.
Modern Kiman Paris, "the riders' hills", mark the side of the
ancient city. Regarding the Arsinoite nome Strabo XVII,
i> 35 (C 808) says "It produces wine in abundance". This
contradicts Herodotus' statement (II, 77), where he says of
Egypt oi) yap tfcpi eicsi ev rfj X^P 1 ] &p.JteXoi. But this
author contradicts also his own words. In II, 42 and 144
Osiris is considered to be Dionysos. In II, 60 he narrates
the journeys to Bubastis, where all Egypt gets drunk with
wine, and when more wine is drunk than during all" the
rest of the year. Again he states that every man of the
body-guard receives four cups of wine (II, 168). In II, 133
he mentions the drinker Mykerinos and in II, 37 he states
that even priests drink wine. Finally in' II, 121 he mentions
the chief-mason's son, who made the guards drunk with
wine. Athenaeus found pleasure in the Mareotic wine. The
grape, according to him was remarkable for its sweetness. The
wine is thus described by him: "Its color is white, its quality
excellent, and it is sweet and light, with a fragrant bouquet;
it is by no means astringent, nor does it affect the head"
(Virg. Georg. II, 91). The grape was white and grew in a rich
1) For an indication of viticulture in Nubia in predynastic times may
be taken the grape-seeds that were 'found in the stomach of the Nubians. '
Cf. Bull. Nub. 2. 55 grape-seeds together with melon-seeds and barley husks.
2) See Chapter II.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 2
soil, principally composed of gravel. Strabo 1 ascribed to the
Mareotic wine the merit of keeping well to a great age. It
was even exported to Rome and enjoyed by those who were
used to the much heavier Italian wines 2 . Horace, Od. I, 37
mentions it as a favorite beverage of Cleopatra. The town
from which the wine received its name, Marea (Mapea; Steph.
Byz. Mdpeia; Diod. I, 68 Mapicx; Ptol. IV, 105 naXaipxxpia Kcbp.r|
is the Egyptian Pa-mer, the capital of the autonomous district
Pa-mer-ti ( A^ *5\ rWA/ According to Athen. I, 330,
Marea owes its name to that of a companion of Dionysos, who
was named Maron. The town (now called Maryut) stood on
a peninsula south of Lake Mareotis. It was adjacent to the
mouth of the canal which connected Lake Mareotis with
the Canopic arm of the Nile. Superior to the Mareotic wine was
the Teniotic wine, at least in the estimation of some writers.
"Still, however," says Athenaeus, "it is inferior to the Tenio-
tic, a wine which receives its name from a place called Tenia 3 ,
where it is produced. Its color is pale and white and there
is such a degree of richness in it, that when mixed with water,
it seems gradually to be diluted, much in the same way as
Attic honey, when a liquid is poured into it; and besides the
agreeable flavor of the wine, its fragrance is so delightful as
to render it perfectly aromatic, and it has the property of
being slightly astringent". Athenaeus mentions the Plinthinic
wines. He states, on the authority of Hellanicus, that the vine
was first cultivated about Plinthine, and to which circumstance
Dion attributes the love of wine amongst the Egyptians
(Lib. I, 25).
The Sebennyticum was another renowned Egyptian wine.
Pliny 4 , in fact, cites it among the best of foreign wines. It is
"the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest
quality, known as the Thasian, the aethalus (i. e., the 'smoky'
1) Strabo XVII, p. 799.
2) See, however, Columella (R. R. Ill, 2), who states that it was too thin
for Italian palates, accustomed to the stronger Falernian.
3) Rather so called from a long narrow sandy ridge (raivia) near the
Western extremity of the Delta.
4) Pliny XIV, 7.
i*
A Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
grape) and the peuce (i. e., the 'pitchy' grape)". The Thasian
grape is described by the same writer 1 as such which excels all
other grapes in Egypt in sweetness and as having remarkable
medicinal properties. Sebennytos (modern Samanud), Egyp-
tian Zeb-nuter, Coptic Jemnuti, was situated on the Damietta
arm of the Nile. Athenaeus praises the wine of Anthylla.
"There are many other vineyards in the valley of the Nile, "
he says, "whose wines are in great repute and these differ
both in color and taste, but that which is produced about
Anthylla 2 is preferred to all the rest". Less favorably spoken
of is the ecboladic wine 3 . According to Pliny (XIV, 18) it
was possessed of the singular property of producing miscar-
riage (XIV, 9; XIV, 22}. It is possible that to the Egyptians
it was a particularly strong wine, and as such only 'drunk by
men. This, we may conjecture, may have been the reason
for Pliny to make this statement, since he probably saw the
Egyptian women abstaining from its use. Pliny knows also
the wines of Mendes 4 (modern Tell Roba or Tell al-Kasr at
the village of Tmei al-Amdid), which are mentioned again by
Horace and Clemens of Alexandria 5 . The Mendesian wine,
according to the latter writer seems to have had a sweet
flavor. The wine of the Thebais was particularly light,
especially about Coptos. The wine of the latter city was .so
thin that it could be 'easily thrown off. It was "so whole-
some", says Athenaeus, "that the invalids might take it without
inconvenience even during 'a fever". Upper Egypt, according
to Athen. I, 60 produced a poor quality of wines. Viticulture
was engaged in as far south as Meroe the ancient capital of
Ethiopia since c. 600 B. C. , at which time the seat of govern-
ment was transferred from Napata to that place. The wine
of Meroe has been immortalized by Lucian 6 . On the whole
1) Pliny XIV, 18.
2) Anthylla ("AvOuXXcc) was a town of considerable size on the Canobic
branch of the Nile, some few miles south-east of Alexandria.
3) Ecbolas from ^KpdXAuj "to eject".
4) See Pliny, Hist. Nat. XIV, 9. Cf- also Athenaeus, Deipnos. I, 30
"Afendaeum vinnm coelestia numina meiunf.
5) Pacdagog. II, c. 2.
6) Athen. I, p. 33 f; Strabo, XVII, p. 799; etc. Here it may also be men-
tioned that the story of the shipwrecked sailor, which contains popular ideas
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
5
the Classical writers pass a favorable judgement on the qua-
lity of the Egyptian wines. An exception appears to be
Martial. This writer considered them all as being of an in-
ferior grade, judging from his statement that the vinegar of
Egypt is better than its wine (XIII, 122). Also Apollodorus,
the physician, in a treatise on wines, addressed to Ptolemy,
king of Egypt, recommended for medicinal purposes foreign
wines rather than those of his own country. He praised par-
ticularly the Peparthian J , and the wine ol Pontus. This may
have been due merely to psychological reasons. The imagi-
nation thus was a factor introduced to effect a cure, by the
mere prescription of a foreign wine, which was little known in
the home country.
The Greek and Roman writers in the last centuries before
and after our era laud Egypt also as a country with plenty
of wine. We have seen above that the Mareoticum was even
exported to Rome, yet it appears that Egypt produced just
enough wine for its own home consumption.
The introduction of Islam in Egypt limited the culture of*
vine to a great extent. In the year 401 a. H. during the reign
of Hakim many people of Cairo were beaten and led shame-
fully through the streets of the city, because they had sold
wine, amongst other forbidden merchandise. In 402 a. H.
Hakim prohibited the sale of raisins, and issued orders against
their importation. A large quantity of raisins was thrown
into the Nile or burned, while other immense quantities were
regarding the wonderful country of Punt, ij a , situated along the
African and Asiatic coasts of the Gulf of Aden, does not fail to give refe-
rence to viticulture in that country (lines 47 and 48). In the country of the
Niam-niam, on his journey from Marra to the bill of Gumango, Dr. Schwein-
furth "had time to explore the magnificent vegetation of the adjacent hills.
The wild wine (// Schimperi] was loaded with its ripe clusters and afforded
me a refreshment to which I had been long unaccustomed. These grapes
were less juicy than those that grow upon the vine-clad hills of Europe, and
they left a somewhat harsh sensation upon the palate; but altogether, and
especially in colour, they reminded me of our own growth" (Schweinfurth,
The Heart 'of Africa, 2nd Engl. edition, Vol. II, pp. 234 and 235).
i) Pliny, XIV, 7. Some scholars read Praeparentium. Preparethos was
one of the Cyclades, famous for its wines (Ovid. Met., VII, 470).
6 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
thrown into the streets and trodden down. The vineyards of
Gizah were cut down and orders promulgated everywhere to
do the same all over the country 1 . In Miniet ibn al-Khasib
(^^oil ^\ A^i*) vine was cultivated in Idrisi's time.
The travelers who visited Egypt in the Middle Ages
have little to say regarding its wines. Hans Jacob Breuning
von und zu Buchenbach visited Egypt in 1579. He says that
Egypt has no wine, but for the sake of pleasure some vines
have been planted occasionally in the gardens 2 . Pater Wans-
leben who on June 30, of 1672, went by boat from Rashid
(Rosette) up-stream, met with an occurance which shows how
strictly the Mohammedan Turks prohibited the use of wine.
Some young Turkish sailors discovered that the pater had
a supply of wine which he had brought with him from Mar-
seilles. They became infuriated and wanted to throw the
wine bottles into the Nile 3 . L. F. Norden narrates that he
received plenty of coffee and grapes on his journey through
Egypt and Nubia in the year of 1737. These grapes were
indeed small, but ,of an excellent taste 4 . Savary 5 in his
description of the old Arsinoitic nomos shows that the Copts
at that time still cultivated the vineyards of their ancestors
and that they gathered excellent grapes from which they pre-
pared a white wine of agreeable taste. Maillet 6 who wrote
a few decades earlier remarks that most of the Egyptian
vineyards are situated in the Fayyum. He notes also that the
Egyptians esteemed the leaves of the grape-vine much more
highly than the fruit itself. They were accustomed to wrap
chopped meat with these vine-leaves and to cook the whole
to a tasty dish. Jomard 7 again mentions the vineyards of the
1) S. de Sacy, Chrest. Arab. I, p. ir, ir.
2) Orientalische Keys* desz Edlen und vesten Hansz Jakob Breuning Ton
und zu Bouchenbach etc. Printed at Strassburg by Johann Carolus, 1672, p. 156.
Quoted from Wonig, Die Pflanzen ini alien Aegypten, 1886, p. 254.
3) Retazione ddlo stato presence dell Egitto, Perigi, 1677, p. 59. Quoted
from Wonig, o. c., p. 261.
4) See Wonig, o. c.
5) Lettres sur I'Egypte, II L. troisieme, 1777. Quoted from W'onig, o. c.
6) Rescription de I'Egypte, 1740, L. XI; quoted from Wonig, 'o. c.
7) Description de I'Egypte, Edit. II, Tom. IV, p. 439; quoted from
Wonig, o. c.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
Fayyum. According to him, however, vineyards are not to be
found elsewhere in Egypt.
The oldest Egyptian inscriptions refer to different kinds of
wine. They distinguish between white wine, (| AA a lion 1 ,
and red wine, M -AA.C3Q. Besides the most common
word for wine (j < ? > Q , there appear other designations for it 2 .
In the inscriptions of Edfu appears the name $3,
"their heart is i<
toxicated with genuine wine". Dend. Mar.
C""'^ =v !3 (c) ^A o.tt.rt f~*\ a^^=
xs* r\ Jm , -, "The inhabitants of Dendera are intoxicated
^ O ^ I * * | \j=
from wine". S3izv (Medic. Pap. 4, 3) refers probably to a spe-
cial kind of wine. A certain wine produced in the great oasis 3
bore the name "The green Horus-eye", * . *yA j[ AA.
T ^T A A sacrificial stone which was found in Pompeii and
which is referred to king Psammetichos II. refers to this wine.
It reads:
Ib-r'-nfr-lb-r') has come to thee, O Atum, lord of On; he has
offered unto thee the (produce of the) Horus-eye. It has ho-
nored thee, O Atum, lord of On, the son of the sun, Psam-
metichos, by (presenting) the double-jars". Regarding the wine-
cellar in Esna 4 it is written in one of its texts J?U T ^->*S
1) While wine, n < ~ > O ^ D I I 1 AA, T iiga; Q S! CUD O
-d ^
N456a; T 119 a; W 148 a has the reading ^ =n=; c o m P- 's-beer. White
I I U
wine seems to have been preferred by the Egyptians to the red wine.
2) 'Irp occurs as a geographic designation in LD II, 46, 47, 50 a; Mariette,
Mastabas, p. 185, 325 (I ~ S, i. e., "the wine domain".
1:U P
3) See Aeg. Z., 1868, p. 85 ff.
4) Esna (L^\) was renowned for its grapes iu the days of Idrist. They
8 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
IN ^/ 9 ? ? , "furnished with all good things and with the
produce of the Horus-eye (i. e., wine)". Diimichen, Hist. Insc/tr.,
II, 53, 6, 20 JjIsJ O JH V ^ ^_ j^j ^ .. The vineyard of
Sohet has (the produce of) the green Horus-eye". This pas-
sage and that of Dum., Hist. Inschr., II, 53, b, 18 AM Jgg *--=>
^ ? _ ? / [1 5S> "The fertile field contains gra-
AAAAAA O O O A I LJ
pes 1 , the produce of the 'Horus-eye' is wine", makes it cer-
tain that the "green Horus-eye" designates a wine and not
another intoxicating drink 2 . The 'green Horus-eye' was a pro-
duct of 3^ Ombosl. 112: IpS jtr H anc * of Hat-
uVimnt, Diimichen, Temp. Inschr. I, 73, 4 ? y Tl
* A -L /
According to Dum. Kal. Inschr. Tafel 109 it causes good
humor ' o^^^=51^ " The golden fe ddess )
became good-humored on account of the 'green Horus-eye'-wine".
On the stele of Khabiousokari, in the Museum of Cairo 3 ,
a certain wine is called k3y, lfc\ (]. The same stele men-
-CC^ I
tions also a wine named irp-w3, \\ .-, ). Another brand
of wine is met with under the designation sdw-ib, M C^3 "O 1 J QA,
which probably means either "satisfying beverage", or, "thirst-
grew there in such abundance and such superior quality, that they were dried
and shipped all over Egypt (Jaubert, Geo. d'Idrisi, p. 128).
i) See also Mar. Dend. I, 17, 21: "He brings to thee the fertile field,
bearing grapes (and) the Horus-eye wine pure things, which thou drinVest
(and) which gladden thy heart and cause joy to overflow in thee". Wns =
grapes, not coriander (Loret, V. in R. T. XV, 105 flf.). Maspero, Et. Eg. I, 233:
"My clusters of grapes ( /?*^ V\ .25s ] beget thy drunkenness".
V3 ^ /WVA O /
-CS>- ft <^>
2} The "white Horus-eye", .0 _ ^ T _ <> is milk. The "green Horus-
*5* A O
eye" is probably a spiced wine, judging from an inscription in Esna.
3) See Weil, Raymond, Des monuments et de rhistoire des IF et IIP
dynasties egyptiennes, Paris, 1908, p. 251.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. g
quenching beverage" 1 . Whether the beverage called Sbb.t,
P. is a wine-brand remains doubtful. The same
x ! j l
doubt exists as to hlwh.t, W v > Since it is found in
one passage 2 together with ///, ^0, "intoxicating beverage",
i. e., wine, it is doubtless a drink, either a special brand of beer
or wine, and it is not the name of a special drinking-vessel.
The inscriptions further mention the w;/-wine, i*"^ "Wf", i. e.,
dark wine. In Pap. Anast, IV, 12, 11 a Semitic loanword occurs
which refers to the wine-must as it comes from the wine-press.
~\ AAAW <^^ > *\^ I 4
The word is tinrekw, A v\ O i named together with
Ui i i ^r^ Jl i
irpw, 7@| : i, "wines", $dhw, m, "pomegranate-
I c=^a A _U. I I I
O
_.
wine" and dbw, <z^* 1 ^\ jyj fig-wine 3 . Ti(n)rkw is derived
from ?p_n, "to tread", "to press the grapes", (cf. ttTPfi D^p?
"must" from ttT^ -|- Dp^, "to tread") 4 according to Brugsch.
-\ A/VAAAA
Loret (in Rec. trav. XV, p. 105 ff.) considers Jl
to be a liquor prepared from dnrgZ ,
<:=:
I
the fruit of which, according to Pap. Anast. Ill, 2, 3 4, has
the taste of hone:
. He furthermore identifies the plant with the carob,
^
stating "en Egypte, et dans d'autres pays on fait encore de
7\ mentioned for the first time on the stele of Tetiankhni,
in the Museum of Liverpool. See Maspero, Histoire, I (1895), p. 250; Gatty,
Catalogue of the Mayer Collection; I. Egyptian Antiquities, No. 294, and Weil,
o. <-., p. 240.
2) In Dend. Mar. Hathor is called
i. e., "the mistress of intoxicating drinks, the lady of hlwh.t".
3) On dlb , "fi^-wine" see below p. 18. Written c =^a If // in Pvr.
n^- J 6
W 1463; c^^. ' N 454 a.
-J ^-^
4) See Brugsch, WB, s. v.
1O Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
nos jours une boisson rafraichissante avec le sue de Caroube
mele a de 1'eau ou a d'autres liquides". We may finally men-
tion the wine A O prepared either from the sap or J:he fruit
of the(|J^| tree.
Besides these different designations for the word "wine"
of which irp, n ~ is by far the most common *, the wines
or their special brands, are also named according to their
places of origin. Through these geographic attributes we are
enabled to locate the most important vine-growing districts
of Egypt. The Pyramid texts mention the "wine of Lower
-\ Egypt" 2 . Another wine is called irp rs, "wine of Upper-
Egypt". Most of the place-names refer naturally to places or
districts situated in the Delta. Important is an inscription at
Esna for the enumeration of different kinds of wine. This in-
scription has the following passage _ [jgg f o J
.0
I
O ^^ "The produce of Pelusiumf?), of Hat-seha-
<nr> @ I u
Hor : \ together with (that of) the oasis Kenem, and the pro-
duce of the oasis Dsds. .(Whenever) the delivery occurs, then
appears hearty joy and drunkeness in it, and they intoxicate
themselves totally in its district". In the tomb of Ptah-Hotep
at Saqqara 4 mention is made of three of the most important
i) This word is preseived in Greek in a verse of Sappho [Athen. Deipn.
n, 39]
c Ep|itdc b' \i6v puiv 0eoic
A general name for wine, used less frequently than Irp is sB .t, JtTtT
) fl^^^, Pap. T. 1,8- W. I47-N. S i S ; later () "
passim.
3) The most westernly city of the Libyan nomos. See below p. 12,
note i.
4) Bum. Result. XIII, 7.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. H
wines of Ancient Egypt, i.e., irp im.t, n* r'^TJJ^ ~, "wine
1 LI
of 'Imet" J , irp sjn, (1 ... /P] 19, (vocalized sajn\ the name
is mentioned in the Old Testament, Ezek. XXX, 15 "po, Sept.
Saiv) 2 "wine of Pelusium", and irp him (j ^^ ffi\ j ^j) "wine
of the fishermen-village" 3 .
i) 'Imt (Yemet] = modern Nebesheh, about 8 miles to the S. E. of Tanis
and 9 miles to the N. W. of as-Salihtyeh. The wine of Nebesheh is men-
tioned iu Pyr. T i2Oa; W I49a; N 457a; j^jl ~ Beni Hasan I, pi. 17;
'O f\*
LD II. 67, Saqqara, Dyn. 5. Regarding the city of
Ptahhotep (see above; cf. Hawara, reprod. Petrie, Hist. I, fig. no); 77 Aby-
_^_ L ^ II
dos i, 337J '"T^ Pieret II, 31 (26. Dyn.) and ^~~^ cf. BHI, 23; for etymology
| see Pyr. T 347 ff. f cf. RIH (Dyn. 3-4, the title)
I
Petrie, Nebesheh 11 ~ I2 > where situation of city is given;
"
.6. , .
2) Spiegelberg, in Aeg. Z., 49, p. 81 has shown that the city of ajn, written
I \\ O - i in the demot. pap. Cairo 31 169, 3, 26 is identical with Pelu-
sium. Spiegelberg ad /. gives also the different writings of the place as con-
tained in the old winelists, i. e. , (Cairo, 1693); p. (L. D. II, 67);
(Saqqara, Mereruka B 5); (Saqqani, Mereruka B C 3); Q
Papyr. 92 Kagemui-Saqqara); f|Q (Diim. Result. XIII, 6 Ptah-hotep, ed
Davies, I, pi. 30). ; In the same article Spiegelberg also established the reading
of that name as jf/, (vocalized &ajri). See p. 83 of the Aeg. Z. In Ashur-
banipal, Cylinder A, Col. I, line 93 Sjn is written >^y^^ffx^f^
aiuSi-^i-nu, which makes the vocalization Sajn doubtful. The Assyrian text,
however, confirms Spiegelberg's identification of S}n with Pelusium. The vici-
nity of Pelusium appears to have been most noted also for its beers ; see below
p. 76. For wine of Sajn in the Pyramid Texts see T 122 a; W 151 a and
N 459 a.
3) A ^C ^w.name of a locality of Lower Egypt (near Lake Mareotis?).
A ^jC
1 2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
A territory is several times mentioned in the texts, renowned
for its wines, i. e., ^j? imn, TflVT t] ( , "the vine-bearing region
I >WW\A I
of Amon". This is the name given in the lists of nomes
to a territory which belonged to the city of mvt-nt-Hapi,
> the city of the Apis-bull", which is "Asti- of
.
c \c u
the Classical writers 1 . This district was also known by the
name of $3-mnh. Dend. Mar. says of this district "the vine-
yard of Mnh has wine", TtTtT. ^ i ^^^ n =rt It: was si -
/WWVA V| I U "
tuated in the third nomos of Lower Egypt, called imn.t A^
that is, the Libyae nomos (Ptolemy IV, 5 5). Pliny calls the
capital of this nome nobilis religione Aegypti locus, and accord-
ing to Strabo XVII, p. 799 it was loo stadia distant from
Paraetonium. The Libyan nomos was near the Lake Mareotis,
renowned for its excellent wines. The banks of a canal or of
a lake in this third nome of Lower Egypt, which bore the
name *, """ "~, were planted with vines. An inscription
AAAAAA 1 E
narrates "(the locality of) An bears grapes (and) $3-mnh bears
wine" -H- -rO i - The
AAAAAA T ' AA/WVA O O O /WWW V I
Pyramid Texts mention the wine of NhSmw, (1
n
See also Diimichen, Die Oasen der Libyschen Wuste, Tafel XIX (] *\
1
i) The city of Apis of Ptolemy IV, 5, 5 seems to refer to the city
called Hat-seha-Hor
Brugsch, Geo., p. 513), which is identical with Hat-itar-imn . t, I ^Tf^. The
LD -Jl I \tg
city of Apis to which Herodotus (II, 18) refers can hardly be the same place.
On the city of Apis see also above p. 10, note 3.
2) Mar. Dend. I, 66, 16 R
WW\A O O O
-> "I bring
unto thee l An bearing grapes (and) SB-mnh bearing wine which will
cause thy heads to wag".
/wwv\
reotic wine.
The Wines of the Aucient Orient.
w 1 5 a ; T 121a ; N 45 8a > that is the
One of the most renowned vine-districts of Upper Egypt
belonged to the city of Diospolis parva, in the seventh nomos.
The most famous vineyard of Diospolites was that called Sft.t,
3J[ c c ^ i . Sft.t is the name of a mountain situated in the se-
venth nome, according to the investigations of de Rouge 2 .
Brugsch later held it possible that the name Sft.t may be
an oasis of the Libyan desert near al-Khargeh but there is
no reason why the results of de Rouge's investigations should
be doubted. A possible indication of viticulture at Diospolis
parva is contained also in the name of a certain district of
Ht-shm, which is called knm.t, * ^m> J '* e> ' "the vineyard", or,
"the vine-domain". Brugsch, Diet. Geogr. p. 1345: "Art thou
not in Knm.t of Ht-shm (Diospolis parva)?", O^/Q^
^ fin The oldest reference to the wines of the
oases of KMrgeh
capital m and Dakhel capital
is found in Osorkon's I. record of temple ^ifts 3 . It reads:
,,His ....... J tribute is (the produce of the oases of) Dakhel
and Khargeh, consisting in wine and pomegranate -wine; Hemy
wine and wine of Telusium 5 likewise, in order to maintain
......... his house according to the word thereof". The
wine of Khargeh was of a very good quality; DGI, Tafel 89
1. 3 T//wwvAGj , "very good wine of Khargeh", also Brugsch,
i) Cf. Diim., Kal. Iwchr. 103 "the vine-branches of Sft.t flourish in their
hands
Oasen der Libyschen VVuste, plates XV and XVII.
2) Text, geogi-. du temple d'Edfou, p. 83.
3) See Naville, Bubastis, I, pis. 51 and 52.
4) The name of the god is broken away.
5) I. e., &jn, {*jn\
14 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Geogr., Tafel LI, No. 1422 ( '' Another
wine-producing district was Tbui, a ffiHrx/^i and the city of
AAAAAA /VA. ^
Nham.t, V|> -. The two are named together with the oases
Khargeh and Dakhel and the cities of Nebesheh and Pelu-
sium 1 . The Egyptians received also wine from the oasis
called Bahriyeh (the "northern" oasis of the texts) 2 . De Rouge,
Edfou XXXIX. 4 V\ ^ o \ (1 <z^> , *w* would contain a
J^\2 W H (J 1 O O O I AAAAAA
reference to viticulture at Heroo(n)polis, in case that v\
_M^
is but a somewhat unusual writing of the name of the city.
We have seen above that Athenaeus knew of the wine of Coptos.
A reference to the viticulture of that city is found in J. de
Rouge, L,x.giogr., p. 72 m L e -
\
I
"its riverbanks and its vines". That the vine was cultivated
about Coptos is seen particularly from the name of a territory
belonging to the fifth nome of Upper-Egypt (the Coptites of
the Ancients), which was called ht hsp.t, /] 9 , "the vine-
c "-I /\ U a
terrace". Vineyards were planted in Egypt proper as. far south
as Elephantine. In the lower country of the first noinos of
Upper Egypt, whose capital was Elephantine, we meet with
the name of a district, which was called simply "the wine-
district", fl ^ The culture of vine at that district, as well
1 U i=r
as for all parts of Upper-Egypt and the oases, was compara-
tively late. It is not until the Ptolemaic times that viticulture
is actively engaged in about Elephantine.
Vineyards were planted also in the vicinity of Heracleo-
polis. We have the testimony of an officer of the Saitic pe-
i) "The grapes of Knm (Khargeh), the produce of Dsds (Dakhel), the
wine of the districts of Tbui, the cities of Neham.t, fm, and &/>", Diimichen,
DieOascn der'^Lib. Wuste, pi. XVI. The grape, or raisin, of Dakhel appears to have
come on the market by the name "Oasis- grape"; see Br., WB., Vol. VII, p. 1129
2) See Steindorff, Durch die Libysche JVuste zur Amonsoase, 1904, p. 1446*".
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. jc
riod, called Hor 1 . He states upon his stele that he had
planted two vineyards there, in order to provide wine for the
god Huneb. Judging from the vineyard scenes in the tomb
of Paheri at al-Kab, viticulture was practised also in the vici-
nity of this ancient city.
One of the most famous vineyards of Egypt was the
vineyard of Arrion, situated in the Delta near the city of
L e., OWtpfi Gen. XL VII, n. The city
was situated "on the bank of the canal Ptry\
(Pap. Anast IV, 6, 11) It may possibly be identical with the
ancient city of Tanis (Egyptian
/WWVA = _ WWW /VAAAAA
1?S of the Old Testament; Assyrian > A^ 1 ^). In this
case Ptry would be the modern bahr al-Mashra. The vineyard
bore the name Ka-ti-kemtt*. How far this vineyard reaches back
in the history of Egypt is not known. But we know that it existed
in the time of Ramses II. In the wine-cellars at the Ramesseum
have been found many sherds from broken wine-jars, which
bear the name of this vineyard 3 . According to Pap. Anast.
3, 2, 6 it yielded sweet wine. In Pap. Harris, pi. 8, 1. 5 ff.
Ramses III. says "I made for it Ka-n-kemet, inundated like
the two lands, in the great lands of olive, bearing vines,
(being) surrounded by a wall around them by the iter". King
Ramses III. took great interest, it seems, in viticulture. He
paid particular attention to Ka-n-kemet, but he also extended
this interest to distant places. Thus we read in the Papyrus
Harris, pi. 7 lines lofif. "Vineyards I made for thee in the
Southern Oasis, and the Northern Oasis likewise without num-
ber; others (I planted) in the South with numerous lists. They
were multiplied in the Northern country by the hundred-
thousand. I furnished them with gardeners from the captives
of the countries, provided with lakes , supplied with
lotus flowers, and with pomegranate-wine and wine like draw-
1) See Pierret, Mon. du Louvre, I, p. 14.
2) I. e., "The genius of the Black Land (= Egypt)".
3) See Aeg. Z., 1883, 33 ff., and Spiegelberg, Ostraca, pis. 19 34.
16 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
ing water, for the purpose of presenting- them for thee in
"Victorious Thebes" 1 .
Since the Egyptians were cpiAoivot 2 , i. e., lovers of wine,
it is but natural that they expended their genius and their
time also on the preparation of all kinds of artificial wines.
The home production of grape-wine was never sufficient to
meet the home consumption. To meet this deficiency they
either imported foreign wines 3 , or else made their own arti-
ficial wines. The wine import into Egypt is well attested
in the inscriptions. Herodotus III, 6 mentions it. Twice
a year a considerable quantity of wine was received from
\ Phoenicia and Greece. In the ruins of Daphnae (modern Tell
JAA/WVA
,, Hebr.
I '
cnjEOH; the city was situated to the North of the caravan-
route between al-Kantara and as-Salihiyeh) wine -jars of
distinctly Greek style were found, having been sealed with
the seals of Amasis (first half of 6th cent. B. C.) 4 . These wine-
jars were imported filled with wine. Herodotus also makes
the statement that the earthen jars, in which the wine was
imported, when emptied, were used for quite a different pur-
pose. They were then collected and sent to Memphis from
every part of Egypt and then, after these jars had been filled
with water, they were returned to Syria. Amongst the wines
imported into Egypt from Phoenicia figure largely those of
Tyre 5 and Laodicea. The caravan-route which the Phoenician
wine-merchants travelled led from Gaza through the desert via
Raphia, Rhinokorura, Ostracine, past the station at mount Kasius
to Pelusium. The journey from Gaza to mount Kasius took
i) See also Pap. Harris p. 27, 8: "I gave pomegranate-wine and wine a.s
daily offerings, in order to present the land of On in thy splendid and myste-
rious seat". Cf. also line 9: "I made great gardens for thee, fitted out, con-
taining their groves, bearing pomegranate-wine and wine in the great house
of Atum 1 '. During the thirty -one years of his reign, Ramses III. bestowed
514 vineyards.
2} Athen. I, 34, b c. Athepaeus, Deipnos. I, 35 "Dion academicus vino
sos ac bibaces Aegyptios esse iniquit".
3) Egypt, according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 28, exported
a little wine into Cana, of the kingdom of Eleazus, the frankincense country
4) See Petrie, Nebesheh, 64. 5) Heliod. Aethiop. V, 27.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 17
five days, and thence to Pelusium one day 1 . Since the difficul-
ties in the transportation of wine were great, it was completely
lacking in the earliest times; where local production was
limited, as in the case of Egypt, they were compelled to make .
artificial wines. Pliny, XIII, 5 states that in the former times
figs, pomegranates, the myxa 2 and other fruits were used in
Egypt in the preparation of artificial wines. Datewine 3 appears
to have been a favorite beverage, according to Pliny (XIV, 19)
and Dioscorides (V, 4), who tell us that this wine was greatly
esteemed. Two modes of making this wine seem to have been
in use. The Egyptians either scratched the stem of the date- /
palm with a sharp knife, and gathered the sap into jars and
let it ferment, or else they pressed the fresh dates, and the
juice thus gained was brought to fermentation. The first
method produced a wine which spoiled within a few hours,
while by the other method the wine could be kept for a con-
siderable period. Datewine, which was used also for cleansing
the entrails of the dead, formed an excellent and cheap drink
for the poorer people 4 . For cheapness it was, perhaps, only/
surpassed by the barley-beer. According to Xenophon 5 date-
wine brought on severe headache 6 . A beverage is frequently
named in Egyptian inscriptions, called shedekh, ^ x The
oases of Dsds\\tA\ \ and Kn m ./
/wwv\
1) Josephus, JB. y., IV, ii, 5; Herod. Ill, 5, 6 and Strabo I, 3, 17.
2) The cordia myxa of Linnaeus.
4) Herodotus, II, 86.
5) Cyr. II, 3.
6) Datewine was used for medicinal purposes. The fruits of the ed-Dom
palm, mama, M?, ^, ^?^\ %? 1k A ' (Hyphaent thebaica Mart.
= Cuceifera thebaica Desfon.) were used for making beer. The dates of Egypt
were considered delicacies in Rome fGellius, VII, 16).
7) ^> hTDum., Kal. Inschr. 120, I. n; cf. 119, i. 10; Pap. Anast. I,
5, 2 4, 7, 4 and often.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 2
18 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
produced shedekh as well as wine *. It must have been a very
expensive beverage, since in the winelists it generally precedes
the name of the grapewine. It is most likely the pome-
granate-wine of which Pliny states 2 that it was in use amongst
the Egyptians. A third artificial wine was called baqa. fej ..
jjr v
It was probably made from figs or dates. This wine was im-
ported into Egypt from Palestine 8 . A liquor, made of figs,
was called dbjj c^ i) Q Q (Med. pap. 19, i), dbjj.t <
V
(Pap. Anast. 3, 3, 5). See also Pap. Anast. 4, 12, l. This liquor
is compared to a flame, since it burned the throat (Pap. Anast.
3, 3, 5). In regard to fig- wine in the Pyramid Texts see W 146 a,
T 11/a, N 4543, Pepi II, 1. 154. See also Dumichen, Der Grab-
palast, Vol. I, pi. XXV. 1. 95.
Mixed or spiced wines were common in Egypt 4 . The
Egyptians mixed or flavored their wines with the juices of
rue, hellebore and absinthium 5 . Whether mixed or spiced
wines were admissible for use in the religious cult, is unknown,
but it is possible, to conjecture that contrary to the practise
i) Diimichen, Kal. 119, 10; RecueillV, 82, 5; 83, 7 etc. In RecueillV,
79, 2 occur the writings < o^ ^> and
2) Pliny 14, 19; see al?o Dioscor. 5, 34.
3) According to Pap. Anast. 3 and 4, Sangar, ihe raountainious country
between the Euphrates and Tigris (modern Sindjar) exported the following
beverages to Egypt: qad'auar, khenaua, nekfet'er and yenbu. The Hittite
country, i. e., Northern Syria and Mesopotamia furnished the ^ \N A
- ^
\ 7^ /VAAAAA X^.^_ -\ [\ \\
_ -\ [\
Sangar furnished the A (I <c=r> ; Alashiya the
and the country beetween the Orontes and the Balikh
(Pap. Anastasi 4, pi. 15, lines 2 4).
4) Of interest is in this connection the popular etymology of the royal
name Psammetichus = pl-s3-n-mtk, "the mixer", that is, he" who iuvented
mixed drinks. See Spiegelberg, in OLZ, 1905, Vol. 8, 559 ff. Assyrian: Pi-
$a-me-il-ki, Pi-sa-mi-is-ki , Tu-sa-me-il-ki , Tallqvist, Knut, Assyrian Personal
Names, pp. 181, 182.
5) Pliny. XIV, 16.
. J
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. IQ
of the Hebrews the Egyptians had no religious scruples in
presenting as offerings adulterated or even artificial wines.
Wine- offerings were made at the common offerings and the
offerings of the dead. Wine always heads the list of liquid /
offerings. In Heliopolis, however, wine did not belong to the
offerings, according to Plutarch 1 . He states that the priests
brought no wine into the temple and that they considered
drinking during day-time as unseemly TOU Kopioo KCU |3atfi)\.ea)c;
(scil. 'HXiou) ecpopcovTO^. The same writer also states that the
priests abstain from the use of wine only on days of fasting.
No. i. An Egyptian Siphon (after Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians].
For the mixing of wine the Egyptians used the siphon. The
process is illustrated on a tomb-painting in Thebes (see Illu-
stration No. l). A servant is seen directing the wine of three
raised wine jars by means of three long siphons into a two-
handled wine-cup. Two siphons are represented as being
already in action. To exhaust the air the servant has put the
end of the third siphon into his mouth. He sucks it, and thus
causes the contents of the third jar to flow. Another ser-
vant is seen holding two small siphons in his left hand. He
stands behind the frame-work and re-fills the slowly emptying
jars with a cup.
[) Plut., Is. Chapt. VI.
2*
2O Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
The Egyptian monuments of the early time are silent
regarding the question of a wine-tax. This, of course, does
not imply that there was none such existing. It is rather to
be conjectured that the contrary was the case. For the time
before the end of the twentieth dynasty we possess testimony
that the wine tax was levied and that this tax consisted in
kind. That is, the wine tax was paid with wine. In the stele
of Bilgai 1 , the Overseer of the Fortress of the Sea, who pro-
bably lived in the time of Tewosre, Bilgai boasts in the last
section of the inscription of the greatness of the revenues for
which he was responsible. His people he assessed to an ex-
cess of 25,368 measures of wine. Lines 17bff. read: "4632
measures of wine was the (assessed) produce of my people.
I delivered them as 30000, an excess of 25, 368". The title of
Bilgai "overseer of the Fortress of the Sea" shows that the
wine spoken of, was wine produced in the Delta. The wines
imported from Syria and Greece were most likely subject to
a custom house tax even in the time of the end of the Middle
and the beginning of the New Empire. Although the Egyp-
tian records are silent on this matter, yet it seems that the
treasury of the State drew no small income from the custom
house receipts of foreign wines. In a letter of the king of
Alashiya and one of the "rabisu'of Alashiya to the king of Egypt
we seem to have an indication that the Egyptian state. had
its custom-house officials at the Delta-harbors. These letters
call the official of the customs amel pagari-ka, "the man who
makes claim for thee (i. e., the king)". No. 39 lines 17 20
read: a\me\l pa-ga-ri-ka ulia-ga-ar-ri-ib it-ti-su-nu, i.e., "Thy
custom-house official shall not draw nigh unto them (i. e., my
merchants and my ship)". No. 40, lines 2426: a[me\lu an-
nu-u ardu $a Sarri be[-li-ia\ u amel p\a\-ga-ri-ka it-ti[-$u]-nu
ul i-gi-ri-ib muhhi-hi-nu, i. e. "the men are servants of the
king, my lord, and thy custom-house official (who) is with
them, shall not draw nigh against them". Merchants and ser-
vants of foreign' kings thus seem to have enjoyed the privilege
of exemption from paying custom-house duties 2 . Under the rule
1) See Gardiner, in Aeg. Z., 50, p. 496. and pi. 4 facing p. 56.
2) Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, No. 39 and No. 40.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 21
of the Ptolemies the winetax seems to have been paid in money ! .
Wilcken, Griechische Ostraka, p. 270, 86 discusses the winetax of
the Roman period, called oivou TSAOC;. The tax is levied in the
Roman period from the owners of the vineyards, who produce
wine 2 . This tax may be viewed either as constituting an
assessment placed upon the amount ol the produce of wine
yielded from the individual vineyards, or as a tax placed on
the consumption of wine, which, according to Wilcken, may
have been levied indirectly on the producer, in order ultima-
tely to be paid by the consumer. The difference in the quality
of the grapes and the wine was seemingly instrumental in the
varying amount of the winetax. Theban strata, University
of Toronto Studies, 1913, pp. 124 125 gives three wine- tax
receipts. No. 88 (G. 280) is as follows: "Tithoes, son of Peto-
sorkon has paid through Horos for the valuation of wine for
the tenth year in the Upper toparchy 4 obols. Year 1O of
Domitianus our Lord, Hathur ll" (i. e , 90 A. D.). No. 89 (Gr. 70),
dated in 181 2 A. D. reads: "Miusis and his colleagues, super-
visors of the valuation of wine and palms to Pekrichis, son
of Pekrichis, son of Heraklas. We have received from you
for the valuation of wine of the produce of the twenty-second
year eleven dr. 2 obols = 11 dr., 2 obols, which we will pay
into the official bank". The third document dates back to
the early third century A. D.: "Aurelios athes, son
of Inaros and Plenis, son of Psenenphos, collectors of the
valuation of wine and palms of the third year, in respect
of Aurelios Pechutes, son of Premtotes, on */ 6 arura 2 4 dr.
Year 3, Mesore 8. Also for the fourth year 8 dr." A
custom-house receipt for wine imported upon a donkey is
preserved to us in the Tebtunis papyri 3 . It reads "Aure-
lius Plutammon has paid through the custom-house of Kaine
the tax of Vioo anc ^ Vso on importing upon one donkey
1) Wilcken, Griechische Ostraka, 86, No. 327.
2) The wholesale wine- mere hant = oive|UTTOpoc, Grenf. II, 61, and Pap.
Oxyr. I, 43. The wine-merchant oivoirpdrric or oivoTOJuXric BGU 34; Pap.
Berl. P. 1410. The wine-administrator = OiVOXipiO"Tr]C in Byz. [time, P. Oxyr.
14 r, 150 (Wilcken, o. c., p. 693).
3) Grenfell and Hunt, The Tebtunis Papyri, Part II, No. 362.
22 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
six jars of wine. The fifth year, Phamenoth, the fifth, the
fifth"i.
We turn next to the wines of Syria. Syria was the wine
country par excellence of the Ancient Near East 2 . Its climate
invited the culture of the vine, and the Syrian wines were
considered most excellent 3 . We have seen above that together
with Greece, Syria supplied Egypt with a considerable quan-
tity of wine 4 . In the tomb of Rekhmare, the Syrians are
represented as bringing their wines as tribute. At the time
of the XII. Dynasty, a region called Yaa in Syria is mentioned
as having more wine than water 5 . Tothmes III. describes
the wine in the presses of Daha to have been "like running
water", or. "like a stream" 6 . The most famous wine of Syria
was, perhaps, that of Chalybon, which was exported 'from Da-
mascus to Tyre 7 and into Persia. It was the wine drunk by
the Persian kings, and preferred by them to the exclusion of any
other kind 8 . The wine of Chalybon is mentioned also in the
bi(d) iruA(r|<;) KaivP|<; p' xai v
Aupr)\(io<;) TT\ouT(i|U|uiuv
iacpfujv rri dvuu ivi
oivou Kepa(iuia) '&. (TOU<;) e
0auevu)d ir(euirrrj)
e
2) Pangeum in Syria is considered by Hesychius as one of the itiany
places claiming to be the birth-place of Dionysos.
3) Ezek. 27, 18: Hos. 14, 7; Herod. Ill, 6; Athen., deipn. i; Strabo, geogr.
XVI; Pliny, hist. nat. XV, 9.
4) Herod. Ill, 6; Strabo, geogr. XVII.
5) Tale af Sinuhe: (81) "there were figs (82) in it and vines, more
plentiful than water was its wine". Sinuhe further narrates that following his
appointment, as sheikh of the tribe by Emuienshi (87) "I portioned the bread
daily and wine (88) for every day".
6) de Rouge, Rev. Arch., 1860, p. 297; Lepsius, Auswahl, 12, 5; Sethe,
Urkunden IV, 687, lines 11 13. Daha [=i!iT; i ta iHT(?)] is a name generally
used in a very vague sense. Partly it correspondents to Syria (and Phoenicia)
and partly to the Semitic Canaan. Its meaning cannot be narrowed to that
of "Phoenicia". Daha wines, }^J jj 1 "^ PD "^ ^ mentioned
Pap. med. Berlin XI, i.
7) Ezek. 27, 18; see also Delitzsch, Die Bibel und der Wein, p. 12.
8) Herodotus (I, 188) narrates that the clear, goodtasting water of the
Choaspes formed the ordinary drink of the Persian kings. They used to take
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 23
Cuneiform literature 1 . The wine of Libanios had the odor of
incense according to Pliny. He states "The Libanian vine also
produces a wine with the smell of frankincense with which
they make libations to the gods" 2 . Praiseworthy of mention
was also the wine of Apamea. "It is remarkably well adapted
for making mulsum 3 , like that of Praetutia in Italy" 4 . Elaga-
bulus supplied his horses at Rome with Apamene grapes
(Lampr. Elag. 21). An inscription, probably of the fourth
century A. D. ; over the door of a large wine-press near Apa-
mea, refers to the sweetness of the wine in the sunny Oron-
tes valley:
Nectareos succos, Baccheia munera, cernis
Quae bitis genuit sup aprico sole refecta
(CILIII, 188 [Bara]). The district of Damascus which is the
paradise of the Orient, must have been rich in vineyards
and wine. A subtle, although faulty, etymology finds in the
name Damascus, pttJE";, an allusion to the red juice of the
vine. According to Posidonius (in Athenaeus) vines of Cha-
lybon had been transplanted to Damascus. Hieronymus testi-
fies that still at his time Damascene wine was exported to
Tyre in his Comment, in Ezech. c. 27, p. Ill, 887: " significat
autenij quod inter ceteras negociationes Tyri, ad nundinas eius
de Damasco deferebatur vinum pinguissimum et lana prae-
cipua, quod usque ho die cernimus". Famous was the wine
of Laodicea 5 . Laodicean wine, according to the Periplus,
was imported into Abyssinia, the Somali Coast, East Africa, South
Arabia and India. Ibn Batuta I, p. 152 praises the vineyards of
Aleppo. According to Strabo Laodicea "is a very well-built
city, with a good harbor; the territory', besides its fertility in
along whole wagon-loads of this water in vessels of silver. For this reason
the xootarreiov ubwp was also called pamXiKOV.
1) See below p. 43, note 2.
2) Pliny, XIV, 22, 2. Cf. Hosea 14, 7 revised version "the scent thereof
shall be as the wine of Lebanon", -jfaab -p^ i-qt.
3) I. e. , honeyed wine. Either honey mixed with must or grape-juice,
or honey mixed with fermented wine. To both kinds the name mulsum is
applied. For a reference to the wine of Apamea, see also Waddington, Insc.
d'As. Min. n. 2644.
4) Pliny, XIV, 9. 5) Alexand. Trail, II. p. 483; Strabo, XVI, 751.
24 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
other respects, abounds with wine, of which the greater part
is exported to Alexandria. The whole mountain overhanging
the city is planted almost to its summit with vines". The country of
Alashiya, Q^ < T > lA \^> situated near Qadesh, according to
Pap. Anast. IV, pi. 15, line 2, furnished a liquor which was
called fity, , *><> b*to>, , ' a s P e '
cial kind of grape-wine (see E. de Rouge, Memoire sur la
propagation, p. 97 ^^ a ). In Nasir-i-Khusran's Diary of a Jour-
ney through Syria and Palestine l mention is made of the
grapes of Ma'arrah an Nu'man, southwest of Qinnasrin:
"There are here also fig-trees and olives, and pistachios and
almonds and grapes in plenty". The culture of vine at
Ma c arra an Nu'man is also mentioned by Idrisi. In Pap.' Anast.,
IV, 15, 3 the name of a certain beverage is given, which came
fromthecountr) ofAmurru, MQA J^vi 1 . It is called keny,
or also kenny. It is, however, likely that this name does not
refer to a certain brand of grape-wine, but that it is a special
fruit-juice, or a must' 2 . c Amr, Mu c allaqat 7 mentions the wines
of Baalbek and Qasirin. Idrisi refers to the fact that the vine-
yards of Baalbec produce more grapes than the people need
for home-consumption. Strabo 3 mentions the wine of Seleucia.
Good wine was grown in the Syrian Androna, which exported
it to Arabia 4 . Hassan ibnThabit 5 mentions the wine of Bait
Ras. The wine of al-Khuss in the neighborhood of Qadesia
is mentioned in Imruulqais XVII, 8: "merchants, who go up
from al-Khuss with wine, until they discharge it at Yusur''.
In the Hauran the wines of Sarkhad and Bosra enjoyed
renown 6 .
1) See Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, Vol. IV, p. 3. Nasir-i-Khusran
wrote in 1047 A. D.
2) Aeg. Z.. 1877, 32. 3) Strabo, VII, 5, 8.
4) l Anir Mu'allaqat I. "Now then, awake, and bring our morning draught
from thy goblet, and do not keep the wines of Anderein".
5) Ibn Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, 829, v. 4. Yaqut knows of two localities
of that name, one at the Jordan, the other near Aleppo. Both possessed
vineyards. .
6) Hamasa, 646; Kitab al-'aganl XI, 87, 7 and Yaqut III, 380.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 25
/ We read in Num. XX, 5 that the Hebrews regretted to
leave behind the wines of Egypt, at the time of their depar-
ture. Yet Palestine was a country richly blessed with vine-
yards long before the Hebrews arrived. This is attested even
in the Old Testament l . Wine, indeed, was one of the chief
products of the land 2 . It is probable that the proper ren-
dering of the expression "A land flowing with milk and honey"
(Ex. 3, 8) should be: "A land flowing with leben* (i. e. ; sour
milk and dibs (i. e., grape-syrup)". The words are equivalent
to "a land abounding in flocks and thickly planted with fruitful
vineyards". The grapes of the vicinity of Hebron were parti-
cularly renowned. Nasir-i-Khusran 4 says: "From the Holy
City to Hebron is six leagues, and the road runs towards the
south. Along the way are many villages with gardens and
cultivated fields. Such trees as need little water, as for example
the vine and the fig, the olive and the sumach, grow here
abundantly, and of their own accord". A number of place-names
bear witness to viticulture. A valley near Hebron bears the
name Nahal Eshkol (bsit^ bn?) 5 , i. e., "the valley of grapes".
South-west of Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, lay the city
of 'Anab (S3*). Abel Keramim (DTQ-$ 55) 6 , a village of the
Ammonites, was still rich in vineyards at Eusebius' time,
according to Onomastica sacra, ed. Lagarde, 225, 6. Beth
Hakkerem (D"V2Jl rns) 7 in Judah is another place-name indi-
cating the culture of vine. MNidda 1, 7, T 3, 11, b 2Oa biq'ath
beth kerem (DID mD, fl^pl) is a place-name testifying to the
culture of vine in the plain. The plain of Sharon, and farther
south the old country of the Philistines, were renowned wine-
districts in Rabbinic times until the beginning of the Middle-
1) Num. XIII, 24, The Hebrew tradition (Gen. 9, 20) saw in Noah the
originator of viticulture. The variety of grapes in ancient times, as now, was
very great in Palestine, and each kind had its special use.
2) Dt. 6, ii ; 7, 13; 8, 8; Hos. 2, 10. 14. 17; Jer. 5, 17; 39, 10.
3) Sour milk, according to the Kitab al-'agani VIII, 74 and 75 was con-
sidered to be food for slaves in Ancient Arabia. Cf. also the Diwan of the
Hudhailites, 96, 9 ; but compare Lebid XI, 4.
4) Pal. Pi). T. S., Vol. IV, pp. $253.
5) Nu. 13, 23 ff. ; 22, 9; Dt. i, 24. 6) Jdg. ii, 33.
7) Jer, 6, i; Neh. 3, 14.
26 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Ages. According to the Mishna Qeruchim and Chatulim pro-
duced the best grades of wine. Next follow the wines of Beth
Rima and Beth Laban in the mountain, and Kefar Signa in
the plain. These places were probably situated in the plain
of Sharon. MKil. 6, 5 mentions also the vineyard of Kefar 'Aziz
b Sabb. 147 b mentions the wine of Perugitha
Regarding the wine of the valley of Genne-
saret see Neubauer, Geogr. 45. 215. Solomon possessed a vine-
yard in Baal-Hamon ("pEjn b#3) l , The vineyards of Shilo are
mentioned in Jdg. 21, 19 ff. According to II. Chron. 2, 9, 14 the
people of Tyre were furnished with Judaean wine during the
building operations of the first temple, while at the time of
the second temple this wine was furnished to both the people
of Tyre and of Sidon 2 . Viticulture about the city of Lachish
is attested by -a representation of the Assyrian king Senna-
cherib, in which the king is shown seated upon his throne in
a hill-country, planted with figtrees and vines (see Illustr. No. 2).
In the Inscription of Una lines 24 and 25 we read 0<wwvv^
Jj Jin
"this army returned in safety (after) it had cut down
its figs (and) its vines", referring to the country of the Herusha
(r *" ^\ ), that is Southern Palestine. The wine
of Haru or Northern Palestine is not infrequently mentioned
by the Egyptians 3 .
The wines of Palestine, as well as those of Syria, were
very sweet, like syrup. The. wine of the plain of Sharon
was extremely strong. After it had been mixed in the pro-
portion of */ 3 wine to 2 / 3 water it still was equal in strength
to undiluted Carmel-wine. Different kinds of wines were
known to the Hebrews. The Babylonian Talmud 4 men-
tions the hlllston (rjXiotfTOv), a sweet and weak new wine.
i) Cant. 8, n. 2) Esra 3, 7.
3) See for instance Pap. Anast. 3, verso 2; 4. 16, I and Pitomstele 17
m> =f 1 s /WSAAA Q
_. 5 I I
U 66 o XC
"prima wine of Kharu".
4) Baba Bathra 97 a ff.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 27
In preparing this wine, the grapes were exposed to the sun
for a few days prior to pressing. Another new wine was
called "the smoked wine". "Three-leaf" wine (tfZ"ibm 13 VTfan
b Sabb 1 29 a) was the name of a wine pre ssed from the
No. 2. Sennacherib before Lachish; vine-clad hills in the background (after
Gressmann, Altorient. Texte und Bilder).
grapes of a vinestalk that had borne leaves for the third time.
Simmuqlm, i. e., the Psythia or Amminea of the Romans, was
the name of a wine prepared from raisins. Kushi was a dark
red wine prepared from dark blue grapes. From the grapes
28 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
of the wild-growing vine (Vitis labrusca L.) was prepared
a wine called tVWbS, Greek oivdvx)r), which seems to have
been used more generally for medical purposes *. For ritual
purposes and days of festivities only Yayin was permitted to
be used. Yayin was an old, unadultered grape-wine. The
custom of mixing the wines with water seems to have been first
introduced in the Graeco-Roman times 2 . It was considered
a deterioration of the precious and noble juice 3 . So it was
considered also in Rabbinic times, whenever wine was mixed with
honey or spices 4 . Honey-wine was not known to the ancient
Hebrews. Its foreign origin is shown by the nomenclature
otvojieXi, "pbttlStf in the Talmud 5 . Four parts of wine were
used to one part of honey. A second honey-wine, vinum
conditum, 'ptPl^p was a spiced wine, which received a /certain
quantity of frankincense (iDllb) and pepper ("pbsbS). The
fcttlpT, also called "pFO^OSK, Greek d\]/iviov, or (bJnvOiTr^
was a bitter-tasting herb-wine.
The vineyards of Engedi are mentioned in Cant. cant. I, 14.
Felix Fabri, writing about 1480 1483 of our era gives us the
following account of the vineyards of Engedi. "Moreover upon
these mountains there once stood that exceeding famous vineyard
of Engedi, wherein grew balsam beyond all price. This vineyard
was planted in this place, Engedi, by King Solomon. The author
of the Speculum Historiale says, by the mouth of Josephus,
that the queen of Sheba, who came to Jerusalem, from the ends
of the earth to hearken to the wisdom of Solomon, as is told
in I. Kings 1O, brought him many precious gifts, among which
was the root of the balsam, as being a gift beyond all price,
which root the king planted on the Mount of Engedi, and it
was grown in the vineyard there. This vineyard is mentioned
by Solomon in the Song of Songs, where he says: "My
beloved is like a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of
Engedi". This vineyard is now in Egypt, and I shall tell
who it was who dug it up and transplanted it, and of the
1) The vitis laorusca L. is possibly mentioned in Is. 5, 2. 4 under the
name ttJN3.
2) II. Mace. 15, 39 3) Is. i, 22. 4) Maas. sheni 2, i.
5) M. Shabb. 20, 2. 6) Pal. Pilgr. T. S., Vol. IX, p. 189.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 29
virtues of balsam and camphire, in Part II, p. 68. I have read
in an ancient pilgrim's book that some pilgrims to the Holy
Land once wandered over these mountains searching carefully,
and that in one place they found shoots of balsam, but no
shrubs. Beside balsam there once grew on this mountain an
excellent wine, wherewith it is believed that Lot's daughters
made their father drunk, as we read in Gen. 19". Burchard
of Mount Sion 1 (1280 A. D.) praises particularly the wine of
Bezek, west of Bethlehem. He writes "Half a league west of
Bethlehem is a village called Bezek, which abounds with ex-
cellent wine, so that there is no better to be found in the
land". The same author mentions also the wines in the Valley
of Rephaim, of Sidon, of the Lebanon, of Antaradus and of
Margat. Regarding the vineyards of Samaria and Moab see
Jud. 9, 1213. Judging" from the name of the city of Gath
(n|, Assyr. Gi-im-tu = Gi-in-tu] it appears that viticulture and
the making of wine must have been very prominent here as
well as in "isnirj nil and "jiBi nil. According to Babyl. Tal-
mud, Meg6a the country of Naphtali was everywhere covered
with fruitful fields and vineyards. In Galilee little wine was
produced, and for this reason, it was more greatly esteemed
than oil (Nazir, 31 b: KnBBB 5pTP KTQrn 13E tfb Kb^bto)-
Josephus, Wars, B III, c X, 8 states that Gennesaret "supplies
men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually,
during the months in the year".
The Talmud mentions certain wines which were prohibited
at a certain period, on account of the fact that these wines
were grown in places which were situated near settlements
inhabited by Samaritans. Thus Abod. zar. 4: "The wine of
Ogdor is forbidden to be drunk on account of the neighbor-
hood of Kefar Pagesh; that of Borgatha on account of the
neighborhood of Birath Sariqah; that of 'Ain-Kushith on ac-
count of the neighborhood of Kefar Shalem", TT3n btt r
btt? rip^no nn*o ^DDIO ^nsms 5toi TDDE IBD ^SSB iio&s &on
DbtD 152 ^DSia rpETD "p*. In Abod. zar. 31 a the reading is:
"fiotf tfnpn bttn KP^HO rrru ^a&B mox ^ans "p* ^ "P
"ISO
[) Pal. Pilgr. T. S., Vol. XII, pp. 89 ff.
^O Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
The Hebrews 1 liked to strengthen the wine by adding
spices, thus making it more palatable 2 . Wherever the Old
Testament speaks of "mixing the wine" 3 , the preparation of
such "spiced wines" is meant. Spiced wines were prohibited,
however, for ceremonial purposes. Wine mixed with myrrh
was considered a narcotic 4 , while amongst the Greeks and
the Romans, myrrh-wine was esteemed as less intoxicat-
ing, therefore being favored as a drink for women. The
Mishna (Baba Bathra 98 a) mentions perfumed wine, which
is possibly identical with spiced wine. The Classical writers
do not dwell on the discussion of the strictly Palestinian
wines. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that much
of the wine that was exported from Phoenicia was labelled
as Phoenician, or thought to be Phoenician wine by Ihe fo-
reign receivers, whereas it was originally prepared by peoples
living in the countries adjacent to Phoenicia.
Pomegranate- wine (C^iB") 0^0?) is mentioned in Cant. 8, 2.
The pomegranate, an apple-shaped red fruit of 510 cm dia-
meter, contains a large number of juicy fruitstones. It was
from this juice that pomegranate-wine was prepared. Apple-
wine seems also to have been known to the inhabitants of
Palestine 5 . During the time of harvest a sour beverage called
pph (Rt. 2, 14; cf. Ps. 69, 22) was sometimes used. Chomez
(Coptic MX, FMX; Aram, sbn; Syr. j^; Arab. JsL) is the
common word for "vinegar", which was customarily prepared
from a poor quality of wine (vinum culpatum}. It was con-
sidered a refreshing and strengthening beverage even in later
times; cf. f. i., jSabb. Ud, 1O ttfiirt riK M^ti pfcinfi. There
remains some doubt whether the following beverages should
be classed with the wines or the beer. According to Rabbinic
usage they should be enumerated amongst the beers, but we
shall rather follow the Greek and Roman usage and refer to
them here. From the fruit of the laurel-tree was prepared
the K-n K"Ott> (bPesach. 56 a). The leaves of the MD, i, e.,
1) All the ancient people were fond of spiced wines.
2) Yayin harekakh\ Cant. 8, 2.
3) Is. 5, 22; Ps. 75, 9; Prov. 9, 2. 5 (-rjOa). 4) Mk. 15, 23.
5.) Talm. M. Terum. 11,2
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 3!
the laurus malabathrum, also were used for making wine.
"Brier-wine", ^ttW btt? "Ott was a date-wine mixed with cus-
cuta, which grows on a thorn-bush ("Win). Similar was the
beverage called 1:08, prepared from the fruit of the USD brier
(See bKethub. 77 b and bPesach. 107 a).
Phoenicia also was one of the important wine countries
of the Orient. According to Schol. Apoll. Rhod. IV, 540 and
983 it shared the distinction, amongst other countries, to
have contained the birthplace (Nysa) of Dionysos. Phoenicia
cultivated wine of excellent quality and great quantity. Phoe-
nician wine was exported together with the wines bought in
Palestine and Syria and elsewhere. Most of it was shipped
to Egypt, but also Arabia, eastern Africa and India were
supplied with the famous stocks of the Phoenician wine-mer-
chants. Diod. 5, 17 states that the traffic of wine led the
Phoenician traders even to Spain and the nearby islands.
Wine constituted one of the chief articles of the Phoenician
traders and the gain from this export article must have been
enormous. Compare f. i., Horace, Od. I, 31, lo: dives et aureis
mercator exsiccet culullis vina Syria reparata merce Dis earns
ipsis\ quippe ter et quater anno revisens aequor Atlanticum im-
pune. The wine of Tyre is mentioned in Alex. Trail. II, p. 327, 407,
457, 485, and 495; Pliny 14, 9(7). It claimed distinction together
with the Syrian Chalybonium ! . Tyre was richer in beer and
wine than in water, for we read in Pap. Anast. 18 that "water
is brought to her by ship". An inscription of Heraclea in
Lucania 2 , dating from the end of the fourth century B. C.,
speaks of |3u(3)ua and of (BupAiva u.atfxAa which has pro-
bably reference to the viticulture of Byblos. The BipAivoc;
oivoq is, at least in some instances, understood to be a wine,
which came from the Phoenician city of Byblos 3 . The vine-
stalk of Byblos was planted in Luciana as well as in Sicily 4
1) The Chalybonium came originally from Beroea, but afterwards grew
also in the neighborhood of Damascus. For this wine see Pliny, Hist, n.,
XIV, 73; Geop. 2, and Athen. I, p. 28 d.
2) CIG III, 5774 lines 58 and 92.
3) Byblos, i. e., Gubel, Arabic el-Kobyle, modern Djibeil; Jo. Phokas
4) It is stated that a certain king TT6\Xiq of Sikyon or Syracuse, or
else an Argeian called TT6\ioc (Poll. VI, 16) brought the plant to Sicily. The
22 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
and some other places 1 . All the wines made from the ori-
ginal Byblos vine-stalk were called |3i3>uvoc; olvoc. Not every
|3ip)uvoc; olvoc, therefore, was a wine of Phoenicia. The
BupXio; olvoc of Archestratos (in Athen. I, 29 b) refers cer-
tainly to the wine of the Phoenician city. The wine of Sarepta
is mentioned in Alexand. Trail. I, p. 335. 483; II, p. 217. 325,
and 407; and in Sid. Apoll., Carm. 17, 16. Pliny (XIV, 9 (7))
mentions the wine of Berytos 2 , and the wine of Tripolis
(XIV, 9 (7)). Idrisi also mentions the vineyards of that city.
Regarding the viticulture of Horns he states that this city
possessed many vineyards at the time of the Muhammedan
possession, that is prior to the Crusades, but that they are
now nearly completely destroyed. The wine of the country
of Arvad is mentioned in an Egyptian inscription 3 . 'For the
wine of Gaza see Sid. Apoll., Carm. 17, 15 and Isid. Orig. XX,
3, 7. Gaza was the center of the wine-trade for Egypt and
Syria. This city had built up a considerable industry in the
i manufacture of wine-jars for the export trade 4 . The harbor
of Gaza, called Maioumas, contained a colony of wine dealers 5 .
Mention is made of the wine of Gaza also in the Code of
Justinian, together with the other famous wines of that time 6 .
This wine was known in the Occident under the names of
"Gazetum" and "Gazetinum" 7 . The wine was considered a
luxury at the court of Guntram, king of Burgundia (Gregor.
Turon. 7, 29). Pap. Anast. 25, 2 ff. contains a reference to the
vineyards of Joppa. It reads: "When thou enterest Joppa
thou findest a garden green as the spring. Thou enterest
for the purpose of getting food, and thou findest there the
Bu|3Xi(v)o<; olvo<; of Sicily .was therefore also called TT6XXio<; (Ael. v. h. XII, 31).
Hippys (in Athen. I, 31 b) states that an Argeian TT6XXi<;, king of Syracuse,
had brought the fyuueXo? pipXia to Syracuse, but from Italy.
1) The famous vine-plant of Byblos was moreover cultivated in Thrace.
Armenides (in Athen. I, 31 a) knew of a Thracian Bi^Xia, also called Antisare
and Oisyme. Achilles Tatios (II. 2) names this wine besides the maroneic,
which is a Thracian wine.
2) See also Imhoof Blumer, op. I, p. 62. Raisins of excellent quality
were exported from Berytus (Plin. XVI, 18).
v 3) See Breast. Egypt, II, p. 461. 4) Tot. Orb. Dtscr., c. 29.
5) Marc. Diac., c. V. 6) Corp. de laud. Just, min., Ill, 88 ff.
7) Stark, p, 562.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
33
ovely maiden who takes care of the wines". Idrisi refers
to the viticulture of this city in conjunction with that of Ascalon
and Arsuf 1 . In Edfu the wine of the Fenkhu is called an
import article of the foreign country 2 .
Wherever the climate permitted it, vineyards were also
in the ancient times planted in Arabia. According to Diod.
I, 1 5 Osiris had even discovered the vine at Nysa in Arabia 3 .
The Periplus advised the sailors to load little wine for Arabia
as a place of destination, because that country produces much
of it (Peripl. erythr.). Into Muza in South Arabia were im- -
ported "wine and grain, however not much, for the country
itself produces a fair quantity of wheat, and a larger one of
wine". The fertile valleys of al-Yaman produced at least
sufficient wine for home-consumption. The poet al-A'sha of
Bakr 4 sings of the pleasures of the vintage at a place called
Athafit. He was in possession of his own winepress. Re-
garding c Anafit [CUiUp] in al-Yaman Idrisi states that, in his
time, it was surrounted by vineyards. According to Bukhari 5
the inhabitants of al-Yaman also used to drink honey-wine
(bif). Sprenger, citing Hamdani's Iklil about the Wadi
Dahr in al-Yaman (p. l8lff.) says: "It is situated two
hours or less (west) of San'a and a brook waters both
sides of the wadi, which produces about twenty different
kinds of grapes and all other kinds of fruit of excellent
quality". Mordtmann-Miiller, Sabaische Denkmliler, No. 11 con-
tains an inscription which testifies to the culture of vine
amongst the Bata c , who dwelled near the Wadi Dahr. Miiller
D. H., ibid. p. 46 states that according to Hamdani the Wadi
i) Jaubert, Geogr. d'Edrisi, Vol. I, p. 348.
2} jQ. ( see Br - WB., Vol. V, p. 434). Diet.
j\
_
i. e., (to Buto of Am, who resides in Egypt) the Fenkhu sail
AWWN
Geogr. p. 650 it is said of an Egyptian coast city,
__..__
(1
I LJ O /WWW
southward with their wine".
3) See also Diod. Ill, 64. 66; IV, 2; cf. Virg., Aen. 6, 805 und Ovid, met.
4, 13. According to Hesychius Nysa and the Nysaean mountain, amongst
other countries mentioned, is also placed in Arabia.
4) A contemporary of the prophet. 5) Bukhari, III, 78.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 3
34 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
s
Dahr produces a certain kind of grape, called _?;*> regarding
which the Tag al-'Arus, s. v. says: ^^\ ^A^.W ^>\ Jls (_^>)
*U\ J~XS vJU.1 ^ Jxol i'l^b u^O* ^UxJb
-xwo^JI. San c a is mentioned by Yaqut as
having vine-culture. Shibam, a mount, which is situated eight
parasangs west of San'a, according to Imr."59, lo possessed
vineyards, the fruit of which was used to make wine. G' en-
wan (c>ly*^)> which is 72 m. distant from San'a and 48 m.
from Sa'da, abounded in vines which produced grapes of an
extraordinary size. The dried grapes were of an excellent
taste and expensive. The raisins of G'enwan were exported
near and far 1 . According to Wellsted I, p. 103 ft, the inhabi-
tants of G'abal akhdar in 'Oman are engaged in viticulture and
make wine. Idrisi 2 states that f Oman is growing wine. Oppo-
site Masqat (ksL**~o) in 'Oman, on the island of Kaish (^u^),
in the middle of the Persian gulf vine was cultivated 3 . The
mountain valleys of 'Oman were the regions originally pro-
ducing the muscatel -grape. The Periplus even states that
wine was exported from Arabia to Barygaza in India. Of
the latter place he says: "Wine is imported in the trading
place, predominantly Italian, Laodicean and Arabian".
Mecca produced but a small quantity of grapes 4 . The
vineyards of Petra 5 are mentioned by Pliny (XIV, 9, 7). The
island of Tylos in the Arabic gulf contained remarkable vines .
The surroundings of at-Ta'if and of al-Cathif were renowned for
the excellence of their grapes 7 . Mohammed caused the vine-
i) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. I, p. 144. 2) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. I, p. 151.
3) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. I, p. 153. 4) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. I, p. 139.
5) Doubt, however, exists, if Pliny had in mind Petra in Arabia. Fee
suggested Petra in the Balearic Islands. See Dalman, G., Petra und seine Fels-
heiligtumer , p. I: "Feigen, Granatapfel, Aprikosen und Weinstocke sind die
Fruchtbaume, welche hier gedeihen". lu a papal bull of Honorius III., dated
Aug. 6, 1218 and which was repeated Jan. 20, 1226, giving an enumeration of
the landed property of the monastery of Mount Sinai, are mentioned also the
vineyards of wadi musa near Petra. See ZDPV., Vol. X, p. 238; Rohricht,
Studien- zur mittclaltcrl. Geographic und Topographic Syriens.
6) Pliny XII, 23, I ; Theophr., Hist. pL IV, 7. 8.
7) See Abulfeda, Annal tnosl., p. 49. 126. The Omayyade caliph Yazid T.
procured his wine from at-Ta'if (v. Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients, I, p. 141).
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
35
yards of at-Ta'if to be destroyed when he beleaguered that
city 1 . Qazwini II, 64 praises the grapes and the raisins of at
Ta'if. At-Ta'if furnished Mecca with grapes (Idrisi, Vol. I, p. 139).
A troop of the Sulaim goes to at-Ta'if in order to buy pro-
visions and wine (Diwan of the Hudh. No. 21 6). In Medina,
which abounded in dates, generally date-wine seems to have
been drunk 2 . Several large kegs filled with strong drink
were broken to pieces and wine-skins were emptied on the
ground at the time when one of the castles of Chaibar was
taken by the forces of Muhammed (Waqidi, 151 a, 15lb) 3 .
The sixteenth Sura of the Koran (v. 69) testifies to the viticul-
ture of the Arabs, and it shows also that they prepared palm-
wines 4 . This was before Mohammed placed the prohibition
of intoxicating liquors upon his followers. On festive occasions
the Arabs of pre-Mohammedan times were accustomed to use
wine to excess 5 . A significant case of inebriation is narrated,
for instance, in Abulfedae Historia Anteislamica 6 . For a men-
tion of the grapes of ad-Damr see Lebid, XLI, 48. Sadurn
Rah (-\j {****>), a well-inhabited fortress of considerable size,
possessed many vineyards". Palgrave 8 , describing the G'auf,
makes a casual mention of viticulture in that district of Nor-
1) Ibn Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, 873, and Wellhausen, J., Muhammed in
Medina. Das ist Vakidi's Kitab al-Maghazi, Berlin 1882, p. 370.
2) Bukhari, III, Kitab al-Ashriba.
3) Wellhausen, J., Muhammed in Medina, p. 275.
4) U
Geopn. II, c. 21; see also chapter IV.
(ed. Fleischer, Lipsiae,
MDCCCXXXI, p. 1 86, lines 68). I may add here the interesting passage,
Yaqut, Vol. IV, p. 380, lines 3 and 4:
X$ (i. e. the black stone and the Zemzem-well) l^.s *lj
7) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. I, p. 145.
8) Palgrave, W. G., Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and
Eastern Arabia, London, 1866, Vol. I, p. 184.
3*
^6 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
them Arabia. He says: "Sometimes a comfortable landed
proprietor would invite us to pass an extemporary holiday
morning in his garden, or rather orchard, there to eat grapes
and enjoy ourselves at will, seated under clustering vine-trel-
lises, with palm-trees above and running streams around".
He further states; "The apricot and the peach, the fig-tree
and the vine, abound throughout these orchards and their fruit
surpasses in copiousness and flavour that supplied by the
gardens of Damascus or the hills of Syria and Palestine" 1 .
For a casual remark on vines in Ha'il see Palgrave, Narra-
ive of a Year s Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia,
London, 1866, Vol. I, p. 74.
Wine grown in Arabia seems to have been generally of
a red color, Judging from its designation damu-'z-zicjq ' 2 , i. e.,
"blood of the slough". Amr Mu c allaqat 2 speaks of the saffron
color of the wine and Imr. 59, lo compares it to gazelle-blood.
Lebid, IX, 11 mentions dark wine. From the blackish, old,
tightly bound wine-skin flows wine, which foams ^reddish in
the cup, Lebid, XVIII, 15. 16. Pure red wine, ^/^ *U-^.*>,
Krenkow, F., The Poetical Remains of Muzakim al *Uqaili,
Leiden, 1920, I, 13. Aged wine was highly esteemed. c Abid V,
13, 14: "And ofttimes the wine, in fragrance like broken pieces
of musk long time has it spent in the wine-jar, year after
year passing by - - have I quaffed in the morning before the
Dawn shone forth to our mirth 1 , in the tent of a man rich in
bounty, pouring it freely to all" 3 . Good wine was supposed
to heal headaches 4 . Wine was quite frequently mixed with rain-
water, Lebid, XVIII, 16; XL, 47. 48; XLI, 1416 (wine mixed
with rain-water and bee-honey). Old wine mixed with rain-
water, also Kais ibn al-Hartm, ed. Kowalski, XIV, 17. The Pre-
Islamic Arabs prepared a punch from grape-juice by adding
spices and hot water 5 . A beverage, prepared from raisins,
1) Palgrave, o. c., -Vol. I, p. 59.
2) Ham&sa, ed Freytag, p. 559.
3) Lyall, Sir Charles, The Diwans of^Abid ibn al-Abras, of As ad and
ibn at- 7 uf ail, of '* Amir ibn SaftraA, Leyden, '1913.
4) 'Alqama XIII, 9.
5) 4 Amr Mu'all. 2. Wine simply mixed with hot water, Lebid, XVII. 38.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
37
was called ma sebtb, "raisin-water". It had a sour taste; honey
was added to sweeten it (Diwan of the Hudhailites, 100,13).
Ancient Arabia imported most of its wines from Syria.
Babylonia was no real wine country. The conditions of
the soil and the climate in Southern Babylonia prohibited an
extensive culture of vines. A myth, stating the reasons for
the lack of extensive viticulture in that country, tells us that
Dionysos was angered with the Babylonians who drank beer
(sikera), and turned away from these countries 1 . Yet viti-
culture was practised in Southern Babylonia at a very early
date. The earliest reference which we possess, so far, regard-
ing the planting of vineyards in Babylonia, is that in Cylinder A,
XXVIII, 1011 of Gudea. It reads: ne-sag-bi kur-ge$tin-bi-
bi-x ', i. e., "The ne-sag was like a mountain (planted) with
vines ". We know also of the fact that the Babylonian
vineyards had their special names as was the case in ancient
Egypt 2 . This bit of information we gain from Gudea, Cyl. A,
XXVIII, 23 24: e r& sar-gig-edin e-^u sig-ga-bi kur-gestin-bi-
bi-x ki-ni-ldm-e ma-dm, i. e., "The garden 'anqullu (that is
the name of the vineyard 1) which was planted by the temple,
was like a mountain (planted) with vines , which rises
up on a magnificent place". This same passage is instructive
from another point of view. The alluvial ground of southern
Babylonia would have been detrimental to viticulture, but
the early Babylonians knew this fact and planted their vine-
yards on artificially raised plots (Gudea: "which rises up on
a magnificent place"). This fact has been overlooked by
scholars so far. When we come to speak of the viticulture
of the Ancient Egyptians in detail, we shall see, that the very
same mode of planting vineyards was used by them. To
speak of borrowing would be very hasty. The genius of both
civilizations was such that each one could come upon this
devise without the help of the other. In view, however, of
the fact that the Babylonians at this early date at least 3 ,
i) Jul. Afric. Kecrroi, c. 25: -rrivoum udov AIYUTTTIOI, KaXajaov TTaioveq,
KrjXroi peppriaiav (i. e., cerevisia), aixepa BapuXwvioi. Aiovuaoc Y<*P KaT^Xmev
ujptitfjudvoi;. 2) See following chapter.
3) This instance in Gudea is the only reference to the custom, as far as
Babylonia is concerned.
38 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
gave special names to their vineyards, it seems that if any
borrowing occured, in this instance the Babylonians were the
borrowers 1 . In Northern Babylonia the conditions were more
favorable to the vine. In some localities, we may suppose, vines
even flourished luxuriantly. Nabon. 606, lo and 869, 5 show that
branches bearing from fifty to a hundred grapes were no rarity.
The Babylonian wine was called nectar by Chaereus in Athen.
I, p. 29 f. More extensive viticulture was introduced into Baby-
lonia during the time of the Macedonians 2 . During the century
preceding the advent of Islam the wines of Babylonia were
renowned and exported to Arabia. According to 'Abid, XXVI, 3
the wine matured in Babylonia was of a pale color:
The kings of Assyria seem to have shown a great interest in the
viticulture of Assyria. According to Herodotus I, c. 193 Assyria
suffered from too moist a climate, which was detrimental to
the raising of the vine. Herodotus, however, is emphatically
wrong. Assyria was preeminently a land of corn and wine.
Sanherib himself boasts that his land is such, according to
II. Kings 18, 32 DTg-p*! nb ing t&'rvn'] pi fig. Strabo speaks
about the vines' of Mesopotamia 3 . Asurnasirpal planted vine-
yards in Kalah 4 , while Sanherib tried to acclimatize all kinds
of foreign vines in Nineveh 5 . As a particularly good grade
of wine is mentioned the "mountain-wine". It seems that the
wine of the mountain of Arzabia was one of the famous wines
in Assyrian times 6 . Hi-hi was likewise a mountain renowned
for its vines. In the legend of the god of pestilence, the god
is said to have cut down its grapes. The mountain called
Habur (II R 51, No. 1, 3 b) probably produced the Karan Ha-
1) The ne-sag in Gudea's cylinder A is undoubtedly the "raised plot",
or, "the terrace" of the vineyard.
2) Strabo, XV, 3.
3) Strabo, geogr. XV. Vines on the bank of the Araxes (Xenoph. Anab.
I, 4, 19); wine of Caen ae (ibid. II, 4, 28). For wines of Babylonia in pre-islamic
times, see Lebid, I, 7; XVII, 37 and XL, 47.
4) I R 27, No. 2, 8. 5) CT XXVI, 8, 16 ff.
6) For the mountain-vines which grew on the heights see CT XXVI, 8, 2 1
and Thureau-Dangin, Huitieme campagne de Sargon, line 239: "[kimai]?u gap-
ni tar-bit sadi-i eli ubanatsadd Ar-za-bi-a a-su-ni".
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 30
bu-ru (IIR44, 13g). The most famous wines, however, came
from tfie Hamrin- mountain, the holy wineland of the goddess
Siris 1 . In the mountain of Hamrin was situated a city called
Ninua 2 which was noted for its wines. The district about
Bakuba north-east of Bagdad produced plenty of wine. The vil-
lage Sunaya, i. e., the al- c Atiqa or Mahalla al- c Atiqa of Bagdad ;
was renowned for its black grapes, which ripened sooner at
this place than all others elsewhere; YaqutHI, 197,6:^.^ ^o.
The cloister Dair Darmalis (JjJ j*>) seems
to have contained a hanut, or wineshop, judging from the
words of Yaq. II, 660 : "It is large and frequently visited by
people on account of the revelries, the entertainments, and
drink and festivities", *j^xJ^ ui*aJb J*AX J^>T ^S _^AJ
^U^l^ c.jj-uJ^. Regarding the Dair az-Zandaward in Bagdad
Yaq. II, 665, 17 states that "it has the most excellent grapes
of all that are pressed in Bagdad", ^Jl w_jUft\Jl y^Ll ^ ^*$
^IvXsLo j***->. Abu No was sings (ibid^}\ "Bring me wine of the
grapes of Zandaward the forenoon ; I shall sip it in the shade
of (grape)-clusters",
iLo
During the rule of the Sasanides the Nestorian and Jacobite
Christians possessed many cloisters in the c lraq whose inmates
were extensively engaged in viticulture. These cloisters were
the meeting-places of poets and cavaliers during the time of
the Omayyades and the first 'Abbaside caliphs. Here they
were more or less safe to enjoy the excellent wines that were
stored in the cellars of the cloisters. Even nunneries possessed
their wineshops. Thus we read in Yaq. II, 679 regarding the
Dair al- c adara (the cloister of the virgins), which was also
called Dair al- c Alt from its location near 'Alt: "Halidi says:
I have seen it; virgins live in it; there are also wineshops in it
^a OUUw^ ^^ a^-uJ <*oj <*6\XfcUo2 ^xJU.1 JUy It never
became empty of pleasure-seekers (Yaq. II, 68l, 3). According
to Muqaddasi grapes abounded in the neighborhood of the
1) See Hommel, Grundriss, p. 280.
2) CT X, pi. 49 (14434), line 10.
40 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
city of'Ukbara. A famous wine was grown in the village of
Qutrabbul (J?^)' Yaq. IV, 133,4 states: "It is a village be-
tween Bagdad and 'Ukbara, from which originates a well-known
wine. It is a constant pleasure-resort for people who have
leisure, and a shop for wine-merchants; the poets frequently
make mention of it",: +\ U^ u-^^^o \^^ .>luXob
lAj>. Hauqal 167 mentions the extensive vineyards about the
city of Samarra. Accordings to Johns, Assyr. Deeds and Docu-
ments, 362, 5 one single garden in Singara bore 2400 vinestalks.
Some vineyards about Harran numbered even 15000 and
29000 vinestalks (Johns, An Assyr. Doomsday Book, p. 29, Col. I,
lines 21 and 35). Idrisi states that vineyards were , planted
along the river Hawaii (<J>^) which comes from Diyar Rebia c
(^j*..o^ J^). These vineyards were probably tended to by
the Arabs, who lived in settled habitations on the banks of
this river J . Regarding Susa, the ancient capital of Elam, the
classical writers assert that there were no vines at that place
before the conquest of Alexander. Only special means assured
the growth of the vine. Instead of loosening the ground, the
better to admit the heat, they simply drilled a hole with a rod
which was fitted with an iron on one end. Into these holes
they placed the shoots 2 .
Hommel 3 conjectures that the Semites did not know the
vine at all in the oldest time. This he supposes from such
words as "vine", "wine", and "vineyard", which according to
him are either non-Semitic words, or else imply still another,
more general meaning. Thus karanu, Greek Kapoivov, talm.
tf?" 1 !? i s non-Semitic to him. Inu (f^, 0^.5 [grape], fD", is
West-Semitic, and a foreign importation as far as it regards
Babylonia. He further notices that karmu "vineyard", gupnu,
"vine", and *inafru, "grape", have in Assyro-Babylonian still
the general meanings "acreland", "stem, pluck" (Assurnasirpal
2, 43 and 71) and "fruit" (inbu).
In Strassm. 896, 16 we possess a reference to fig- wine, inu
$a titti.^Inu = wine is late in Babylonian and Hommel is right
1) Jaubert, o. c., Vol. II, p. 149.
2) Strabo, geogr. XV. 3) Aufsatze und Abhandlungen, p. 93.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. A j
in saying that -inu as well as tittu (== tintu) are West-Semitic
borrowings. Meissner, Assyr. Studien, VI mentions three brands
of wine:
gi$-gestin-igi-gud = i-ni alpi = ox-eye *
gi$-ge$tin-sur-ra = sa-ah-tu = pressed wine
gis-ge$tin-ha-babbar-a = mu-zi-qu = mixed wine 2 .
The date-palm grew in abundance in Babylonia. This is
shown by its Sumerian name = ka-lum(-ma) , which signifies
"fruit (ka) (which) grows in abundance, or, which grows luxu-
riantly (lum)"*. Thus date-wine supplied a cheaper drink for
the poorer classes of Babylonia. According to Xenophon
(Anab. II, 5, 14) it was a pleasant drink, but caused headache.
Pliny (h. n. 23, 51) states that fresh dates cause intoxication
and headache. Kurunnu was the name applied to datewine,
to which some sesame-oil had been added. Sometimes also
cassia-leaves were used to flavor and improve the quality of
the date-wine. Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, Heidelberg,
1920, p. 240 observes that during the Nee-Babylonian time
1 kur (= 121 1) of dates yielded one ton of date-wine. Tabatu
was a beverage prepared from water and a small addition of
fermented fruit-juices or wine. It is frequently mentioned in
medical texts. The national drink of the Babylonians, how-
ever, was always beer 4 . Harper 43 (K. 122) 5 is important ,
for our investigation, since it supplies us with a number of
names of towns and districts in which the vine [was culti-
vated. Obv. lines l8ff. read: am ^ lu rab-kar-man m -Daian-Adad
(19) &lu l-sa-na m * tu Hal-zi-ad-bar (20) &lu Bir-tum * lu Ar-zu-hi-na
(21) * Iu Arba-ilu aiu Gu-za-na (22) ilu Sa-ris &lu Tam-nu-na
1) Ini alpi in Meissner, Assyr. Sttidien, VI, as well as inu sa Ukari in
Delitzsch, HW, 49, are naturally different words from inu, wine. A compa-
rison between V R 52, 64 65 a with II R 25, 383, b shows that a word inu
= mutin = kar&nu existed. See also Syl. S (b), line 168 (Delitzsch, AL,
3. ed., 57) inu = namzitu = pressed wine. Namzitu is probably in some in-
stances the same as the sahtu above. See ZDMG, 48, 705. Namzitu = "must"
in Str., Nbd. 278.
2) Also written mnnziqu and munzuqu. "Pressed" wine? More probably
a "filtered" wine = C^J?^Tp D-patZJ, Is. 25, 6; Jer. 48, II.
3) Delitzsch, Sum. 67.' s. v.
4) See chapter III. 5) See also J3AIV, p. 5136.
42 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
(23) 41u Ri-mu-su, i. e., "the overseers of the vineyards Daian-Adad
of Isana, in the country of Halziadbar, of Birtum, of Arzuhina ;
of Arba'ilu, of Guzana, of Sharish, of Tamnuna, of Rimusu".
The city Isan, mentioned first, is Tell Isan, Isan Koi, be-
tween Aleppo and Biregik, in the plain between Sadjur and
Kerzun, 45' north of Zembur 1 . The city is here stated to be
situated in the country (or district) of Halziadbar. Birtu was
situated west of the Euphrates, and was a Hittite city 2 . Since
the name Birtu occurs frequently, it remains doubtful, however,
whether this city is meant 3 . The texts mention the following-
names of cities compounded with Birtu: Birtu-sa-Kar-ilu-bel-
matati, Birtu-sa-Labbanat 4 , Birtu-sa-Kinia 5 and Birtu-sa-Sarra-
giti. It is more likely that one of the two latter cities is in-
tended here, both of which seem to have been situated in the
district of the Gurumu on the lower Zab 6 . Arzuhina (written
also Ur-zu-hi-na in Harper, Assyr. and Babyl.-Letters, IV) and
Arba'ilu are well known cities. The former, according to II R65,
15. 16 b 7 was situated on the lower Zab river and opposite the
city of Zaban. Arba'ilu (ApjBrjXa, modern Erbil) lay between the
upper and the lower Zab. Guzana is a city which is mentioned
in the Old Testament (ffte, II. Kings 17, 6; IS, 11; 19, 12; Is.
37, 12; I. Chr. 5, 26) 8 . It was situated on the river Habur. The
last city mentioned in the Harper text, Rimusu lay on a canal
of the river Husur 9 . All of these cities had vineyards over
which a rab-karmani, "an overseer of the vineyards" was
placed. Tablet K. 346 10 mentions an overseer of the vineyards
1) See PSBA, June 1882, p. 117 and BA II, p. 49.
2) Thus according to Salm. Obel., 33 35.
3) This doubt is raised in BA IV, p. 513.
4) Tigl. Pil., Claytablet inscr. 8. 5) Ibid.
6) See Schiffer, Die Aramaer, p. 123.
7) Ina eli aluZa-ban u-ba-li-e ina* tar-si alu Ar-zu-hi-na.
8) raufoviTK; in Ptol. V, 18, 3. 4. (Cf. Delitzsch, Par ad. 184 and Winckler,
KAT, 269).
9) BA IV, p. 516 cites San. Bav., 8 11 "ultu libbi iluRi-mu-sa
1 8 narate uSahra ana libbinaru Husur uSesir". It is the sixth
of 1 8 villages which were connected by a canal with the river Choser, which
sheds its waters into the Tigris south of Kuyungik. See also, Delitzsch, Pa-
rad. 187 ff.
10) III R 48, No. 4 (== KB IV, p. 114, No. 2 .
The Wines of the Ancient Orient. A?
of the city of Maganuba. Since the document is dated in
the eponymate of Ilu-ittia, the governor of Damascus 1 , it is
most likely that the city of Maganuba lay within the district of
Damascus. This would give us an additional Assyrian testimony
of the viticulture of the district of Damascus 2 . In mat Asalli
Adad-'i-me brings to Asurnasirpal in the year of 877 B. C.
among other tribute also wine. Bit-Adini was an excellent
wine-growing country. Ahuni of Bit-Adini offers wine as tri-
bute to Salmanassar II. in 859 B. C. Wine is also mentioned
among the tribute of Hapini of Tilabne, Ga'uni of Safrugi],
i. e., yrfto (Gen. X, 2023) and Giri-Dadi of
Sarugi is the district of Serug, between Belih and the Euphra-
tes, south-east of Arab-Dagh 3 . Mutallu of Gurgum, whose
capital was Marqasi, modern Mar'ash, also furnishes wine to
Salmanassar II, according to the list of tribute. So does Arame
apil Gusi, king of the Patinaean cities of Taia, Hazaz ( c Azaz),
Nulia and Butamu. Nebukadnezzar praises the wines of mat
Izallam, mat Tu'immu, mat Simmini, mat Hilbunim, mat Ara-
nabanim, mat Suham (extenting from above the mouth of the
river Belih towards the mouth of the Habur; probably rrtttj
Job II, 11), mat Bit-Kubatim and mat Bitatim (I R 65 I, 22 25,
Grot. Cyl.). The wine of these countries he offered up, con-
tinually, like the water of the river on the altar of Marduk
and of Zarpanitum. Imr. 59, 10 and c Alqama (ed. Socin II, 41)
mention the wine of e Ana at the upper Euphrates. At al-
Bahrain the vines were planted between the date-palms. In Pre-
Islamic times Babylonia exported some wine to Arabia 4 .
Amongst the multitude of business documents of Assyria
and Babylonia, there are some which refer to the sale of wine,
which we shall presently discuss. K. 423 5 reads: "[. . . shekel]s
i) Year 694 B. C.
2) I R 65 66'a, 21 23; b 31 32 end, II R mentions as wine-countries
Hulbum and Izallu.
3) Schiffer, Die Aramaer, p. 64.
4) Lebid, I, 7; XVII, 37; XL, 47.
5) See Johns, Assyr. Deeds and Documents, 125:
(i) [. . . Siklu]mes a matuGar-ga-mis (2) [Sa m.. . . .,-abu-u-a (3) a-na
m-Bel-ahhemes j na Hbbibi (4) 9 imeru karanimes ina gib-bar s"a 9 qa (5) ina
mini Bit- Za-ma-a-ni iddanana (5) [Sum] -ma la iddinini a-ki ma-hi-ri (7) sa
AA Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
of silver of Carchemish [belonging to j-abua, for Bel-
ahhe. For it he shall give nine inter of wine to the measure
of nine qa in Bit-Zamani; if he does not give (the wine), he
shall give according to the marketprice of Nineveh. In the
presence of Riba, of Batiti, the shelapu- officer, of Shepa-
Ashur, of Ubuku, of Mannu-ki-Ninua, of Nabu-bel-ilani. The
third day of Shebat(?) in the eponymate of Sin-ahhe-eriba" ! .
The money paid for the delivery of the nine imers of wine
is that of the standard of Carchemish, the capital of the former
Southern Hittite kingdom, after the break-up of the unified
Hittite empire of Shubbiluliuma. Since 876 B. C. that part of
the former Hittite kingdom was, however, in the hands of
the Assyrians. But it still uses in 687 B. C. its own mone-
tary standard. The wine shall be given in Bit-Zamani. The
country of Bit-Zamani was situated north of the Kashiari
mountain, modern Tur- c Abdin, mons Masius, TO Mdtfiov opo^
of the classical writers, along the river Tigris. Its capital was
Amedi (or Amedu), i. e., Amida of the Classics, modern Diyar-
Bekr, turk. Kara -Amid 2 . K. 361 refers to the sale of wine
to be imported to Nineveh. "2 imer 50 qa of wine, be-
longing to Mannu-ki-Ninua (are) at the disposition of Ut-
tama. In the month of lyar he shall give the wine [in] Nine-
veh. [If] he does not give (the wine), he shall give silver
according to the marketprice of Nineveh. The 25th day
of Tebet, of the eponymate of Mannu-ki-Adad" 3 . A similar
text 4 speaks of the delivery of wine according to the measure
aluNinua iddanimes (8) mahar m.Ri-ba-a-a (9) mahar m.Ba-ti-i-ti (10) amelug e -
la-pa-a-a mahar m.gepa-Agursur (n) mahar m.C T -bu-ku (12) mahar m.Man-nu-
ki-aluNinua (13) mahar m.ilu Nabu-bel-ilani mes (14) arhuSabatu(P) umu 3-kam
(15) [lim-mu] m.ilu Sin-ahhemes-eriba".
1) I. e., 687 B. C.
2) Cf. Schrader, E., Die Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung, p. 146;
Delitzsch, Fr., Wo lag das Paradies, p. 276; Streck, ZA, 1893, XIII i P- 73
and Schiffer, Die Aramaer, pp. 76 80.
3) "2 imeru 50 qa isukaranimes (2) a m-Man-nu-ki-Ninuaki (3) ina pan'
m.Ut-ta-a-ma (4) [ina] arfcuAiaru isukaranumes (5) [ina alu]Ni-nu-a iddanan (6)Sum-
ma] la i-di-ni (7) [ki ma-h]i-ri Sa Ninuaki (8) [kaspu] iddanan ( 9 ) [arfcuTebetu
umu] 25-kam (10) [lim-me m.Man-n]u-ki-luAdad (n)" follow witnesses. The
year is that of 683 B. C.
4) Johns, Assyr. Deeds and Documents, 124, 81-2-4-151.
The Wines of the Ancient Orient.
45
of the king *. In case the wine is not delivered, the wineseller
must give another wine corresponding with the marketplace of
Nineveh. All these documents show that the price of wine was
subject to a special tariff in Assyria. The wines imported into
Assyria, it seems, were subject to an extra custom-house tax.
This additional tax naturally made the imported wines much
more expensive than the home-grown wines. In case the
winesellers from districts outside of Assyria proper did not
fill their orders, they were compelled, according to these docu-
ments 2 , to giv"e an equal quantity of wine ordered, subject
only to the tariff of Nineveh. In this case, therefore, the
revenue on the wine would have to be borne by the wine-
seller, and not by the buyer.
1 ) 5 inter of wine according to the ^(-measure) of the king.
2) ki ma-hi-ri sa Nimtaki.
Chapter Two
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and
the Making of Wine in the Ancient
ilUll^^p Orient - *
The numerous wall-paintings in Egyptian tombs enable
us to reproduce a fairly detailed account of the Egyptian
vineyard JTV[. W; W Irrr , ^ \ f" Q (] SES W Rec.tr av,
_CE\S' A V i < ^2> I '
6, 7, Coptic lAeaAoAt; fcrf.f, \ \^^\\ ^b.t, J (1
n AAAAAA A . pi < --'-^ o
Irr , 1 D ^s ^ W^AA [I <=> o Her us ate f Stele 135;
2s JL 2 i . >^ . o
(D "'" );
. 29, 1 57 . | - : J
U I
J " U==? jj, bnd.t see. Mariette, Mastabas, pp. 181 and 186 1 . The
^^/^A ^\
vineyard was generally planted on an artificially raised plot,
whenever the district lacked hills or mountains. It was always
i) Also called hsp, 9 IIHI , in Rosettana. See also Diim., KaL
U
Inschr. 36, 47 : TTfff J^T \ ^ > \fr, "The vineyard is plan-
LJ <n>
ted with vines". Variants
etc.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. AJ
surrounded by a stone-, or clay-wall, judging from the wall-
paintings (see Illustration No. 3). But since these paintings pre-
sent to us only the vineyards of distinguished and rich persons,
there is no doubt that poorer vineyard owners contemied them-
selves with the less costly hedges. There is a strong doubt, how-
ever, whether during the early periods of the Egyptian history
vineyards were in the possession of Egyptian commoners.
1! if* 13
No. 3. A large garden with vineyard in centre (after Wilkinson, The Ancient
Egyptians}.
The political and economic conditions of the time of the Thinites
and the Old- and Middle Kingdoms, probably did not permit it.
Vineyards at that early age were an expensive luxury which
the king and some great officials, like Methen, could indulge
in, rather than a profitable investment.
The sealing-inscriptions on the clay stoppers, which closed
the large wine jars of the pre-dynastic and Thinitic graves bear
48 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
the first testimony to vineyards in Egypt. According to these
inscriptions the earliest vineyards, which were situated near the
so-called "White Wall", near Memphis *, were of an oval shape, and
enclosed by a spiked wall. Every king of the early dynasties
possessed a special vineyard, which furnished the funerary
v wine for the royal family and the royal servants 2 . It is of
7 course only an accident that we know only of these vineyards,
dedicated to ceremonial purposes. Besides these "sacred vine-
yards" the early kings undoubtedly also possessed their pri-
vate gardens, whose produce adorned the royal table. From/
these sealing inscriptions we learn that each vineyard had
its special name. Whether this was true of the vineyards in
private possession is not known. All the vineyards known
to have had special names are vineyards dedicated ,to cere-
monial purposes, or, as was seemingly the case with the vine-
yard called ka-n-kemet, i. e. "the genius of Egypt", to cere-
monial purposes and to the royal usufruct. The vineyard,
called "anqullu", which we have seen Gudea planted, was also
. intended solely for religious purposes. These vineyard names
are thus no forerunners of the present custom of American
farmers to call their farms by names such as "Fair- View
Farm", "Glen-Side Farm", "Sunny Brook Farm", etc. The
names of the Egyptian vineyards always refer to some reli-
gious idea. In the oldest names is contained, in each instance,
an expression of a certain divine quality of the god Horus.
King Zoser's vineyard was named "Praised be Horus, who is
in ' the front of heaven" 3 . Khasekhemui's vinegarden bore the
name "Praised be the souls of Horus" 4 . These expressions,
1) The vineyards of Nebesheh, NhBmw and Sajn, however, seem to go
back to the same remote age, according to the Pyr. texts; see above p. n.
2) Quite a number of wine jars were found in the tomb of king
Hnt fjTh. Most of them had been broken, but a few still preserved their
conical stoppers. See Amelineau, M., Le Tdmbeau d' Osiris, Paris, 1899,
chapt. 5, p. 91 ff. and Petrie, Royal Tombs.
3) ^c \*v flTh l?=:=;! ' D^-Hr-bnty-pt ' or, "Praise of Horus, the First
rr^V 1 1 1 1 1
of Heaven". Over the vineyard estate founded by Zoser was placed a local
governor; see Sethe, Urkunden I, n 15.
4)
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. AT\
however, have undergone already a stage of development,
for the name of the vineyard of the Horus Dja, of the pre-
dynastic time, is still simply "Beverage of Horus", or else,
"Enclosure of the beverage of Horus". On one of Dja's
cylinders the name is also called "Beverages of the Double
(kS) of the enclosure of the beverages of Horus" *. Commen-
cing with the time of king Den, , the vineyards bear in-
/WWVA
variably the name "Enclosure of the beverages of the body
of Horus".
Viticulture is a sure sign of a higher degree of civiliza-
tion, since it required a greater amount of labor than the
cultivation of grain and demanded years of patient waiting
and tending, until the young shoots had grown up to bear
fruit. Irrigation was one of the tasks to which the Egyptian
vinedresser had to give much of his time. The gardener
"passes the morning watering vegetables, the evening vines"
(Pap. Sail. II; Pap. Anast. VII). The Egyptian vineyard is
often pictured as having a water-basin. The vines were trained
on espaliers or trellis work, which was supported by trans-
verse rafters, resting on beautifully carved and painted columns.
Rows of columns formed pleasant arcades. The avenues were
generally wide enough to permit an easy communication from
one end of the vineyard to the other, and yet not too wide;
the rays of the sun being kept away from the ground in order
that it might retain its moisture. The vine-arbors of a more
simple make-up consisted simply of pliable branches, whose
ends were placed in the ground, thus forming a large arch.
A third way was that of erecting two wooden pillars, whose
upper ends were forked, over which a wooden pole was layed.
Vinedressers who were less careful, simply allowed the vine-
stalks to shoot up without any props, as is seen in an illustra-
tion from Beni- Hasan, or else they let them grow up in
hedges. Such vines, as were allowed to grow up as bushes,
were kept low and required no support. The different modes
a
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
CQ Lutz,' Viticulture and Brewing.
of propping the vine are exemplified in the hieroglyphs for
vine and vineyard, Egyptian tirr, tell, jjjjjfr, rfjjf, %***$,
^ n> ~Y' i ' The Egyptians do not seem to have attached the
vine to trees. It is, however, possible that they trained them
sometimes on papyrus, whenever this was practicable. We
possess no Egyptian references to this mode of training
the vine, but since the Mishna refers to that practise, we
may infer that it was also an Egyptian custom 2 . The
various modes of arranging the vineyards and the different
ways of training the vines naturally depended much upon
the tastes of the owners and on the nature of the locality
and the ground. In the tomb-painting of Paheri at al-Kab
the vinestalks round about the roots are banked wfth earth.
The earth-heaps are cup-shaped in order to hold the water
for a greater length of time. The hieroglyph of the vine
in Ptah-hotep, Vol. I, PI. X, No. l66 3 which is painted shows
the props in red, the vine-foliage green with dull maroon longi-
tudinal stripes indicating the stems, and the grape-clusters
blue. More often the grapes are painted red or reddish brown.
The leaves are seldom drawn and show sometimes the same
color as the grapes. One picture from Thebes shows an
espalier on which lotus-plants are climbing up. The ancient
Egyptians already had a knowledge that certain grapes do
not promise any fruit. These grapes were cut off with a spe-
cial knife which was of a sickle-shaped form. The grape
(-cluster), M iff U*^^' i fi represented in different forms
on the monuments. In the temple of Der-el-Bahri we meet
with this form: HRV\; L.D., III, 244 = E&\, and frequently with
the form ' w 1 Purely realistically drawn grapes are mostly
seen in the \". < \ paintings of the l/th, l8th and the following
dynasties. \^\The color is then of a beautiful dark blue,
i) See L. D.. II, 53; and III, II.
2} Kilaim 6, 3 ni^B^BN nspE by jsnn nx nVron "whoever trains the
vine over a part of the espaliers of papyrus". J. Kilaim 6, 3 ni-^S^B TUB
"two espaliers of papyrus"; Kilaim 7, 3 nTViB^BK into "the rest of the
espaliers of papyrus". 3) See also No. 173 = No. 405.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient.
while the berries are indicated by black dots. Sometimes
the cluster is painted in pink or a pale violet. According to the
wallpaintings the Egyptians knew white, pink, greenish, red
and dark blue grapes. Whenever the grapes are painted /
black, as for instance, in the tomb of Sennofri near Sheikh-
abd-al-Gurnah, blue or dark blue is naturally intended. The
Egyptians, as well as all Orientals, have great difficulty in
distinguishing between these two colors. In the tomb of
Thut-hotep at al-Bersheh 1 the grapes are of a greenish color.
At the time of the ripening of the grapes great care was
taken to preserve the clusters from the birds.
No. 4. Vintage-scene (after Petrie, Deshasheti}.
Men, women and children participated at the time of vin-
tage 2 , wfa ilrr.t, \> %, (]%, <^ W a , in the picking of
77 A rr\S> I rr\S' r\ I I
the grapes (see Illustrations Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7). The bunches were
carefully put into deep wicker-baskets 4 . When these were filled,
men carried the baskets either on their head, or shoulders, or
slung upon a yoke to the winepress. These men are sometimes
Q /WWVA
seen marching in file, and in the tomb of Ti the legend A
"the bringing of the grapes for press-
1) See Newberry, El-Bersheh, I, pi. 24, 26, 31.
2) The vintage took place in the month Epiphi, towards the end of June. X
or the commencement of July.
3) Tomb of Ptah-hotep. 4) So according to Virg. Georg, II, 241.
4*
|J2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
ing" is written below the picture of the carriers. Those gra-
pes, however, which were not used for. the making of wine,
were placed in flat, open baskets, which were then covered
No. 5. Gathering grapes (after Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians],
with palm leaves, or vine foliage. Tomb No. XIV in Sauiet
al-Meitin, which dates back to the sixth dynasty 1 represents
No. 6. Vintage-scene.
in one of its paintings the end of the vintage. The espaliers
are seen without foliage and without grapes. The workers
l) L. D., II, 53 and m.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 53
are seen below with the grape-filled baskets. In the wall-
painting of Beni-Hasan two long-horned' goats climb up the
bush and browse on the vine foliage. It seems thus that
after the vintage was over the domesticated animals were
allowed to enter the vineyards in order to browse upon the
vines.
The grapes were put into large vats, inside of which at
least four men could find sufficient room. The paintings
sometimes show five or six men standing in such vats. The
vat was always placed on a slight elevation, and during the
New Empire was round in form. The paintings do not show
very distinctly the form of the vat in the time preceding the
New Empire, but it is possible to think that they were gene-
rally round in form. The
layer of grapes in the vat,
which was of acacia wood,
was not deep. It hardly
went beyond the ankles of
the vine-pressers, who pres-
sed the grapes with their
feet. The large vat was
sometimes covered with
a roof. From the roof Or No> ;< Pl uc king grapes and frigthening
the cover hung down as away birds with a sling (after Wilkinson,
many ropes as men were The Ancient Egyptians}.
able to find standing room
in the vat. In case that there was no roof or cover supplied with
ropes which were held by the men in order to hold their balance,
the men at both extremities of the vat held on to poles, which
were placed on both sides. The men between the two secured
their position by holding each other by the hips. The wine-
pressers next made the round in the vat, while singing
a rhythmic song. Two men near the winepress marked the
rhythm by simply clapping their hands, or else by a special
object, which was of a rectangular form 1 . It is possible that
sometimes women were called upon to mark the rhythm,
and to keep time for the dancing men inside of the
i) See L. D., Ergamungen, pi. 21.
54
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
press ! . In the tomb of Mera the work of these time, keepers is called
i. e., "to clap", "to produce a sound by
clapping". The grape juice flowed through a bung on the
side of the press into smaller vats, in which the juice was
brought to fermentation 2 . A second pressing was necessary
in order to extract the juice which still remained in the gra-
pes 3 . We observe on the wall-paintings of Beni-Hasan 4 an
oblong linen slough, which is filled with wine-lees removed
from the winepress (see Illustration No. 8). This slough is
No. 8. Winepress (after Wilkinson, The Ancient. Egyptians].
stretched out between a strong wooden frame 5 . Men are
turning the cloth with sticks, which are placed through the
ends of the slough. The pressed wine flows into a large
i) In the tomb of Ti, the daughter of one of the workmen is seen un-
wrapping herself and going up to the press. She is probably one of the
musicians or timekeepers. See also L. D. II, 96.
2} The Egyptian word for "fermentation" occurs f. i. in d'Orb, 12, 10
was fer-
menting",
3) See Klebs, Die Tiefendimension in der Zeichnung des alten Reichs, in
Aeg. Z. 1914, pp. 24 28, and Montet, Rcc. d. trai\ XXXV, p. 120 flf.
4) See Newberry, Beni-Hasan I, pi. 29, II, 4, 13.
5) In A. St. G. Caulfeild, The Temple of the Kings of Abydos, Egypt. Res.
Account, 1902, pi. XX, there is an additional crosshead attached to the end
of the slough, which permits the cloth to be twisted tighter. The winepress
AAAAAA /VWvAA
J
and Sethe, Urkunden der 18. Dyn., Leipzig, 1906 09, p. 687.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. zc
earthen jar, which is placed below the linen slough. To
twist it must have been a very difficult task. It generally
required four persons. A fifth person seen on the wall painting
of the tomb of Ismaih at Gizeh, of the fifth dynasty, seems
to keep both poles apart by holding the poles at the proper
distance with both his hands and his feet (see Illustration
No. 9). This is of course an acrobatic trick which it was im-
possible to perform. But these drawings are not faithful to
perspective. The fifth person was in the centre, but since
he could not be drawn without some part of his body being
No. 9. The pressing of wine-lees (after Newberry, Percy E., El-BersheK].
hidden by the cloth, the artist chose this impossible position
for him. This person's work consisted in seeing that the wine
flowed exactly into the large jar and that nothing was spilt.
He is called shd $ms, (?()> while the other men are the
smsw, n .
While the winepress ofBeni-Hasan referred to above shows
already a solid structure at the two ends of which the linen
slough is attached *, the tombs of the Old Kingdom show us still
the more rude way with men wrenching the poles' in opposite
directions. This process of pressing the grapes in the slough
(see Illustration No. 9) is designated by the word "f, " ^~
in the Middle Kingdom. In Beni- Hasan 2 its orthography
1) So also Caulfeild, The Temple of the Kings of Abydos , Egypt. Res.
Account, 1902, pi. XX.
2) Newberry, Beni-Hasan, I, pi. 29; II, 4, 13 (PI. 29 in Newberry =
L. D., II, 126). L. D., Ill, 163 ^V^IT"; %""~^ /] This W0rd
^
56 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
is fft (j which means "to press, to turn, to wring, to
turn the linen slough". Rosellini II, 66 shows two women
turning a slough, filled with winelees. Rec. trav. 21, p. 6 pictures
a wine-press with two sloughs instead of the customary one. In
the Thebaid the footpress is only represented and thus, we may
conjecture, was only used there, without the second process of
pressing the winelees. The wallpainting of Ptah-hotep in Beni-
Hasan 1 representing the pressing of the lees is unique. The
sticks cross each other, and the slough is attached to the lower
extremity. These modifications are due to the artist's desire
to show the completion of the work of pressing. The slough
is completely curled up. By pushing the linen slough towards
the end, the workers gained greater force. This pould of
course not be done as long as the sack was still filled with
winelees, since it w r ould have shifted all the pressure and the
greatest amount of work and weight on the worker nearest
to the slough. L. D., II, 53 shows further the heating of the grape-
juice, probably in order to hasten the process of fermentation.
Next, the wine was filtered. Two men stretch a large piece
of cloth over a kettle while a third pours the wine into the cloth.
The wine finally is poured into large variegated stone- and
earthen jars (sle Illustration No. lo). The short, but wide-necked
jars were then closed with covers, stone plates, globular or
differently shaped stoppers and sealed 2 . The wine which was
destined for funerary purposes, however, was put into very
small vases 3 , which were closed in the manner of perfume
vases 4 . The Egyptians, before pouring the wine into the jars,
generally smeared the bottoms with resin or bitumen. This
is also used for "braiding the hair", cf. Chab. voy. 119. The original meaning
seems to have been "to wrap into a bundle".
1) Newberry, Beni-Hasan, I, pi. 36.
2) On the east wall of the mastaba of Akhethotep at Saqqareh, men
are emptying wine into large open-necked jars. The two storage jars, which
are long-necked, stand near b4.
3) See Petrie, Medum, pi. 11.
4) L. D., II, 96 with the legend: ^ Q ^ 1 <
c *
-T-
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient.
was done in order to preserve the wine. It was also thought
to improve the flavor of the wine. Wine was sometimes also
put into skins, a mode which probably prevailed throughout
all times of Egyptian history, whenever such wine was intended
to be taken on long journeys. Lepsius, Auswahl, 12, 5 refers
to this mode of storing the wine: "^ [Jq?' sv * M (1
i. e., "their wines
which were stored in their cellars as well as in the skins" 1 .
When the wine had been stored away in the cellars, they
No. 10. Pouring wine into jars (after Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians].
were marked with wine labels. In Aeg. Z., 1883, p. 336., the
first Theban ostracon of this kind was discussed. It reads:
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
n
t\ jj jj ^ ! ^ ft R V&, "In the year 1 . Good wine of the large
irrigated terrain of the temple of Ramses II. in Per-Amon. The
chief of the wine-dressers, Tutmes". Many of such wine labels
have been published since by Spiegelberg, Hieratic Ostraca
i) The wine-skin is also called Q, a word used to denote more com-
monly the leather-bag and ^^^ tP =0= Rcc. trav. 21, 77 and 96.
5 8 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
and Papyri^. In these ostraca reference is made to the vine-
yards ka-n-kemet and to the "large irrigated terrain in Per-
Amon" 2 , which is on the west-side of the landing-place. The
same publication offers two additional names of vineyards, to
which W. Max Miiller first drew attention in OLZ, 1 896, Vol. II,
p. 367. The one is called the "vineyard (hsbtl\ N(e}-h-'ira-y-na^
(determ. water) = nahlayn "double-brook", a dual-formation
of bW, Assyr. nahlu\ III R 35, No. 4 Obv. 12: na-lial m&t Mu-sur
asar ndru la isu, "the brook of the country of Musur, where
there is no river". The other vineyard was named p-N-s-bu
(determ. tree), = 113, "the prop". These wine labels served
two purposes. First, to show the age of the wine in the diffe-
rent jars, and second, to mark the quality of the wine. The
quality is expressed by "good wine" (Spiegelberg, Ostraca,
Nos. 140, 162, 248, 257, 259, 262, 291 and 299), "sweet wine",
(Nos. 186, 224, 266), and "very good wine" (Nos. 177, 195,
197, 229, 255, 256). The wine was inspected and tested by
special officers called "inspector of the w r ine test" (Pap. Leiden,
I, 348, lo) 3 . The paintings show us also the mode of storing
away new wine in Egypt (see Illustration No. ll) ; The jars,
which were pointed at the bottom 4 , rested either in the ground,
or they were attached to a wooden stand or a stone ring (see
Illustration No. 12). They were placed in successive rows. That
row which rested against the back wall of the wine cellar was the
last one used and therefore contained the oldest wines. A wine
cellar in Esna 5 contains the legend: "This is the wine cellar.
i) Egyptian Research Account, 1898, pi. XIX XXXV.
Jo ^ /wvw\ T r
V '&x /wv^
flA V -^<q AAAAAA V
see Spiegelberg, Rec. trav. 16, p. 64 ^Irit, the daughter of the ship-captain
Bln-nty (has become) the wife of the royal prince Sl-mntw , who is in the
vineyard of the temple of Ramses II. at Memphis".
3)4 IU&U-/l C 7f' TT^AiQ^S!- ^e also
waltung Aegypt, unter den Phar.
4) Large, hard-baked clay winejars, which were pointed at the base,
were in use by the Orientals and Greeks and Romans alike. In Hebrew
these jars are called Kad, while in Syriac they bore the name danna, which
word passed later into the Arabic language, dann, pi. dinan. Babyl. dannu.
5) See Brugsch, WB, Vol. VI, p. 611. A rare word probably denoting
, wine-cellar' occurs in Miiller, W. Max, Die Liebespoesie der alten Agyprer,
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 50
The place for the produce of the vine is in it. One is merry
in it, and the heart of him, who goes forth from it, rejoices",
j
o. ii. The storing of wine (after Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians],
D
v 1 1. And again another passage reads :
-J\ ' AAAAAA I
"This is the white(washed) room of the grapes, furnished
with the best ingredients for the pre-
paring of the produce of the Horus-eye.
Different spices are there in their mul-
titude and the grape is in its closed
room at the going forth from the stalk",
ID X
The official vineyards of Egypt were No . I2 . wine-jar sup-
under the Special Care of an officer Cal- ported by a stone-ring
i j < ^t~ = ^ c A-\ j Jl r (after Wilkinson, The
led nd-mr, A ^, of the vineyard, or of
i i Ancient Egyptians).
Leipzig, 1899, 3, 12 dldi , i. e., the place where the rt'/atf-vessels are stored.
For an interesting graphic variant of 'wine-cellar' see BWB, I, p. 234:
60 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
the vineyard, or > I of the vineyard, i. e., "the superinten-
a
dent of the vineyard" l . Vineyards owned by the temple-fiscus
or the king were naturally exempt from taxes. In the early
Ptolemean times there existed a tax, called drtojioipa, which
was paid by the possessors of vineyards and gardens for the
support of the temples. This tax amounted to the sixth part
of the yearly produce of each vine-land. Ptolemy II., Phila-
delphos, however, took away the benefit of this tax from the
priests and appropriated it to the use of the queen Arsinoe
Philadelphos, who had earlier been declared a goddess, and
now was regarded as having a perfectly legitimate right to it.
The tax was presumeably only partially used for the cult of
the new goddess, while the remainder went into the state
treasury. Prior to the decree of Philadelphos, the owners of
vine-land paid their tax in furnishing a certain stipulated quan-
tity of wine, or, in isolated cases, in the payment of money.
Philadelphos later permitted certain classes (f. i. the military colo-
nists) to pay a SeKdrrj instead of the usual eKtr). In the Impe-
rial Roman time a tax ujrep cxujteXebvtov i. e., "for vineyards"*
was raised, which was a land-tax for the owners of private
vineyards. This tax was either paid to the 6ioiKr]tfiq, i. e.,
the state-resort, or to the iepcc, the temple-resort. Dr. Wilcken-'
has shown that the amount of taxes paid for vineyards varies
at this time between twenty and three-hundred and fifty
drachmae per arura. This difference in taxation was due to
the different qualities of the vineyards and to their different
locations. In case of a poor inundation a lighter tax was
sometimes placed on the owner of a vineyard 3 . Wilcken also
observed that a tax of twenty to forty drachmae per arura
was regularly raised for the 6ioiKr|tfiq, while a tax of 75, 150
or even 350 drachmae was regularly due to the iepcc. He
established the fact that the land tax of the best and most
productive vineyards of the Theban district was raised for
the temple treasury. The taxes for vineyards had to be paid,
1) Pap. Anast., IV, pi. 7, 3 mentions a master of the vineyard, in whose
storehouses a rich quantity of wine was placed.
2) Griechische Ostraka, pp. 147 ff.
3) See Grenf. (II) LVI and compare chapt. V of Wilcken, Griech. Ostr.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 6l
not in kind, not jrpoc; yevrjiiara, as the phrase is used in the
documents, but in money, ftpoc; dpyupiov. This was already
the rule in the Ptolemaic times 1 . For instance in the petition
ofKXecovAiOTip.ou 2 : jrapayeypajiiiai rax jrpdKtopi cbc; 6[cpeGuov]
jtpoq rd apjreXiKcc rod XI fq i. e., "I was noted down by the
praetor for being ninety drachmae in arrears for the land tax
of the vineyard of the thirtieth year". Since the third century '
B. C. the land tax for vineyards was always paid in cash and
Wilcken notes only one exception. He cites line 30 ff. of the
decree of Rosette, according to which Ptolemy V., Epiphanes
freed the temples of Egypt in the eigth year of his reign
from TYJC; d[jtoTeTay]p.evr)c; dprdprjc; rfji dpoupcu rfjc; iepdc; yfjc;
Kai tfjc; dp.jreXiTi8o^ ojioifcoq] TO Kepdu-iov TTJI dpoupai. The
temples up to that time thus paid one keramion of wine per
arura of vineland.
The Demotic ostracon D45, published and translated in
Theban Ostraca, Univ. of Toronto Libr., 1913, dating back to
102 B. C., is another document which shows that the vine-
yard tax was paid in kind. "Herakleitos, son of Aristippus,
has paid for the rent of his vineyard in the cornland of Ophi,
which was conveyed before Amonrasonther the great god,
together with his wine for one vineyard two (keramion of)
wine for his vineyard (and) for the (of) the produce
half a (keramion of) wine, making 2*/ 2 (keramia of) wine.
They are received by reckoning (?). Written by son
of Khapokhonsis, year 15 = year 12, Thoth(?) day 25 etc." 3 .
In the well known comparison, the prophet Isaiah speaks v
of the laying out of a vineyard (DID) in Palestine. For the vine-
culture a sloping tract of ground was selected 4 . Care was
taken to rid the ground from the superabundance of stones 5 .
This was a task which the Hebrews could undertake to do
even during the Sabbatical year 6 . According to Pliny 7 the /
ii See Wilcken, o. c., pp. 150 and 151. 2) Petr. Pap. II. 13, 17.
3) I follow the translation of Thompson, but change the word "garden"
to "vineyard". Km has both meanings.
4) Is. 5, i; Jer. 31, 5; Amos 9, 13; Jo. 4, 18; Ps. 80, n etc.
5) Mishna, I, 6; Is. 5, 2 (b|3O). 6) Mishna, Shev.
7) Hist, nat., XVII, 35. The wine gained from low growing vines was
superior to that gained from vines trained on espaliers.
52 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Palestinians cultivated on the mountain slopes generally a low
growing vine. Vineyards were, however, also planted on low-
land (!"#p3, plain), for instance, in the plain of Yisreel 1 , the
plain of Sharon 2 and probably also in the Negeb 3 . The vine-
yards were surrounded with hedges 4 , or walls, sometimes pro-
bably with both 5 , in order to protect them against the wild
animals 6 and the pasturing cattle I Sometimes vineyards were
simply surrounded with thorns, cf. Jesus Sirach, 28, 24a ,,Thou
fencest in thy vineyard with thorns". In the vineyard either
simple huts 8 , or watchtowers 9 were erected. The latter con-
sisted of a square building of solid masonry. The tower some-
times reached a considerable size, rising to the height of forty
feet. The top-story contained several apartments, with suffi-
cient windows. These towers, called pyrgos 10 (D*b"3MS), often
contained on the ground floor a stable and the wine-press.
The lower portion of the tower had also a small door and
a few narrow windows at a considerable height from the
ground. The pyrgos was used as a dwelling place of the
vinedressers 11 , or the guardians of the vineyard 12 . Great care
was taken to weed the ground 13 . According to the experience
of the Hebrews it was harmful to the culture of vines to
sow other plants between the vines and this was legally for-
bidden 14 , although it was the custom of antiquity K) . In Rab-
binic time, however, it was permissible to raise other crops
between the rows(M c Orla 3, 8 p-p Jhttt DID). While Pliny testifies
to the culture of low growing vines, the Hebrews certainly knew
also of the practise of training the vines to wooden poles,
trellis work of cane-reed and to trees 10 . They often propped
i) Jdg. 9, 27; I. Kings 21, I ft". 2) According to the Talmud.
3) See Palmer, Wuslemvanderung Israels, pp. 271 ff., 283, 286, and 289.
4) rt3J|iZJa. 5) Is. 5, 2. 5; 17, ii. 6) Ps. 80, 14; Cant. 2, 15.
7) Is. 7, 25; Jer. 12, 10. Cf. also Sir. 36, 30 "without a hedge the vine-
yard is being fed off", D"C "iS 1 !^ 1*1*1: "p&Q.
8) Is. i, 8. 9) Is. 5, 2.
10) Matth. 21, 33; Mark. 12, i. n) 2. Chron. 26, 10.
12) Job 27, 18; Cant, i, 6; 8, 11 ff.
13) *ns Is. 5, 6; the weeding hoe, Tasa Is. 7, 25.
14) Deut. 22, 9. 15) Pliny, h. n., XVII, 21.
1 6) Mishna, Kilaim, Bava-Bathra and Bava-mezia. The fruit of the
low growing vine matures earlier than that of the trained vines. But the
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 63
the poles with long sticks and drew them together, binding
them with willows *. Generally cane-reeds, but sometimes also
more expensive wooden staves ("plpl! i. e., SoKcxpiov), which
were pointed below and notched above, were used for espa-
liers. The vinestalks, that were raised on espaliers, stood in
straight, sometimes also quadratic rows. In order to get
a straight line, a cord (tain) was stretched alongside the
vines and the branches were entwined on the stalks and the
cord. The vineyard was plowed two to three times a year,
or worked with the hoe 2 . The foliage was carefully pruned
and the superfluous shoots broken off a . The vines were
often multiplied by means of props 4 , but the Hebrews
must certainly have known also the way to propagate the
vines by means of shoots. Only the latter practise would
explain the acquittal from military service, which would
have taken on too great proportions, if such acquittal had
been given to every one who had made some props or
who had made a layer, in order to replenish the gaps caused
by the withering of the old vinestalks. It seems clear,
that this acquittal could only be granted to those, who
actually had planted a new vineyard, for which they, of course,
needed shoots 5 . In some instances vineyards were attached
to the houses of a city or village. These vineyards were
greatly prized as being accessible and enjoyable at all seasons
of the year 6 . Those vineyards which lay a considerable
distance off from the villages, contained not infrequently
a summer cottage for their owners. The family would com-
mence to occupy it in spring, at the time of the digging of
the vineyards and again later at the time of the vintage. The
custom of remaining throughout the summer season in these
cottages also prevailed 7 . The cutting of the vines was for-
climbing vines produce a much larger fruit, which also keeps longer on
account of the thicker skin,
i) Mishna, Kilaim. 2} Is. 5, 6.
3) Is. 2, 4; 5, 6; 18, 5; Mi. 4, 3. 4) Mishna, Kilaim.
5) The fact, that he who planted a new vineyard, should be free from
military service until its dedication , which occured possibly at the fourth year
(Deut. jo, 6), shows the high estimation of the Hebrews for the culture of vine.
6) I. Kings ai, i. 7) Amos 3, 15.
64 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
bidden in the seventh year, but the cleaning out of the vine-
branches was permitted *. This was really a piece of bad
legislation, because the vinestalks exhausted themselves by
over-production and they were much harder to cut in the
following year.
The preferred kind of grape seems to have been the dark
blue grape, which furnished a dark red wine. This is indicated
by the designation of "blood of the grape" (njirtn, E"OD2 Q 1 !) 2
for the grape-juice. Another indication that the inhabitants of
Palestine cultivated particularly the red or dark blue grape vines
is the name pi 3 or "J"V0 4 for a special wine, which undoubtedly
received its name from its red grapes. Later, however, the
cultivation of the white grapes superseded that of the red and
dark blue grapes. At what time this change took place is hard
to tell but with the beginning of the Middle Ages the export of
Palestinian wines was that of white wines. In the vicinity of
Jerusalem, of the two kind of Tabuke-v'mzs, the one bears white
grapes, the other dark blue grapes, Only the latter, together
with the white Dskenda/e-grape, are used for the making of
wine, while the white Tabuke grape is eaten 5 .
The vintage (ISD, T2D, ft-pSD) was a time of great rejoicing 6 ,
as in all wine-growing countries. But this festive, joyful mood
is much greater in the Orient than in Europe, where early frosts
often disturb this joy. In the Orient after the blazing summer
heat generally follow beautiful days, which greatly help to make
the time of the vintage the most favored season of the year.
The inhabitants of Shilo celebrated at the end of each year
(B^n nsnpnb I. Sam. 1, 20) the hag Yahveh, JlW Ml, which
was the old festival of the gathering of grapes and olives. It
developed later into a general harvest festival, the CpOfctfl ^
at which the young girls used to perform dances. This festi-
val of Shilo was not merely of a local character, but accord -
1) Lev. 25, 5.
2) Gen. 49, n; Dt. 32, 14; comp. Gen. 49, 12; Is. 63, 2ff.; Prov. 23, 31 ;
Sir. -50, 15; I. Mace. 6, 34; Matth. 26, 27 ff.; Apoc. 14, 19 ff.
3) Is. 5, 2; Jer. 2, 21. 4) Gen. 49, 11.
5) Anderlind, Die Rebe in Syrien, insbesondtre Pahstina, ZDPV, XI,
p. 161.
6) Judg. 9, 27; Is. 16, 10 ; Jer. 25, 30; 48, 33.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 65
ing to I. Sam. 1 people attended it from far and near. The
time of the grape harvest is in the month of September
and part of October. Burchard of Mount Sion (1280 A. D.) l
informs us of the marvellous vintage in Antaradus thus: "But
I have seen a wondrous thing at Antaradus, for there the
natives told me that from one and the same vine grapes are
gathered thrice in a year, in the following manner. In spring-
time the vine-dressers see when the vine has formed as many,
bunches of grapes as each vine and each branch usually does;
then they straightway cut off all that remains of the branch
beyond those bunches, and throw it away. This is done in
March. In April a new branch sprouts from it with new
bunches of grapes. When they see this they again cut off
all of the branch that reaches beyond these bunches of grapes
In May the trunk puts forth a third branch, with its bunches
of grapes, and thus they have three sets of grapes, which all
grow alike; but those which budded in March are gathered
in August, those which budded in April are gathered in Sep-
tember, and those which budded in May are gathered in
October. Thus they have three vintages in one year".
The eating grapes, however, are gathered somewhat ear-
lier, commencing with August. At some places as for instance
at the sea of Tiberias and at Ror the grapes commence to
ripen even as early as June. After the vintage the old Ca-
naanitish inhabitants of Palestine used to celebrate their fall-
festival 2 , which was their New Year festival. Every stranger
was allowed to eat grapes until satiated in the vineyards, but
he was not permitted to take any grapes along on his jour-
ney 3 . The vineyard owner, on the other hand, was not per-
mitted to clean and pick up the grapes that had fallen to
the ground. These had to remain to be gathered by the
1) See Pal. Pilgr. T. S., Vol. XII, pp. 89 ff.
2) So the Canaanitish inhabitants of Sichem, Judg. 9, 27.
3) Dent. 23, 25. According to Jos. Ant. jud. 4, 8 an old custom was
to offer grapes to the passing traveler. This generosity later ceased on account
of the great number of travelers. Also the state fiscus claimed a large part
of the produce of the vineyards in later times, which naturally tended to curb
the old-time liberality.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 5
66 Liitz, Viticulture and Brewing.
poor 1 . The vine-dresser (nlD) cut the grapes (ppy)with a special
knife (DVWa), as was the custom in Egypt. In order to pro-
tect the grapes from falling to the ground during the time of
the vintage, large baskets (ftbDbD) were placed below the vine-
stalks. The grapes, which were not used for the making of
wine, but were used as raisins, seem not to have been strip-
ped by the Hebrews from the stems, but were dried in the
bunch, as is the present custom in the district of Malaga in
Spain 2 . The grapes; which were sold as eating-grapes on the
market (pltDb 1SD) were generally of the white color.
The grapes were carried to the winepress in baskets,
called Kdpiakoq in the Septuagint (Hebrew D^o, NH "pbo) or
in vats (niDIp). The winepress (gath, na), was situated in the
vineyard. It was sometimes covered by a roof 3 , The con-
siderable size of some presses can be gathered from the fact
that Gideon was able to use it as a threshing floor, in order
to conceal his wheat from the marauding Midianites. The
winepress consisted of two, and sometimes three or four, vats
which were cut into the rock of the mountain. The vats were
either round or angular, or the pressing vat (piira, rrfiS, ^qvoc;,
acus vinarius, or more specifically wbyn D3, jrpoXfjviov)
was angular and the lower vat (yeqeb, agi, NH mannnfi na,
or T,D, ujroXfjviov) round. The winepress near c Artuf 4 shows
the pur a in angular form, with two yeqebs also angular,
but a fourth and lowest vat had a round form. The press-
vat reached a diameter of up to four meters. The winepress
at Tell el-Hessy 5 exhibits mud- walls, while its flooring is
cemented and sloping slightly to a hollowed stone, which was
placed in the cement. Prior to pressing, the piira and the
yeqeb were carefully washed and cleansed. In Rabbinic times
the grapes used to be pressed by men (ZYDTTi) hired especially
for this work. In the pur a the grapes were trodden with the
1) Num. 19, 10. Cf. also Sir. 36, i6a and 30, 25 (Smend, Die Weisheit
des Jesus Sirach, Berlin, 1906) "And I have come as one who had tarried
ong, like one who gleaneth behind the gatherers of grapes".
2) I, Sam. 25, 18; 30, 12; II. Sam. 16, i ; I. Chron. 12, 40.
3) Judg. 6, n,
4) Schick, ^Artttf und seine Umgebung, ZDPV, X (1887), pp. 146 ff.
5) Bliss, A Mound, p. 69. This winepress belongs to the Xlllth cent B,
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making ot" Wine in the Ancient Orient. 67
feet (darak, p'n or -|) l , which was the more general custom,
or by .means of laying heavy stones on the grapes, or finally,
by means of levers. The pressed wine flowed from the pura
into the yeqeb, which was connected with the pura by a
channel (TlDS)). Whenever desired, this channel could be
stopped up (pp&) in order to get a closed vat called ffl
npipfe. Wherever there were more wine-vats, the first ser-
ved the purpose of letting the pressed wine settle the lees 2 ,
and then the clarified juice was allowed to run into a second
vat. The grape-juice was then poured into jars 3 , or into
skins 4 . It was allowed to ferment in them, which commenced
within six to twelve hours. It was also laid for some time
on yeast. Then the new wine was poured into other jars or
skins. The wine at that stage was called "yeast-wine" 5 .
According to Luke, 5, 39 by this procedure the wine grew
milder. Sometimes they waited until the next year, when the
second fermentation set in, in order 'to transfuse it into other
jars or skins. The wine was filtered before being used (D"nip1p
D^pj^Tl?) 6 . A piece of cloth, or willow-work, served as sieve.
For this purpose in Rabbinic times a certain kind of siphon
was used which consisted of a long and a short hollow glass-
tube. They were put together at an oblique angle, while a
hole was permitting communication with both. One end of
the siphon was placed into the full wine-jar and the s.econd
into the vessel or wine-skin into which the wine was desired
to flow. The wine was drawn (nb^H) from one vessel into
the other with the mouth being placed at the hole of the
bend. This kind of siphon seems to be identical with the
1) Is. 1 6, 10 ; 63, 2; Jer. 25, 30; 48, 33.
2) In Talmudic times, and probably much earlier, the skins and the
grape- seeds, which remained at the bottom of the vat were formed by hand
into loaves or balls. According to their form they were eithet called "bread"
(Dfib) or "apple" (men). These were placed into pits (ni^BlA) and covered
with boards, on which were placed heavy clay-rollers ("pVttS), which had the
form of a mill-stone. The pressing-beam (Jimp) finally was lowered and
pressed against the boards, causing the juice that remained in the lees to flow
forth. See Krauss, S., Taltnudische Archaologie,-^"3M& II, pi 235.
3) Jer I 3r 12 ff., 48, ii.
4) Jos. 9. 4- 13; Job 32, 19; Matth. 9, 17.
5) Jer. 48, n ; Zeph. i, 12; Is. 25, 6. 6) Is. 25, 6; Jer. 48, u.
5*
68 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
so-called 8ia(3r)Tr):; of the Greeks. A more simple siphon was
called "the sucker" (fem.) (np^B). The task of transfusing
the wine into other jars was called ftBtt?. The vintner was
called ^?fc.
In 1909 the German expedition, excavating on the site
of ancient Jericho, disinterred a house which brought to light
a wine cellar of the Jewish period. This cellar was situated
in the Northern corner. Four large wine amphoras stood side
by side on the ground towards the southwest corner of the
cellar-room. Three of these amphoras were well preserved.
On top of two of these amphoras lay a large two-handled plate
with spout. A large four-handled amphora was found broken
in pieces before the north wall. Amphoras, plates, large and
small jugs, a sieve and a spindle- whorl in the debris were
discovered. They hung probably to the wall on wooden
plucks or were placed on wall-boards, according to Sellin,
since these vases were found somewhat higher in the debris.
This room possessed especially strong inner walls. It was
accessible by means of a stairs, which led down to the cellar { ,
King David placed special overseers over his wine cellars
Cn*!J tTnyitf) ' 2 - When the wine was pressed and brought to
town, in order to be put into the cellar, it was subject to
the tax. The tax-gatherers met the wine-pressers at their
entrance to the city-gate and levied the accustomed tenth
part 3 . The wine was stored in the cellar either in clay-bar-
rels (t^Drt, OWS = jriOcx;; called 851 in Syria and Babylonia)
or in wine-skins (115; called also ma, man, 535 and 3p"n
according to their form), or finally in jars, pointed at the bot-
tom, in order to be placed into the ground. These pointed
jars seem to have been out of use in Talmudic times. The
wine-skins were kept closed by means of pieces of bone,
which were wrapped either with bast or papyrus, or were
simply tied with a cord (850^3). The clay-barrels had stop-
pers of clay, lime, pitch or gypsum, but sometimes a piece
of leather or cloth or papyrus was simply placed over the
mouth of the cask. As soon as the barrel or the wine-jar
i) Sellin, Jericho, p. 77, 2) I. Chron. 27, 27.
3) I. Sam. 8, 15.
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. (5g
wa s closed, it was sealed and the name of the owner and the
quantity and quality of the content attached in writing.
Babylonia has left us no monuments, which would illu-
strate the laying out of their vineyards and the process of
making grape-wine. But we may conjecture that in the low-
land of Babylonia viticulture was essentially the same as in
Egypt, where conditions were very much alike, and that it
differed from that of Syria and Palestine. We had occasion x
to refer above to the vineyard planted by Gudea, and we
found that this vineyard was planted on an artificially raised
plot of ground. This practise, probably, prevailed all over
Babylonia. Vine, however, was never extensively cultivated
in that country and the documents refer comparatively seldom
to wine, while they mention very often fruit-wines, such as
date- wine, and particularly a multitude of different kinds of
beer. It is strange, however, that at the earlier stages of
Babylonian history, we never hear of "beer-houses", but that
the Code of Hammurabi, for instance, refers only to wine-
shops. We will have occasion in Chapter Four, to enter into
a detailed account of that part of Babylonian legislation, which
deals with the wineshops. Contrary to Babylonia, Assyria
cultivated the vine very extensively, in the vicinity of Nineveh
as well as in other parts of the land, since the vineplant grows
well in many districts of Assyria. The Assyrian monuments
represent the vines very realistically and with a great deal of truth
(see Illustrations Nos. 1 3 and 14). In the Assyrian documents there
is mention of an officer called rab karani. This title represents
the "Chief winemaster", and the office may refer to a state posi-
tion as well as to a position held in the service of some large
temple. Tablet K. 342 a und b 1 is important for our present
investigation, since it mentions not only the chief winemaster,
but also his assistant called am * lu sanu, i. e., the second (wine-
master). The text, moreover, deals with a transaction, in which
l) (i) kunuk m.Zeru-u-ti rab karani (2) kunuk m. ar^uUlula-a-a amlu| a nuu
(3) 9 mane 15 ikil kaspu (4) ina i mane 3a aiu Gar-ga-mis" (5) gi-nu-u 3a
Agursur (6) a m.As'ursur-re'gu-i-s'i (7) ina pan m.Zeru-ti rab karani biti eSSi
(8) ina pan m. arfcuUlula-a-a am^luganu" (9) arfcuSimanu umu i6-kam (10) lim-
mu m.ga-iluNabu-ti-u amJu r eu(?) etc. The text is translated in Kohler and
Ungnad, Assyr. Rechtsurkunden.
70
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
money is paid in order to obtain wine for sacrifical purposes.
Amongst the witnesses two are of special interest, namely
Marduk-ibni, the a "<* l $aku, that is the "beer-house keeper",
and Mutakkil-Ashur, the sim -\-gar, that is, the brewer. The
No. 13. Bas-relief of Nimrud (Calah) in the British Museum (after Lenor-
mant, Fr., Histoire ancienne de I'Orienf).
tablet reads: "Seal of Zeruti, the chief winemaster, seal of
Ulula, the second (i. e., the assistant winemaster). Nine minas,
fifteen shekels of silver, according to the mina of Carchemisb,
sacrificial offering of the god Ashur, belonging to Ashur-
reshu-ishi, at the disposition of Zeruti, the chief winemaster
The Vineyard, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. j\
of the New House (and) at the disposition of Ulula, the second
(winemaster). The l6th day of Sivan, in the eponymate of
Sha-Nabu-shu, the chief-officer etc."
The pressman was called siratu. He not only pressed
the wine and filled it into kegs or wine-skins, but also retai-
No. 14. Climbing vine of a bas-relief in the palace of Sennacherib at Kuyunjik
(after Lenormant, Fr., Histoire ancienne de 1'Orient).
led it. In CTXXII 38,9 a Neo-Babylonian temple-official informs
his master, a priest of Sippar, that "the wine has been pressed
in my presence". The manufacturer of spiced wines, accord-
ing to Oriental custom, was at the same time a perfumer (see
Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrien, p. 242).
Chapter Three
The Beer in the Ancient Orient
Peoples in all ages and climates have prepared naturally
fermented beverages from any available material. The state-
ment of Pliny 1 "if any one will take the trouble duly ,to con-
sider the matter, he will find that upon no one subject is the
industry of man kept more constantly on the alert than upon
the making of wine", can be augmented by the addition "and
of beer". The brewing industry in its beginnings in historic
times was a home industry like that of baking bread. Indeed
the work of the baker and that of the brewer was very much
alike in the initial stages of brewing. The earliest Egyptian
texts enumerate quite a number of different beers. One of the
oldest generic terms for beer seems to be Sfhpet, I n . Shpt-
\ c
beer Pyr. Texts W 143 a; Tli4a; N451 a; Beni Hasan I, pi. 17 etc.
On the stele of Khabiousokari in the Museum of Cairo a certain
beer is called hn- ', ^^ ~ . In the pyramid-texts we meet with
a "dark beer", an "iron beer" and the 7^-beer, i. e. t "garnished
beer" 2 . The pyramid-texts furth er mention the /$-beer, ^ ,
(W I44a; T 115 a; N 452 a, which is probably the same as the
/$ J -beer, S"^,, * n Beni Hasan I, pi. 17), the t\ -beer
(W 141 a; T H2a; N 44Qa) and the beer of Nubia, hk.t
ty, \ A \ (W 145 a; T ll6a; N 453 a). Under the
A d u
rubrique sfhpet, "beer", are also mentioned very early the
1) Pliny, XIV, 22.
2) See Unas 46, 53, 54, 55.
The beer in the Ancient Orient.
beverages QJ /wvwv (probably identical with the beverage cal-.
/WWVA
led LM^\ tx^f^land//^, ^ %. The former only is found
==* >^,H^S II A-~JI
again by Hathorneferhotep in the same category, but there
it is again mentioned under the heading of hw.t, 8 ji>^ and
of nms.t, f) t\~\ A fl^. Probably these latter two names refer
cLI _c!r^ Y tU
also to certain kinds of beer 1 . Nms.t may possibly be con-
nected with the name for cellar, nmw, f\ f\ \\ !V" , as the
^ Jo^ -!L \\ \
designation of a beverage, which was kept in the cellar. In
the Egyptian bazaar-scene 3 , dating back to the fifth dynasty,
the second row shows a woman offering for sale a beverage,
which bears the name nmst, /WWVA (Ibv Ms >, to a man, who
^1 Ji^ I
kneels before a parfume vase. The woman is saying to him .
"It is ;/*.& that satisfies thee", ^^ (Ilk n=~^% 4 <cr> c ^ =
^d^^fcl 1/J& JJL ^- __ * '
The liquor is contained in two white bowls, which she
extends towards the prospective buyer. This market-scene
is of interest, since it shows that even at that early time
liquors were sold by women in public places. In Diimichen,
Kal. Inschr., 46, 1 appears a certain kind of beer , called
"friends-beer" or, "beer of the protector" * ^ (I H
A o 1 1 1 vl I .
Beni Hasan I, pi. 17), ftk.t hnms, which was probably an old
beer, or lager-beer. Sweet beer is mentioned, f. i., in Med,
1) Weil, Raymond, Des monuments et de I'histoirc des H e et III* dyn.
egypt., Paris, 1908, pp. 249 and 253.
2) The nmw is a cellar in which any kind of beverages were stored*
^ Q O T
The beer -cellar proper was called Q U, Journ. Asiat., 1867, p. 449.
^n X^l r
3) LD II, 96 and Maspero, Bibliotheque Egyplologique, VIII, (1900) plate
facing p. 256. On the element jig * = beverage, see above, p. 79, n. i.
4) Mistake for /to, [] "v\.
7 A Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Papyr. Berlin, 1 3, 2, 3 A O ? f\ Jj hk .t ndm. A fermented
/x d A -WvV U
liquors appears in Papyrus Ebers under the name
, ^
Ox II i n W*M
v ...... 74. 2), m I l(L - and Pap. med. Berl. 7, 3
I I I I U I /VWAA
*V\ ,M (or \Ir), which is nritttt. In the Panammu-inscription
_M^ 1 1 1
1. 6 iTCJE is a special beverage, while XtilO is the general word
for "drink, beverage", Hadad 9. For a reference to the beve-
rage called thviw, C3^K (1 ^ Q see Budge, ^^ ^/"//^ Dead,
P- 3^7, 3 and 382, 5. The latter passage reads: ,,The beautiful
West-land, in which the gods live upon cake and ^fe
The following five beverages, whose names we register, may
either denote certain kinds of beer or wine; hbt, S Jrv
O
f
The commonest beer was prepared irom barley, of which
grain two kinds have been found in Egypt, the hordeum
hexastichum L. and the hordeum tetrastichum Kche. The
former was the most common grain in Egypt 1 . The barley
beer of Egypt, hk.t, fi O> was called 'C.uOo; or ';uro; by the
A o
Classical writers. This name j^OOo; is found for the first time
in Theophrastos 2 , who reckons it to those beverages, which
were prepared, like those made of barley and wheat, of rotting
fruits. Herodotus states 3 oivcp 8e BK Kpi^ecov jrcn:oti]p.evcp 8ta-
Xpecovrat "they use wine made of barley". Athenaeus, on the
authority of Hecataeus, mentions the fact "that the Egyptians
were great bread-eaters, eating loaves of rye, called KiAArj-
1) Sclnveinfurth, in Wissenschattl. Veroffentl. der deutschen Orientgesell-
schaft, VIII, p. 153. See also Unger, Sit/.ungsber. d. Wiener Akad., math.-
nat. Kla^se 54'!, p 41.
2) Theophr., de c. pi., VI, n, 2.
3) Herod. II, 77; see also Diod. I, 34; Strabo, XVII; Pliny XXII, 25 ,
Athen., X.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
75
;, and bruising barley to extract a drink from it 1 . The
name ox)oc; or ,UToq is not Egyptian. It is derived fro m the
verb eco, an old Greek word, as old as Homer and Hesiod.
eo> means "to boil", "to foam" and the Greeks applied it to
the beer, which they learned from Egypt. 0x)oc; goes back
to the same verb ^eco as goes the word ^6|J.r), "leaven, yeast".
According to Diodorus 2 the j^u^oc; was considered an inven-
tion of Dionysos, while according to the same writer 3 Osiris
made it known in those countries where the wine does not
grow. The beer constituted an indispensable beverage in those
parts of Egypt, in which the vine did not grow. It was the
drink of the peasant, the shepherd, the sailor and the fisher-
man. It is stated 4 that it was nearly as good as wine, but
the Greeks despised the Egyptians, who drank a beverage
which was prepared from barley 5 . Dioskorides taught that
zythos causes urination, affects the kidneys and the nerves,
endangers the brain membrane, causes bloating, bad phlegms
and elephantiasis. Since the zythos was a product of decayed
materials it caused bad phlegms 6 . The best that is said about
it by the Classical writers refers not to its use as a beverage,
but to its property of softening ivory, which made it possible
to bend the ivory into any desired form. This property of
the zythos was due to its element of acid. Since hops were
unknown to the Egyptians as well as to all the ancient Oriental
peoples, they were obliged to have recourse to other plants,
in order to improve the taste of the beer and to keep it for
*a longer period of time. The lupin (lupinus termis Forskal;
Arabic termus], the skirret (siser', the slum sis arum L.) and
the root of an Assyrian plant were used by them for that
purpose 7 . In Hellenistic times Egyptian beer was imported
i) Athen., B X, 13. 2} Diod. IV, 2.
3) Diod. I, 20. 4) Diod. I, 20. 5) Aesch. Hik., 953.
6) Orib. XV, i, 6, 6. Gal. Act. The Greeks also considered, strangely,
the barley beer as being the direct cause of leprosy.
7) Columella, de cultu hort., X, 114 116: "iam siser , Assyrioque venit quae
semine radix sectaque praebet-ur madido satiata lupino ut Pelusiaci proritet
poctda zythi". This passage is, however, understood by some scholars in
suite a different way. They say that it refers to the previous eating of ra-
dishes and lupins, in order that they should arouse the appetite for drinking;
76 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
into Palestine, probably from Pelusium, which seems to have
been the most noted city for its beers in Egypt. Pelusian beer
was also exported to Rome 1 .
The Egyptian word for "brewing beer" is V//, fl ^ ^ 2
The name for the brewer is '/#/, "MH"^ (Leiden, Stele V, 6)
v^> (Louvre, Stele C, 196) and JK^, g^( Aeg. 1897, p. 133) 3
or also "" ~,MjM^l, "those who crush the grain for beer".
/-^ ^3 jy r\ Nl '
The brewery, which was a special part of the kitchen, is called "the
pure", /J r^, 4 . Beer, according to the Egyptian texts, is
either prepared from barley, it, n , Coptic FIODT, of which
1 CCO '
three kinds were distinguished : the white, black and red barley
or of spelt, bd.t, Jj e ^y Coptic BO)TF. Barley beer was
the most common beverage, the national drink of Egypt.
Besides the name it, n , the texts mention another name for
it, which is a Canaanitish loanword, srt, <=> .."^, Hebrew
^
de Sacy, Chrest. Arab. I, p. 179: "Dans ces vers . . . . je n'apercois autre chose
que la couturae ou Ton etoit de servir a table du chervi et de la racine dont
parle 1'auteur, maceree dans des lupins en fermentation, pour exciter les con-
vives a boire de la biere." Cf. Hor. sat. II, 8, 8; Diosc. II, 152 and Pliny
XXII, 155. This may, after all, be more correct, since we should expect
otherwise a similar practise in Babylonia, where we do not find bitterplants
added to the beer. See also Sprengel, Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte
der Arzncikttnde I, p. 75.
1) See Col. Econ. X, 4, 114.
2) Aeg. Z. 42, p. 27, Gardiner, Hymns to Amon from a Leiden Papyrw.
.. n (c)
r~^ i /WWVA o ^ "beer is brewed for him on
C9 X^j O
the day of festival". " Mj Amherst Pap. 34.
3) See Aeg. Z. 1896, p. 161; see also Newberry, Bent-Hasan I, pi. 29
==* L. D., II, 126. For a reference to a female brewer, *y^ _ ^n \ \ Jl) , see
Aeg. Z. 1897, p. 123.
4) Pap. Anast. 4, 16, 3 =~ Pap. Anast. 3, 8, 5.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
77
Syriac \i- r u l . It is probable that whenever this latter word
is used, it refers to an imported kind of barley, which came
from Syria, according to Pap. Harris I 2 .
The word hkt, \ A Q, is most likely derived from the root
A ^
y^, "to squeeze, to press out". Hrozny, Uber das Bier im
alien Babylonien und Agypten (Anzeiger der Wien. Ak. phil.
Cl. 1910, Dez.), connects hkt with the Babylonian beer called
hiqu, deriving the word from fyaqu, "to mix". It is hardly
possible to suppose, apart from other considerations, that a
word like Egyptian hkt, which occurs innumerable times in
texts of every period, should have been borrowed from the
Babylonian hiqu, a word, which is not at all met with fre-
quently in Babylonian texts. Certain beers used for religious
purposes exclusively were called 9 fi (I vb\
A ^ 1 Jyv^ Q
T288; M65; with the determinative 8 5 \\ t\
A a i _r^
IT J r"**O O WWAA
\o\ / N 126, i. e. "beer which does not sour(r)"; 9 J
Jfi^s. I A c C2
'CL \\* P 391; M 5575 N 1164 "beer of eternity", and 8 A &
_ZT^ A A A ^ M I
\y s=> ^^ n [) Jj "beer of the goddess Maat", or simply, "beer
of truth". The latter was a beer drunk by the 12 gods who
guarded the shrine of Osiris.
Durra-beer seems to have been unknown to the Egyp-
tians until a very late time. Pliny's statement 3 that the durra
was brought in his time from India to Italy may be correct
and explain the fact that the Egyptian inscriptions do not
1) F. i., Totenbuch , 173 "beer of white srt". Aeg. Z., 1877, p. 30
* s.tSv' f^^\<=> " n ? o- ui p fe p ared beer
o ^sr^, U Jl x^sK-> d ' A O
in the city of Tpn from white srf\ White srt appears to have been preferred
for brewing, while the black srt was more generally used for the making of
bread. The white and red barley, called //, are also more generally mentioned
in the making of beer than the black it. Totenbuch 189, 14 "bread of black
barley (//)".
2) The chief barley growing district of Palestine was the southern part
of the country. 3) Plin., H. n. XVIII, 17.
78 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
mention it. An Egyptian word, which could mean durra, has
never been found. See, however, Maspero, G., Bibliotheque
gyptologique , XXVIII, p. 252: "La dourah est originaire de
1'Afrique tropicale, et j'ai cru la deviner sous le nom de Di-
rati, Dourati dans une lettre d'affaires ecrite vers le milieu de
la XIX e dynastic" (i. e., Pap. Anastasi IV, pi. 13 line 12 and
pl. 17 Hne 4 , On ^)^, ^^]^-^
see also Loret, V., La Flore pharaomque, 2 e edit. p. 26, 144.
The word is generally translated: "fine flour", Hebrew nbb*
Assyr. siltu, yW<2/, to crush. In Coptic, however, appears
a word which may refer to the merisa, or merise of the Nu-
bians, a beverage which is prepared from durra. If this is
the case, it would still be a late evidence for durra^beer in
-Q ^ -r^^
Egypt. The Egyptian plwr, AX ^^ j 1 hardly equals Coptic
MplC, FMTTplC, "mustum" 1 .
Zosimus of Panopolis in the Thebais, a chemist who wrote
probably before the time of Photios, has left us a description
of the method of brewing beer amongst the ancient Egyp-
tians. He says:
About beer-making
"Take fine clean barley and moisten it for one day and
draw it off or also lay it up in a windless place until morn-
ing and again wet it six hours. Cast it into a smaller per-
forated vessel and wet it and dry it until it shall become
shredded and when this is so pat it (i. e., shake, or rub) in
the sun-light until it falls apart. For the must(?) is bitter.
Next grind it and make it into loaves adding leaven, just
like bread and cook it rather raw and whenever (the loaves)
rise, dissolve sweetened water and strain (it) through a strainer
or light sieve.
Others in baking the loaves cast them into a vat(?) with
water and they boil it a little in order that it may not froth
nor become luke-warm and they draw up (= absorb) and
strain it and having prepared it, heat (it) and examine (it) 3 ".
i) Mel. Ill, p. 89 ff. 2) Brugsch, WB* Vol. VI, 467.
3) TTepi 2u&ou iroirjaeu)?
xpidr]v KctOctpiav KaXrjv Pp^ov aa xai dvdairaaov ^\ xai KCUTCKJOV
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
79
Ludwig Borchardt was the first scholar who explained the
meaning of those pictures and statues which refer to the
brewing industry l in Egypt and who indirectly helped to
understand also the Babylonian texts, which contain the ear-
liest beer-brewing recipes that have come down to us 2 .
A certain amount of grain, either barley, spelt or wheat 3 is
poured into a mortar and ground, after being moistened.
After that yeast was added 4 and worked into the dough.
On the east- wall of the tomb of Rahenem ( y ^\ ), sur-
named J Isy ((] H (]j, at Deir el-Gebrawi 5 we see the dough
piled up in many earthenware vessels. Some of these vessels
are taken by a man and stacked for baking (see Illustration
No. 15). Below these vessels was then set a slow fire. The
man, who is about to slightly bake the loaves in the ves-
sels, is pictured shading his face from the heat. When
the bread was 'half baked, it was broken into pieces and
\ dvrjvtjatu Toiriu, (uc, irpun Kai irdXtv Ppe"ov uipaq e. e'mpaXXe ei<; Ppa-
Xiuuviov dYY i v udjuoeibec; Kai Ppe'xe, irpoavar|paive ^uuq ou fvr\ta\, dx;
TiXri, Kai O'TC Y^vrjTai, vyf|?:ov iv rjXiiu, e\ju<; ou Tre'arj TO (uaXiov YP TtiKp6v.
AOITTOV aXeaov, Kai Troirjaov dpTOuq irpoa^dXXajv 2u|ur|v, dicnrep dpTov,
Kai 6rrTa obnoTepov, Kai OTav ^iravdujaiv, bidXue (ibuup Y^ UK ^ K0t ^ n^l 111 ^
bid rjd|Liou f| KOCJKIVOU XeTTToO.
"AXXoi be oiTTOVTec; apToui; pdXXoumv eic KXoupov |ueTd ObaTO?, Kai
lniKpov, i'va |ur) KOxXdarj, |LirjT rj x^ ia P v Kai dvao"Trio~i Kai
/, Kai Trepio"Keudo"avTe<; Oeojuaivouaiv, Kai dvaKpivouaiv.
(Zosimi Panopolitani de Zyihorum confectione fragmentum , ed. C. G. Gruner,
Solisbachi, 1814). See also Dioscor. II, 109 and no.
i) Aeg. Z. 36, p. 128 ff. 2) See below p. 88.
3) That sometimes also wheat was used is indicated in Theophrast., De
causa plant., 6, 11, 2: oi TOU<; oi'vou<; iroioOT ^K TUJV Kpidi&v Kai TUJV irupOuv
Kai TO ^v AIYUTTTUJ KaXoujaevov Z[0x>o<;. See also Ulp. t)ig., XXXIII, 6, 9 pr.
4) M^\ O> C P- Hebrew *iett3; see f. i., Rec. I, 72, 3: A n I ^s. O
^v : 1 1 /wwv\ I -*^ ! I I
i. e., "I put the yeast into a jar
(and) the beer into the cellar". Another word for yeast is f=^=T% y
d \\ II!
$., see Br., WB, Vol. VI, p. 660.
5) Davies, The Rock-Tombs of Deir el Gtbrawi, part II, pi. XX.
8o
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
soaked for several days. The bread pieces were then pla-
ced into a large fermentation-vat, which was large enough
to hold a man or woman, and the soaked pieces were then
trodden by the feet (see Illustration No. 16). A small statue 1
No. 15. Women soaking bread-loaves in large bo^vls; at right man staking
loaves for slight baking (after Davies, Rock Tombs of Deir el-Gebrawi).
shows a woman standing in the vat, holding her hands at the
top of the vat. In the painting at Deir el-Gebrawi we see
the process, which was most characteristic to the Egyptians
No. 1 6. Man in centre pressing the soaked beer-loaves in large vat. Men at
left and right filtering beer through woven baskets over large bowls (after
Davies) Rock Tombs of Deir el-Gebraiut].
for brewing, so that the hieroglyph "brewer" is taken from
the act, performed by a man. In the latter painting the artist
i) Found in Neggada and preserved in the Berlin Museum ; see Aeg. Z.,
1896, p. 161, illustrations 12 and 13.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient. 3l
has even gone so far as to show the yellow grains on the
exterior of the vat, which is painted red. Next we see the
sieving of the beer-mash. The semi-liquid mass is poured
into a flat, wide-woven basket, in which we see sometimes
one, sometimes two servants kneading the mass with both
hands. The basket is placed over a large jar, which stands
either in a turned over basket or in a foot-stand of basket-
work. When the beer loaves had been thoroughly kneaded
and stirred, the liquid filtered through the basket into a large
jar below, from which it was finally poured into the large
beer jars. This work of filling the beer jars was called mh kk.t,
kg g .In Rifeh l large conical bowls with a hole in the
X X o
bottom have been found, which served the purpose of pressing
and stirring the beer loaves, in order to squeeze out the fer-
mented beer from the loaves. Petrie notes that one still
contained a pressed cake of barley mash and grains. In grave
No. 29 were also found mud-models of vases with blue line
pottery belonging to the end of the XVIII th dynasty. Some
of these vases were closed with mud caps, many of which
still containing barley grain and barley mash. The persons
represented as filling the beer bottles, are always seen sitting
on the ground. One hand is inside the long bottle, while the
other is holding it (see Illustration No. 17). It seems that
before the bottles were filled with beer, they were smeared
with bitumen or the like, as was done with the wine bottles.
These bottles, when filled, were finally closed with large balls
o f Nile-mud.
A recipe to prepare Egyptian beer is also found in the
Rabbinic literature, to which J. H. Bondi first called attention 2 .
In Mishna Pesackim, III, 1 are enumerated pttim ""HEft "OB
nsm cnmn *WlSfi "Median beer and Idumaean vinegar and
Egyptian zythos\ The Gemara (B. Pesackim 42 b) remarks
that barley is put into the first two. It says regarding the
Egyptian beer: "What is Egyptian zythos^ Rabbi Joseph
1) Flinders Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh (British School of Archaeology in
Egypt and Egyptian Research Account, i3th year, 1907), p. 23.
2) Aeg. Z., 33, p. 62.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 6
82
Lutz, \ 7 iticulture and Brewing.
teaches: a third of barley, a third of saff lower seed 1 and
a third of salt. Rabbi Papa took barley off (the recipe) and
placed instead (of it) wheat They moisten it, roast it,
.grind it and drink it from Passah unto the week-festival. It causes
diarrhea to whosoever is costive, and whosoever suffers of
diarrhea, him it makes cos-
tive. It is a danger for the
sick and the pregnant wo-
man" 2 . The "foaming" of the
beer was expressed by the
word stf, a /"^
The Egyptians also im-
ported beer. The greatest
beer export country seems
to have been along the Syrian
and Asia Minor coast, which
was known geographically as
The Qode-
Ju 4 was
probably not a Syrian pro-
duct, but came from inland,
either from Babylonia, . or
more likely, from the Hittite
country. Qode may be iden-
tical with the Biblical "coast
of the Kittians", i. e., the
coast-land which formerly
reached from Cilicia to Pe-
lusium; cf. Solin. 38, 1: Ciliciam, qua de agitur, si, ut mine
est loquamur, derogasse videbimur fidei vetustatis: si ter-
minos sequimur, quos habuit o/im, absonum est a con-
No. 17. Coating the interior of beer
bottles with bitumen (after Aeg. Zeit-schr.
Bd. 3 X
1) Carthamus tinctorius L., which grows in Egypt.
2) xrbri ^BTip xrbr nrus Krbn tibi* 31 tor
inb ^inai inb ibpi inb
n^b a^c
oirvn
XBB a^
ia inb
3) Pap. d'Orb. 8, 6.
4) Pap. Anast. 3 verso 2; 4, 12, n.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
3 3
temptations rerum praesentium. Cilicia antea usque Pelu-
sium Aegypti pertinebat, Lydis, Medis, Armeniis, Pamphilia,
Cappadocia, sub imperio Cilicum constitutis: mox ab Assy r Us
subacta, in breviorem moduni scripta. This beer played an
important role in Egypt, where it was often imitated 1 *
In a letter 2 , the writer, who was stationed in Qenqen-tane 3
writes to his superior that the food at that place was bad
and the best drink he could get was beer from Qode. Two
kinds were known in Egypt, the imported 4 and that which
was brewed in Egypt by foreign slaves 5 . The genuine Qode
beer was differentiated by the name 8 .d . x TL/vww \^
/> Ci 1 1 1 I \\ &L- Jarofc
^(j^1\j^j, i. e., "imported Qode beer". In Pap. Leid. I,
345, rev. G. VII is mentioned "a thirst, which empties the Qode
1) Hierat. Inschr. 5637.
2) Pap. Anast. 4, 12, 11:
i.e., "Sometimes when bottles are opened, filled with beer from Qode, then(?)
the people go forth to make a drinking-bout outside. There are 200 great
dogs and 300 jackals, $00 in all. They stay all day at the door of my house.
Each time that I go out while they sleep, whenever the n:ck of the bottles
is broken and when the jug is opened, I should be excluded, if I did not
have the little jackal-dog of N'hr-hw, the royal scribe, who dwells with me
in my house. It is he who saves me from them (scil. the dogs)".
3) Location unknown. 4) Pap. Anast. 3, 3, 6.
5) Pap. Anast. 4, 16,5; 3, 8, 5.
6*
84 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
countries", which also indicates that Qode was the beer country
The inscriptions refer to an officer called "inspector of
the brewery", 0%*w** ^ 5m 1 * and to the "royal chief
V JL ^Cl Ao A II I
beer-inspector", I "7^ Za^ ^ 2 . The "royal butler",
T A /WWVAA^I I I
1 <= ^, was a high court-official. In the representation of
Wiedemann, Hierat. Texte, Tafel 8 (Pap. Louvre 3308) the
stands behind the king with a fan. a selon DHI 40 e; Mar
Abyd II, 50 (cf. Ill, 1 ! 3 6) 1 =7: -^ SL | HI
T 8 /wyvAA^ncnDn n 1 il t
(sic)
_ a? A \ (time of Merenptah); 1 *> ? /^T"^ 1 ( time of
/WWV\/N^ T A' - - /I \\
IO ^-tO JL n /WAAAA
Vf | , Var. V - -Ji I Rec. trav. 15, 37
(Amarna); J J^, ^ ^37 |^^' Var - f J ^ etc -
Var. $ 1] ^ _ /l etc., Stele of Marseille, Rec. trav. 13, 1 19 (18. dyn.X
-A--=dl
O \\ 9 21 n 00 on a ste ^ e f the 12. dyn., ed. Wiedemann,
_Mx& luii
Marseille. Next to butler the Q ^\ with bottles and jars, LD II,
129 (Hnmhotep). A servant, whose hair-dress seems to point to
foreign origin, is called ^ r !r A \ JV ^1 L "The cool one",
O V. /) ^xj IA ^ o
LD III, 242. For a graphic variant of the name "butler" (jug
in bowl) from Bab-el-Moluk see Desc. II, pi. 85 ; similar Wilkinson,
I, 425. For a good picture of the butler see Champ, mon. 434.
Characteristic are the sleeves and the double garment in the
dress of the butler (see Mar. Ab. II, 49 and Champ, mon. 22$).
For the best and largest representation of the butler of Me-
dinet Abu see Desc. de tg. II, 8 (smaller II, lo). The upper-
garment is most likely a sleeve-apron, which the butler wore
in order to protect his chief-garment. It is of interest to note
in this connection that the pre-Islamic Arabic waiter also
1) Stele C 45 in the Louvre.
2) Stele of Ramessai-m-pr-S in Bulaq.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient. 85
wore a kind of apron, or a woman's garment, of course for
the identical purpose. Regarding the chief-butler of Pharaoh
the d^pttJEft "ite see Gen. 40, 2, 9, 20, 21 and 41, 9, Emperor
Augustus is represented in the temple of Denderah as
^ QA A/VVVNA ^ "the butler of Re'". An inscription in the same,
temple calls the emperor: ^ \$\ /vwwv ^? -<s>- <WWVN >/ ^
(5 _]/ Q 1 AAAA/A ^J I
;S=* x off ]=::- a flO "the butler of Re c , who prepares
X HA \\| 5=C V
the drink for Re c , filling the vessels with "green Horus-eye"-
wine (see Diimichen, Die Oasen der Libyschen Wiiste, p. 1 and
plate XVII).
Under the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors the Egyp-
tian beer was subjected to a tax (^uTi]pcc, sciL <bvfj). This
tax was paid by the producer, the ^UTOJCOIOC. . It was leased
jrpoc; ^ccXKov i(5ovou.ov, i. e., was to be paid in copper without
agio i.
The tax on beer played a great role in the finances of
the Ptolemies and of Roman times. A papyrus in the British
Museum 2 refers to the taxation of a large brewery firm, named
"Pasion and Sentheus". This text makes us acquainted with
a brewery, which must have done a tremendous business, as
the tax receipts show. For each month of the year the two
brewers, who lived in the first century B. C, paid five copper
talents, as cpopoc, which according to Wilcken 3 is the tax for
production.
The consumption of beer in Egypt for all periods of its
long history must have been considerable. According to an
inventory, for instance, of the income and the expenses of
the royal court at Thebes, dating from the end of the Middle
1) Wilcken, Gricchische Ostraka, p. 369.
2) See Grenfell and Hunt, II, 39
YccniuriTixcx; TTaaiuuv (read TTam'uw)
xai levdeuuc (read levfrei) ZUTOTTOIOIC;
Xaipeiv.
(q>)6pov [roO
[rcxXa]v[Ta Trevre
3) Wilcken, Griech. Ostr., p. 371.
8(5 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Kingdom (c. 1800 B. C.) * there were brought daily 130 jars
of beer to the royal court, and the queen received on one
day five jars filled with beer.
Egypt until recently, was considered the oldest beer
country in the world. Since the last decades, however, from
the materials published, we learn that Babylonia was not less
engaged in the brewing industry than Egypt. The oldest
evidences of beer brewing in Babylonia reach back to the
very threshold of its history. The material is so large and
so detailed that we are enabled to receive a pretty complete
insight into the work of the Sumero-Akkadian brewer 2 .
The commonest beer (Sumerian: kas, Akkadian sikaru)
in Babylonia was, like that of Egypt, prepared from barley
($eum). But also spelt (as-a-ari) was extensively ' used for
that purpose-, and it is possible in some instances also wheat
(*'GIG, GIG,* e GIG.BA). Essentially the method of the Sumero-
Akkadian brewing industry differed very little from that of
Egypt. We have seen that in Egypt beer brewing to a large
extent was connected with the baking of bread loaves. In
the Sumerian beer recipes which go back to c. 2800 B. C, we
meet continually with the word KAS+ NINDA, that is the
"beer-loaf". Also the name in Sumerian for brewer, lu-KAS-\-
NINDA*, i. e., the "man of the beer-loaf", points to the close
relation of the brewer and the baker. The texts acquaint us
with a great variety of beers. We meet with the kas-gig, the
"black beer", kas-si, the "red beer", ka$-sig } "fine-beer",
Ka$-as-an-na , or ka$-as-a-an = u-lu-si-in, Akk. u-lti-si-in-nu,
"spelt-beer", kas "barley-beer", kurun-babbar, "fine white beer",
kurun-gig, "fine black beer", kas-sag, "prima beer", kas-sag-
as-a-an, "prima spelt-beer, kas-2o-qa, "20 qa beer", kat-jo-qa,
"30 qa beer", kas-^o-qa, "40 qa beer", ka$-as-a-an-mah =
ululinmah, Akk. ulusinmahhu, "fine spelt beer". In addition
to these we also find a large number of so-called mixed beers,
as for instance, kas-a-sud, "beer mixed with water", also called
ka$-bir, and the many beer names composed with the element
1) See Borchardt, in Aeg. Z., XXVIII, 1890, pp. 66 ff.
2) The first scholar, who explained these texts was Hrozny, Das Ge-
trcide im alien Babylonien, Wien, 1914.
3) Later written /w-SlM -j- NINDA bappir Akk. bappiru.
The Beer in the Ancien Orient. -7
u-sa, which according to Hrozny are all mixed beers. There
are found the ka$-u-sa t ka$-ii-sa-al-pu-ba l , kas-u-sa-as-a-an
dida imgdgd Akk. dttiptahhu or alappanu, "a sweet mixed
beer", ka$"-sa-&&rQ)-a* t ka$-ii-sa-gin , the "common mixed
beer", kal-u-sa-e-da-di^, ka$-u-sa-e-du-di*, ka$-u-sa-gu-la*,
ka$-u-sa-ka-kak' f> , kaS-u-sa-ka-gi-kak 1 , kaS-it-sa-ku-an^, ka^-ii-
sa-ku-an-mah^, kas-u-sa-lal iQ , kas-u-sa-sim-dug-a^, a mixed
beer flavored with spices, kaS-u-sa-stg, "fine mixed beer", ka$-
ic-sa-sag-gi-pu (?) l2 ', kas-u-sa-ud-sal-la 1 3 , kas-u-sa-ud-tab-ba 1 4 .
A special kind of beer was called kas-nag-lugal^*, "the royal
beverage", as distinguished probably from the common beer
called ka$-lu-gal-la, "the beer of man" 16 . The saleable barley
beer appears under the name kas-se-ri-a 17 . In BE, XIV, 161, 7
is found a beer called kas-dur-an-ki. See farther Kas-ti is ,
kas-tin, a "fine beer", &aJf~m-5-} i9 , kaS-ti-ri-a, kas-ti-Sar' 1 ^,
fcas-umfy-ra. 22 and &a$-um-ri-a**. The multitude of names,
which the above list does not aim to exhaust, and which
describe the different kinds of beer, show how many-sided
and specialized was the industry of the Sumero-Akkadian
breweries.
It must, however, be borne in mind that some of the
beverages mentioned above, which are taken from so-called
"lists", may refer to artificial wines just as well as to beer.
So long as such names composed with ka$ are not found in
texts in which the context can assist, the interpretation of
1) Ni. 10815; Dr. Chiera has kindly placed the lists of beers to my
disposition.
2) Ni. 10820. 3) Ni. 10872. 4) Ni. 10872.
5) Ni. 10816, Ni. 10873.
6) Kas-u-sa-ka-kak = plhu, Meissner, 5^7, No. 3498. 7) Ni. 10813.
8) Ni. 10810, Ni. 10811; or read kas-u-sa-as($}-an~:
9) Ni. 10812, or read kas-u-sa-as(\)-an-mak'r
10) Ni. 10815, a beer mixed with fruit-juices.
n) Ni. 10814. 12) Ni. 10819. 13) Ni - 10818.
14) Ni. 10817. 15) Ni. 10877. l6 ) Ni - "3 2 9-
17) Ni. 11324. 1 8) Ni. 11385.
19) Ni. 11204; probably qa is to be supplied.
20) Ni. 11386. 21) Ni. 11080.
22) Ni, 11326; probably identical with the following.
23) Ni, 11325,
gg Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing
some of these names must remain doubtful. This is due to
the fact that Babylonian h&aru, Arabic ~^o, Hebrew nyc (as
loanword in Egyptian ta-ki-ra J^-r " |? Piehl, K., In-
fc^ \\ S$
script. Hierogl. 12) is one of the most ambiguous words in the
Semitic languages. It may mean any intoxicating beverage
prepared from grains, grapes, fresh or dried dates 1 , pomegra-
nates, apples, honey etc. But even though some of the names
mentioned may ultimately be recognized as words for arti-
ficial wines, there still must remain a great variety of beers,
which is surprising.
The cheapest beer of the oldest time was seemingly the
"black beer", kas-gig, which was prepared of barley only 2 .
An exception is a text 3 which enumerates an addition of spelt.
A brewer furnishes 8 nigin (= 80 qa) of black beer. For its
brewing he needs 18 qa of spelt, 18 qa of ninda-tam-ma-
loaves, 24 qa of beer loaves and 36 qa of germinated grain 4 .
The materials used for the "good black beer", kas-gig-dug-ga,
differ little from the common "black beer". In order to brew
0" ^ ? "
i) Compare for instance the Arabic Js-*<o called vX*-o which was pre-
pared from dried dates (so in the Koran). JL-o was also' made from
" ** * "*'*
dried dates and from i^j^JLvS a species of cuscuta, or dodder.
is growing profusely in Babylonia, and was probably used already in ancient
times by the Babylonians, for the purpose of mixing it with their beverages.
Whenever the cuscuta, ^b^D, was not sufficiently cleansed from other herbs,
on which it grows, the date-wine lost in quality according to Sar Shalom
Gaon. For the occurence of the cuscuta in Babylonia see Pliny, XIII, 46.
2) de Genouillac, No. 34, Obv. IV, 5 ff.
3) de Genouillac, No. 45, Obv. II, i ff. ; see Hrozny, Das Getreide im
alien Babylonien, p. 154.
4) The translation of bulug, by Hrozny, = buqlu as "malt", does not
seem to me to be correct. Malt is out of place in the Babylonian method
of brewing. Since the Babylonian method was similar to that of the Egyp-
tian, where the process of boiling was unknown, it is difficult to understand
what purpose malt could have served. We can get along very well with the
common meaning of JJo, "to appear, to break forth", Ethiopic fJ*f>A " to
germinate". Bulug, then, seems to refer to a certain kind of grain, seemingly
always barley (notice se-bulug besides bulug) that was dug into the ground
and left there until it had commenced to germinate. It is still the custom in
modern Egypt to use germinated grain for purposes of brewing.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient. 89
lo nig-in of red beer 1 there were necessary 96 beer-loaves,
72 qa of (hulled) spelt and 12O qa-sag-gdl of ground germi-
nated grain. Hrozny 2 has further shown that the Babylonian
beers are valued according to the amount of spelt that was
added to the barley and the barley products. The Babylo-
nian "Prima beer", kas-kal, thus was composed often with
somewhat more than */ 4 of hulled spelt, or somewhat more
than 2 / 5 of husked spelt 3 . The "good black beer" was some-
times prepared from barley exclusively. So in Allotte de la
Fuye, No. 169, Rev. I, 5ff., and No. 170, I, iff. In this case
the more valuable barley products were used in larger quan-
tity. The texts mention further a beer, which was of a syrupy
thickness and was eaten. The name of this beer is written
ideographically ^A<MS^, U, HUBUR+GUG+BULUGi
We have followed so far the exposition of Hrozny, who
gives a very detailed account of the composition of the Baby-
lonian beers prepared with an addition of spelt in particular.
Leaving out of consideration the surely erroneous idea that
the Babylonians used malt with the preparations of their beers,
Hrozny 's investigations have given us valuable informations
concerning the composition of the old Sumerian beers. The
Sumerian beer recipes give us only knowledge of the mate-
rials of grain that were used by the Babylonian brewer, or
the composition of different grains, with a statement of their
respective amounts. They contain, however, no statements re-
garding the method of brewing itself. Since the texts, refer-
ring to brewing, always mention the beer loaves, it indicates
that the method of brewing must have been very similar to
the method employed by the Egyptians. For the making
of beer loaves we may refer back to what has been stated
above p. 78 ff. The barley, or barley with the addition of spelt,
was kneaded with the beer loaves in the same way as was
customary with the Egyptians. We have, above, mentioned
that amongst the vessels found in Rifeh there still remained
in many a quantity of barley grain and of barley mash. In
1) See Allotte de la Fuye, No. 168, Obv. I, i ff. and Hrozny, /. c., p. 159.
2) Hrozny, /. *-., p. 161 and p. 174.
3) Hrozny, /. c., p. 161. 4) Hrozny, /. c., p. 172.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
the tomb-painting at Deir el-Gebrawi we also noticed that the
artist indicated the hidden contents of the brewing vat, showing
the yellow grain in the white mass representing the beer loaves,
which were trodden by the feet of a man who stands up to his
knees in the vat. While with the Egyptians the process of tread-
ing the beer loaves and the grain, or the working and kneading
of these substances with both hands was most characteristic as
the work of the brewer
(see Illustration Nos. 18
and 19), the Sumero- Akka-
dians considered the mak-
ing of beer loaves as the
activity most characteristic
for the brewer. Thus, while
the Egyptians called the
brewer *fty and represen-
ted him ideographically by
the sign
, the
Sumero-Akkadians called
the brewer /-KAS +
NINDA, or bappir, i. e.,
"the man of the beer
loaf". It is thus probable
that the verb "lahamii\
which is used to indicate
a certain activity of the
brewer, contains plainly
and simply the word for
brewing, originally pro-
bably "to make loaves".
Lahamu is of course connected with the Hebrew word nnb "bread",
and indicates that the activity which to the minds of the Egyptians
was most characteristic of the brewer, was also so considered
by the Sumero-Akkadians, and probably means also the same
as the Egyptian *ft t "to wring, to knead, to press, to stir"-
The industry of brewing beer thus was alike both in Egypt
and in Babylonia. Both countries supplement in their literary
and pictorial remains our knowledge of the making of beer
No. 1 8. An Egyptian brewer (after
Aeg. Zeitschr. Bd. 35).
The Beer in the Ancient Orient. gi
in the Ancient Orient. Egypt contributed to our knowledge
of the methods used in brewing beer, and Babylonia gave us
the earliest beer recipes. It may finally be remarked that
whenever Babylonian texts speak of honey l in connection
with beverages, this refers not to beehoney, but to a syrup
prepared from fruit-juices, which was thickened with Sikaru,
"beer". Also the Hebrews prepared this beverage, which
No. 19. Brewer and bottle washer (after Aeg. Zeitschr. Bd. 35).
according to Lev. 2, 11 was excluded for ceremonial purposes 2 .
Strassmaier, Inschriften von Darius I, No. 168, line 2, men-
tioning "one year old beer", Z P^^^w^f-^T, makes it
evident that the Babylonians knew well to preserve the qua-
lity of the beer for a longer period.
I) Mun, dug-ga, tab In.
2) -rsn-ss*. nxitf-bs "<
rv.sx
Q2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
A contract of the time of Xerxes narrates the hiring of
a certain brewer named Nabu-usallim for the purpose of pre-
paring mixed beer for the repast of the god Nabu. It reads * :
300 clay jars 2 of beer for the repast of the god Nabu, be-
longing to Rimut-Bel, the son of Iddina-Nabu, the descendant
of Ilu(?)-abusu(?), he has given for preparing unto Nabu-
usallim, the son of Nabu-aplu-iddin, the descendant of La-
kuppuru. For the keg Rimut-Bel shall give to Nabu-usallim
78 qa of barley and 6 qa of cassia-spice. Then he shall
mix the kegs to the amount of 300, execute (it) and give (the
kegs) for the cellar(?) of Rimut-Bel and of Marduk-balatsu-
iqbi, beginning with the month of Kislev of the 36th year 3
according to his document. He shall stand good(?) for(?) the
correct delivery of good mixed beer before the cellars (?) of
Rimut-Bel and of Marduk-balatsu-iqbi. He shall stand secu-
rity for it that the offering of the repast (of the god Nabu)
suffers no delay and for Nabu-usallim shall give
nine kegs unto Rimut-Bel. Therefrom (!) Nabu-usallim
has received from the hand of Rimut-Bel 80 gur of barley
and the remainder of the barley in Barsip(?) Rimut-
Bel shall give to Nabu-usallim. The cassiaspice(P) Rimut-Bel
shall give to Nabu-usallim in 1 gur Rimut-Bel
shall make with Nabu-usallim. In the house of Rimut-Bel,
which is closed up, Nabu-usallim shall dwell. He shall take
care of the work of repair of the walling. For three years
he shall cover(?) the roof. The work of tiles, cane and
beams, as much as Nabu-usallim shall make in the house
of Rimut-Bel, which is closed up, Nabu-usallim shall reckon
up to the charges of Rimut-Bel. For and house-
furniture, which Rimut-Bel shall entrust to Nabu-usallim in
the closed-up house, Nabu-usallim is responsible. Nine -
jars, 18 clay-kegs two bukannu, one mixing-
machine of cane, one of cane, one
1) See VS, VI, 182.
2) Tuns, barrels and casks, which were made of wooden staves and
held together with hoops are an invention of the Gauls. See Pliny, XIV, 132:
circa Alpes vi-num ligneis vasts condunt tectis circulisqtte cingnnt.
3) That is the 36th year of Darius I.', which was the accession year of
Xerxes.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
93
belonging to Rimut-Bel are entrusted to the disposi-
tion of Nabu-usallim" 1 . The brewer, according to the docu-
ment, is hired for the period of three years in order to pre-
pare mixed beer, for which he receives certain quantities of
barley and cassia-spices. In return for his labor he is given
a house with its furnishings and the brewing outfit, for the
good keeping of which he is held responsible.
The Old Testament mentions the tekhar (Deut. 29, 6;
Judg. 13, 4ff.; I.Sam. 1, 15; Lev. 1O, 9; Is. 28, 7 etc.). On
account of the too general meaning "intoxicating drink" it is
impossible to determine in each instance whether a certain
kind of artificial wine or beer is intended. Nor does Jerome
know what kind of beverage it was 2 . From passages such
as Lev. 2, 11 it becomes, however, evident that the word
sekhar was also applied to the beer. For the Sekhar pre-
pared from grain, see Pesach. Ill, 1. The brewery was known
in Rabbinic times by the name "place of the brewing vat",
tfm'nD iD, or "place of pounding", WTlO h D. The. Arabs drank
a certain beer called fokka 3 . Simon Seth 4 characterized it in the
same way as the zythos by the earlier writers. He states that
the fokka is a good beverage for those who have a very warm
constitution, particularly in the stomach and the abdomen, and
for those persons who suffer considerably from thirst on account
of excessive heat. The fokka is particularly good on hot
days, if it is free from any spices. It drives away thirst,
stimulates appetite, is laxative, and causes frequent urination.
It is, however, harmful to a watery stomach and persons
with cold temperament. The Arabian beer was drunk by the
Byzantines under the name cpouicac;. According to Temimy
a variety of beers were called by the name fokka. This writer
gives the following account of its property and its ingredients:
,,Different kinds of beer are made. There is one which is pre-
1) Follow the names of witnesses.
2) Ep. ad Nepotian, ed. Vallarsi I, 266: Sicera hebraeo sermone ontnis
patio , quae inebriare potest , slye ilia quae fruniento conficitur sivt pomorum
succo, aut quum favi decoquuntur in dulcem et bar bar am potionem, aut palma-
rum fructus exprimuntur in liquorem, coctisque frugibus aqua pinguior color atur.
3) See de Sacy, Chrestomathie arabe, II, 437.
4) p. iiSff.
94 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
pared from germinated, dried (and) ground barley-flour, being
fermented with mint, rue, dracunculus hortcnsis, leaves of the
lemon-tree and pepper. It is warm, dry, exceedingly putrid
(and) harmful to the stomach. It produces flatulence and
rumbling and injures the brain-nerves, because it fills the brain
with thick, warm vapors, which pass off with painful diffi-
culty. And often, on account of its bitterness and its pudri-
dity, it causes diarrhoea; and often it causes diseases of the
bladder and heartburn to those who make a habitual use ol
it As for (the beer) prepared with bread of the best grade
wheat flour, well prepared, of parsley, and of fine germinated
wheat, or germinated barley flour it is less dangerous than
the first kind. It is more suitable for choleric persons. But
those who are of a rather moderate temperament, and who
desire to prevent its (causing) flatulence, winds and rumbling,
and to render it moderately warm, and to strengthen the
stomach, put into it some aromatic plants, which benefit and
strengthen the stomach on account of their aromatic nature,
and their absorption of its moisture, as e. g., hyacinth, mastix,
cinnamon, long pepper, musk, some cardamom and nutmeg
and clove. Of the powder thus made from these spices let
one mithkal (two drachms in weight) serve for each twenty
jars of beer (the jars being of the kind called?) 1 . If it is
desired to render it agreeable of taste, there must be .put
into each jar a heart of dracunculus hortensis, and two
leaves [of the heart] of a lemon-tree, with a little rue and
mint. They make also a more simple kind of beer, with
water, bread of best grade wheat flour, well prepared,
having been filtered, and an infusion of musk and mastix only,
with a heart of mint in each jar, or a heart of dracunculus
hortensis only." I
i) De Sacy reads: JOjLiJl. We should evidently expect here the name
of a vessel with a specification of its size.
The Beer in the Ancient Orient.
?. O 1 111 (Jv^U.11
JjJ.Xs ^IjJI
Lo ^X^. jJ-l <LcoU^Jl x, iXSlxJI
- ^o _
1 j,y J^ ^ 5-00. Another kind of beer was
called wz>r, misar, )y* which the Kamus explains as ^-o
^*^)J1^ i^JJl "wine of durra and barley". De Sacy (Oirest.
Arab. I, p. 150, 151) identified misr with the Greek Kouppit,
a stronger kind of beer than the '^COoc;. This identification,
however, is doubtful. According to Ibn Baitar II, 513 it was
prepared of wheat, durra and barley and was the national
drink of Egypt long after it had embraced Islam. The misr-
beer was subject to a government tax (Makrizy, Chitat I. 105).
Bokhary mentions the use of this beer also in South-Arabia.
w *
Dadiyy (^>\ > ), or dadiyy (^^) was the name of an intoxi-
cating beverage, which was probably prepared from a seed
of the same name. This seed tasted bitter, and resembled
the barley, being, however, somewhat thinner and longer (see
Reinaud, Relations des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Per-
sans, Paris 1845, 55). According to Gawaliky 108 the Abys-
sinian beer, called ghobaira, or sokorkah (sokorka ), which
was introduced into Arabia at a very early time, was espe-
cially prohibited to be drunk, since Mohammed had placed
it in the same class as wine. The sawiq, (J>^**), a parti-
cularly favored drink, seems to have been quite harmless. It
was a barley-water, which was imbibed from the vessel by
means of straws, and was generally drunk bj' sick persons.
o5 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
When Niebuhr visited Arabia, he found the Arabs drinking
a beer that was white and thick, being prepared from flour 1 .
In the subterranean dwellings of the North Armenians
Xenophon 2 saw jars filled with barley beer. Barley was mixed
with it up to the brim. The Armenian barley beer was very
strong if it was not diluted with water. One who became
accustomed to the taste of this beer found it very agreeable .
Old Cappadocian documents 3 show that during the third
millenium B. C. beer was brewed in Asia Minor by the same
methods used in Babylonia.
1) Niebuhr, p. 57.
2) Anabasis IV, 5, 26 they (the peasants of the Armenian mountains)
had: oivo<; Kpixhvog dv KpaT?|po"iV dvPjaav b Kai abiai ai Kpidal itfoxeiXeu;,
Kai KCt\a(iioi dv^xeivTO, oi jnev ^eiou<; oi b ^XXdTrou?, fovara O ftk g XO vre^ '
TOUTOU? b' bei 6-iroTe TI<; biif/ibri Xa^ovra ei? TO arojua jauZieiV xai irdvu
r|v i|ar|Ti(; ubujp dmx^or Kai TTCIVU r]bu aumua^ovn TO rrojua fiv*
3) GolenischeiF, Vingt-quatre tablettes cappadociennes.
Chapter Four
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and
Religion of the Ancient Orientals
In Egypt, as well as in Babylonia and Assyria, we find
only one view regarding intoxicants. This view is of a favo-
rable character, as far as the national conscience of these
peoples is concerned. It was impossible during the early
stages of the national development of these peoples that any
considerable group should rise up in protest against the ex-
cessive use of beer or wine. Intoxication was not yet con-
sidered as constituting a moral offence against the drinker's
own self and against society at large. It was, on the whole,
rather considered in the light of a harmless pleasure in which
one might indulge. The moral sense was still too undevelo-
ped to put a different construction on excessive drinking.
In Pap. Anast. IV, 3, 7 it is stated that the mouth of a per-
fectly happy man is filled with wine, beer, etc., * 1\ n *
r w ,"i JzF^fc 1 LJ
I x iPji The same text refers to the hilarity that it caused
But there were always individuals who took a different view-
point, and as ages passed, the moral sense of wider groups
of people reached a stage where it found intoxication un-
becoming to the dignity of a man. So at the time of Athe- '
naeus the Egyptians were described by him as temperate in
banquets of every kind and that they used only so much
wine as was necessary to gladden the heart. The statement
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 7
9 8
Lutz. Viticulture and Brewing.
of Athenaeus reflects, however, only one group of Egyptians.
Herodotus 1 presents us with the second group. The drinking'
bouts (~ ~ q=n | li (] r-~-i [Dum. Hist. Inschr. I, 20] = rtPil&E, tfup.-
jrotfiov) generally started after a meal. Then a wooden image
of a dead person was carried about and to each guest was
given the admonition: "Behold this one, drink and be happy,
for after thy death thou wilt be like this one!" That the
second and probably far the larger group heeded this ad-
monition well is richly illustrated in the tomb-paintings of
Beni-Hasan. They show us that beer and wine were drunk
No. 20. Slave ottering Avine cup to a lady (after Wilkinson).
by the Egyptians often to excess and that the women of the
upper classes were also not free from this habit. Illustration
No. 20 shows a slave offering wine to a lady. Two slaves
carry their totally drunk master, one at the foot, the other
at the head. They are followed by three slaves who have lifted
their master on their heads and carry him away like a stiff pole
(see Illustrations No. 21). The first slave holds with his hand the
head of the master. On a wall-painting at Thebes we behold an
even more unesthetic picture. Ladies, overcome by the use of
too much wine, pay a painful and ugly sacrifice to Dionysos
(see Illustration Nos. 22 and 23). The lotus-flower, bent over the
arm of a drunken ladv indicates her condition, for this flower
i) Herod. II. 78.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. QQ
determines also the concept of intoxication { . These ladies are
held by their female servants. For an Egyptian banquet scene
No. 21. Scene after the close of a banquet (after Wilkinson).
Nos. 22 and 23. From a Theban tomb (after Wilkinson).
i) So in Demotic 00 ^> The lotus-flower, in a more general
way, serves as determinative of joy, f. i., in the verb ''to rejoice, to be in an
lOO Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
see Illustration No. 24. In the banquet scene of the tomb of
Paheri we are enabled to become quasi listeners to the form and
tone of conversations that prevailed at these banquets. A ser-
vant had offered, to Amen-sat, one of the daughters of Kem,
a drinking-bowl. The lady was of another type than her
sisters of Thebes. She refused the proffered drink. The ser-
vant, forgetful of his position while the drinking-bout pro-
gresses says jokingly: "(It is) for thee 1 , drink unto drunken-
ness (and) celebrate! O listen to what thy companion is saying,
do not weary of taking (?)", AAAAAA[ )|Q *
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
A Tk The companion of Amensat, to
& JL
which the servant refers, called Nub-mehy, is her distant cousin.
She is of a different type, as we can judge from her words,
with which she addresses the porter: "Give me eighteen cups
of wine", she calls out unto him, "dont you see 2 I want to
f\ | /NAAAAA f*i
get drunk! My ins ides are as dry as straw!", (I v\ I J] \A J.L
D
}(P \J[ I . Another lady is depicted making a gesture
of refusal with her hand. It is the nurse Sensenbet, whom
another servant invites to drink, saying: "Drink! Do not refuse (?).
ft AAAAAA g)
You see 3 , I shall not leave!" -* "^=^ <=^> (I 'VAAAAA K\ ^s>-
1 AAAAAA _H^>
**'*** n n r\ -f\ o <^> o *-*
\\ v\ fl ^\ W <n> g . Here again .the artist
J \_^ ^^ AAAAAA 1 JH 211 A A <^
has grouped Sensenbet with a lady, the nurse Tupu, who calls
upon her to drink and not, by her refusal, spoil the enter-
tainment. She says: "Drink! do not spoil the entertainment.
exalted mood", o-=> M M ^^ DKI, 112; ^. DKI, 105. ^-^ "to rejoice",
IP" Hi-
1) Lit. "(It is) for thy ka".
2) Lit "Behold", which in English, is too formal.
3) Lit. "Behold'*.
1O2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Let the cup reach me. You know 1 it is due unto the ha to
drink -
f) AA/WVA -O ^^ "N - M- l\ I
~~1 \\ n& "^^ AAAAAA ^^ U t- See also Lepsius, Aus-
/ l/JT* _ <IZ> 1 |
wahl, 16, line 16: "Do not cease to drink, to eat, to intoxi-
cate thyself, to make love, (and) to celebrate good days",
n
t
The Egyptian toast seems to have consisted in the address:
k'l-k, i. e., "to thy double", or rather k'i-frr-k'l, LjTLJ which
word is preserved in the name of the month Koiahk. KIA^K,
XOlAgK, XOIAK; \OICLK and in the name of the vessel ku-i-
ih-ku (Winckler, Amarnataf. No. 294; see OLZ, 1899, Vol.
II, 105).
A few songs, which seem to have been most popular at
banquets, have come down to us. They contain exhortations
similar to the one Herodotus had taken down. The Egyp-
tians are advised therein to enjoy life to the utmost, and to
use every day for mirthmaking until the day shall come to
depart for the land whence none returns. Pap. Harris 500,
6, 10 7,3 2 :
"Place aromatics on thy head!
The garment on thyself (let be) of byssus,
Dipped into the precious
(and) genuine things of the gods!
Surpass (even) thy life of pleasure (shown hitherto)!
Let [not] thy heart get weary!
Perform thy affairs on earth
i) Lit. "Behold".
2) See Goodwin, TSBA, III, 387; Maspero, Journ. Asia*., 1880, 404
also Etud. Egypt. I, 164; Erman, Aeg. 516, Griffith, World's Best Lit. 5316 and
Miiller, Liebespoesie, pp. 29 and 30. See also Miiller, ibid. pp. 31 33 and the
text published in Reinisch, Aegypt. Chrestomathie I, 20, in which the deceased
lady Ta-imhotep, the wife of the high-priest of Memphis, implores her hus-
band to enjoy this present life to the utmost, since the underworld is a land
of dense darkness and a dreary place for the dead.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 1Q3
according to the bidding of thy heart!
That day of lamentation will come to thee,
(in which) he of a paralyzed heart will not (be able
to) hear their mournings.
Weeping will not compel
the heart of a man (to beat) in the tomb.
Moral(?): Celebrate the joyous day!
Do not rest in it!
Behold! It was not granted,
to take along' one's possession.
Behold! There is none, who has gone hence
and has returned again.
At banquets the harp-player was seldom missing. We
possess an interesting, though very difficult text 1 , which
describes the manner of life this minstrel lived and parti-
cularly his struggle for existence. He is in want and priva-
tion. He knows only one song, of which the theme is "I am
hungry and thirsty". When he goes to the banquets of the
rich, he first eats and drinks. But moderation in eating and
drinking is an unknown virtue to him. "He drinks for two,
he eats for three, he satiates himself for five". When he is
called upon to play his harp and accompany his instrument
with his song, he is so drunk that he is unable to perform
and the guests chase him away from the banquet-hall.
"He has doctrine and he has not. (He is) like one who
can not speak, although (being) intelligent, and who does
not know to answer in a satisfactory way. (He is) like
a fool who has digested a book, in which is contained
every teaching, and (yet) he is able to sing only one
song, since he was born: "I am hungry, I wish to drink.
Is there nothing to eat(?)" when before him
he sees meat. He searches after the blood more than
the fly, (more than) the vulture that has decried the mas-
sacre.
He will be able to pass four days awake, to look for
provisions, being fully dressed they call unto him "There is
i) Vienna Demotic papyrus No. 31. This text was first transl ated by
Revillout in the Revue egypt. After this first endeavor, Krall published partly
a new translation. See now Revue Egypt., 1919.
1O4 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
meat in such and such a bad place 1", and he is already
there with the harp. He has no (it is) the
throat (?) of the man, who destroys his own self. As soon
as he has found wine (and) meat before him he goes there
without being invited. He converses with the guests:
"I can not sing, I am hungry. I can not bring the harp
in order to chant (it), without having drunk, (and) eaten
from the jar And he uses wine for two,
meat for three, food for five together. The harp presses
(against) his heart; it is like a heavy load. He causes
them to call to him three times for a song. He is ac-
customed to carry the harp in order to inebriate himself,
in order to exhibit every kind of vice in him. He plays
(on) the harp in entire discord "Serve food".
He turns it to his side. He responds to recite the . . .
He is accustomed to exaggerate his art. (For)
his mouth is his strength, (and) his words do not bear
witness to his art. It differs his voice, it differs the harp ;
his bad behavior, his art speak against him, against the
order to sing. "Shame with thy splendor!" They are
unaccustomed until the pupil of his
eye. They will not receive him at another place because
of his many vices. Once satiated he leaves the harp, he
flees, he departs. He causes the hour to pass to show(r)
his face."
Krall was the first scholar who recognized 1 that this text
belongs to the same class of literature, which depicts in
a satirico-humorous way the life and doings of men of different
professions and crafts, as contained in Pap. Anastasi III, 3, 9
4, 4; V, 8, 19, l; Anast. Ill, 5, 56, 2; IV, 9, 410, 1; Anast.
V, 15, 617, 3 and Pap. Sallier I, 6, 19; Pap. Sallier II, 4, 68.
In a company of high-living guests the harp-player fell an
easy prey to a debauched life. The text was probably written
as a warning to those who desired to choose the tempting
life of a musician and minstrel as their life's work. The harp-
player is no uneducated person, "he has doctrine", but is of
a mind that seeks, since his early childhood, his highest
i) See Rec. de trav. V, pp. 7678.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 105
ideals in good and plenty of food and drinks, until he be-
comes so depraved that his presence is offensive even in those
circles, which otherwise are all but Puritan themselves. The
intoxicated husband, who returns home from the banquet,
does not meet an enfuriated wife who showers him with re-
proaches and moral lectures. She removes the wreaths, the
banquet-adornment, when he has retired (Pap. Harris, 500, 7,
11, 12). The young Egyptian student, it appears from a let-
ter written by a teacher to his pupil 1 , was prone to forget
his studies and frequent the taverns of the city in order to
get drunk on home-made and imported wines. The teacher
writes :
"I am told that thou forsakest books
(and) dost abandon thyself to pleasure.
Thou dost wander from tavern to tavern.
Every evening the smell of beer,
the smell of beer frightens men away (from thee).
It corrupts thy soul,
(and) thou art like a broken oar.
Thou canst guide to neither side.
Thou art like a temple without a god,
(like) a house without bread.
Thou art detected as thou climbest up the walls,
and breakest the plank.
The people flee from thee,
and thou dost strike and wound them.
O, that thou wouldst comprehend that wine is an
abomination
and that thou wouldst abjure the pomegranate-drink;
that thou wouldst not set thy heart on fig-wine,
and that thou wouldst forget the carob-wine.
The Egyptian public beer- and wineshops ( $ O ,
nj^ft^ojj "nflp ^?.) were, it seems, often
I <rz> i /WWVA A.oLJI o i IJ @ III 7
also dens of prostitution. We see on one monument
girls in the company of an intoxicated man. The Egyptian
demimondaines embrace him in this condition in which he
i) Pap. Anast. IV, 1 1 , 8 ff. ; cf. also Sallier, I, 9, 9 ff.
1O6 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
was an easy mark to their lures. The girls have placed
a wreath around his neck and have anointed him with oil.
Wild scenes and disorder may often have ended the drink-
ing bouts, as we read in a love-song: "The banquet is dis-
ordered by drunkenness" 1 . The keepers of public taverns
stood very low in the estimation of the better class of their
fellow-citizens. We gain this information from a satirical
remark in which a taverner figures as criterion for the moral
depravity of a certain scribe Roye, the cattle-counter Kasa
and an official of the treasury called Amen-wah-se. It says 2 :
"Well then, I describe (?) unto thee Nakht, him of the wine-
shop; he is ten-times better for thee than these",
'' n . At social gatherings the participants were invited
AAAAAA LJ Q)
to drink heartily. In the tomb of Ahmes at el-Kab we read:
"drinking unto intoxication and celebrating a festive day"
swry r tht iry hrw nfr. A servant carries to Amenemheb a
and his wife a beverage ^ I *~ , "good intoxicating drink".
Holidays were always especially days of great drinking bouts.
Thus we read 4 : "The soldiers of his Majesty were drunk of
wine and anointed with oil each day as on a holiday in Egypt"
consumption of
wine and beer must have been enormous 5 . It was brought
to kings, warriors and priests by right of state in specific
quantities. Every warrior, for instance, if we can trust the
statement of Herodotus 6 , of the royal body-guard, which
consisted of 2000 men received four measures of wine*
1) Turin love-songs, Maspero, Etud. Egypt., I, 228.
2) Pap. Anast. I, 9, 4 ff. See also Aeg. Z., 44, pp. 124 and 125.
3) Sethe, Urk-unden\M, pp. 916 and 917.
4) Sethe, Urkunden IV, p. 688.
5) Ramses III. says: "I gave every day wine and must, in order to
equip with abundance the land of On" (Pap. Harris I, 27, 8).
6) Herod. II, 168.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, lo?
Every priest, who performed service at the temple, received
one measure. The Egyptian calender contained a "day of
m,--^ >WW\A X!Si
PSrt 1 - Th t ^^ was a monthly festival,
<d> | 0" ^<LJ
which was celebrated on the twentieth day of the month of
Thot, Coptic OooyT, 0O)OyT, Greek 6co, Bootid. The
name of the first month of the year, Thot was probably ori-
ginally called thy, \\, which referred to the "vintage-festi-^
val", or, "vine-festival", which originally inaugurated the New-
Year of the Egyptians. The old Canaanites similarly, com-
menced the New Year with the vintage, or rather after the
wine-harvest. It is possible that the origin of the Purim festi-
val goes back to the old Canaanitish vintage-festival (Purim
etymologically connected with^rtf, "the wine-press"). Hero-
dotus II, 59 mentions that at the /^^-celebration of the bac-
chanal Bubastis (Bestis)-festival, there was more wine drunk
on one day than throughout the entire year. These festivals,
celebrated in honor of the catgoddess, were of proverbial gaity
and men, women and children came from all parts of Egypt
to take part in them. "The gods of heaven rejoiced, the an-
cestors diverted themselves, those who were present became
drunk with wine, their heads were crowned with flowers, the
inhabitants ran merrily to and fro, their heads streaming with
perfume, in honor of the goddess; the children skipped sport-
ively about from sunrise to sunset" (Dumichen, Bauurkunden,
p. 21). In the inscription of Tehutineht, son of Nehera, in the
quarry of Het-Nub, the dead is praised as (lo): "loved by
alls his town(s-folk), women as well as men, not conspiring
evil, (11) great of beer f *^L |Mo!)", etc.
\_ fl _CE\S> A ^ V
Although the Egyptian monuments make it clear that x
the Egyptians were heavy beer- and wine-drinkers, and that
from their early youth, according to a passage 2 , which states
that a good mother is accustomed to bring to her r son,
who attends school, three loaves of bread and two jars of
beer daily, yet there were at all times voices raised against
i) Cf. Diim. Resultate, 51, 25: m hrw tpy n th.
2} Pap. Ani, 20, 20; cf. Pap. Sail. II, 10, 6.
1O8 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
drunkenness. Sentences such as "A cup of water satisfies the
.thirst" 1 , or, "A short minute overpowers the heart" 2 , or, "Do
not set thy heart on fig-wine" 3 , show this conclusively. The
scribe Ani indulges in the following warning: "Do not pass
(thy time) in the beer-house and thou shalt not speak evil
about thy neighbor even in intoxication. Then (if) thou
fallest to the ground, and thou breakest the limbs, none
reacheth out the hand to help thee. Behold, thy companions!
They drink and say: Go home, thou, who hast drunk enough!".
It is pretty certain that moderation in drinking was recom-
mended to the kings more than to any other class, in view
of the dietetic and other laws by which the priests have regu-
lated and assured the life of the king 4 .
Many references to drinking are found in the Egyptian
love poetry. The. lover is even satisfied to go without his
accustomed beer, as long as he enjoys the pleasant company
of his sweetheart 5 . A beautiful lovesong, with a reference to
the sweetheart making her lover drunk with love as well as
beer or wine, is the following 6 :
"The little sycomore
which she has planted with her hand,
commences to speak,
and its (words are as) drops of honey.
It is charming, its foliage is beautiful,
more green than the (papyrus).
It is laden with fruits
redder than ruby.
Its leaves are like malachite,
their color is (transparent) like the glass;
its stem is like the color of the (yellow) neSmet-stone,
i) Pap. Prisse, i, 5; cf. also i, 8 etc.
2} Pap. Prisse, i, 4.
3) See also Pap. Anast. I, 10, 3 ff.
4) Diod. I. Jo. Clemens Alexandr. Stromata, VI, p. 633 mentions rdv
xXof KJJUOV paaiXiKoO piou.
5) See Miiller, W. Max, Liebespoesie.
6) Maspero, Turin pap. 7983. Etud. Egypt., I, p. 217 ff. and Erman, A.,
Agypten und agyptisches Lebcn im Altertum, Tubingen, 1885, pp. 272 and 273,
W. M. Miiller, Liebespoesie, pp. 39 and 40.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals.
round (?) like the Besbes(-trze) t
its shade cooleth.
It sends its letter through a small girl,
the daughter of the chief-gardener.
It causes her to hasten to the much-beloved:
"Come and tarry amongst the young people.
The meadow, full of bushes, celeb rates (?) its day.
The arbor and the tent are to thy disposal.
Thy village-chiefs rejoice,
(and) the young folks, who behold thee!
They send thy slaves ahead of thee .
The servants, who belong to thee
furnished with their tools,
are drinking, while hastening to thee,
before they have (started drinking),
(when they) hear their comrades,
coming with their utensils.
They bring beer of every (kind),
all kinds of mixed bread,
many flowers from yesterday and to-day,
and all kinds of refreshing fruits.
Come, celebrate this day,
and to-morrow and the day after to-morrow three days
sitting in my shade.
Her companion sitteth to her right side,
(and) she maketh him drunk, 1
she obeying that which he sayeth
(when) the drinking-bout becomes disordered by
drunkenness
(and) she is left alone with her brother
unwrapping herself below me,
the sister, on her promenade.
I am of a silent mind,
and do not say anything, that I see,
and I do not tell
In the records of the so-called Harem conspiracy we
read that certain persons had forsaken the king's instruction
and that the women had gone to these men, one an infantry-
officer, the second a captain of police, the third a butler, the
HO Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
fourth a scribe of the archives, and the fifth a standard-bearer
of the infantry. Both men and women had gotten drunk, or
as the phrase expresses it, they had "made a beershop",
1 .t-hk.t. The butler evaded court-proceedings by taking his
own life. The standard bearer Hor was acquitted. Tefnahte,
in his message of submission expressly states "I have not sat
in the beershop" 1 .
Beer has found a place in Egyptian mythology. Once
upon a time in primeval days Re* reigned as king over men
and gods. But he grew old, his bones were silver, his limbs
gold and his .hair was genuine lapis-lazuli. He had become
old and stiff. Mankind became aware of this and had put it
in their minds to blaspheme the old god. But their thoughts
became known to Re c and he caused the gods to assemble
before him in order to inflict a punishment upon mankind.
This he did so secretly that the people were kept completely
ignorant of his plans. Re 1 sent his eye, which descended as
the goddess Hathor. She killed the people, who had started
to take refuge, stream-upward, into the mountains. The rage
of Hathor was so furious that it became too much for Re c .
But Hathor's fury knew no bounds. She did not want to
stop the slaughter, until the last man was destroyed. She
waded, against the will of the sungod, for a number of nights
in the human blood, until, finally, Re c conceived of a trickery.
He caused immense quantities of beer, which was red-colored,
in order to look like the blood of men, to be poured over the
fields 2 . The beer attracted the goddess. It tasted good to
her and she returned home in an intoxicated condition, not
recognizing the people. Thus, some people were saved, who
had taken their refuge in the desert. The beer, according to
this myth was prepared of barley and dada-fruit, i. e., the
mandrake- fruit from Ethiopia. "Hasten to the island of Ele-
phantine, and bring me much dada-fruit", is the order given
by Re 1 to his messengers. When they had brought it, Re c
1) Pianty Stele, i, 133 ff.
2) "On that day Re c [stood up] in the best part(?) of the night for
causing this sleeping draught to be poured out , and the fields were flooded
four spans high by [that] liquid through the power of the majesty of this god".
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, m
gave it to the goddess Sektet l of Heliopolis, in order to
grind it. The dada-fruit was added to the barley which was
crushed by the slaves, and the whole was mixed together
with the blood of men, making thus 7000 jugs of beer
Another version has it that wine was made, instead of beer,
out of "the blood of those who formerly fought against the
gods" 2 . Plutarch in this connection asserts that before the
time of Psammetichus, the kings had abstained from wine,
and had even not allowed themselves to offer it up as sacri-
fice, since wine was held to be the blood of the one-time
enemies of the gods. The one version gives us the origin of
the beer, the other that of the wine. For it states that when
these enemies of the gods were killed and their blood ming-
led with the earth, the vinestalk was created. The story of
the first version winds up with the statement: "Thus originated
the girls in the Pleasent City. Re c said to that goddess:
'Make sleeping-draughts for her at the time of the New Year
festival! Their number (shall be) according to(?) that of my
(temple) slave-girls.' Thus originated the making of sleeping-
draughts for(?) the number of slave-girls at the festival of
Hat-hor by all men since that day", 3 . The goddess Hathor
is generally brought into connection with the .invention
of making beer. She is called "she who, first, has made
the beer", or, "the inventress of brewing", Iftlu *~ 8 4 . From
the temple inscription of Dendera we learn that Hathor is
called "the mistress of intoxication", ^^^O, or even, "the
d
intoxicated one", tehy.t, probably in connection with the myth
of the destruction of mankind. Dendera and its temple bore
the name "the place of drunkenness", r L^-J-^ (Diim., Dend.
10, Si S -5- ~ ( Diim -' Hist ' InscJir - n > 57 a ) A special
part of Hathor's temple was named "the. house of drunkenness",
ml 1^"&" (^ um -> Dend. 14). Hathor figures also as the
1) Or read "the miller" (?), see Miiller, Max W., Myth. p. 75.
2) Cf. Plutarch, De Iside (ed. Parthey), VI.
3) See Miiller, Max W., Myth. p. 76. 4) Diim.. Kal. Inschr. 100.
H2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
patron goddess of wine. As the patron goddess of the Ma-
reotic wines she is called "Hathor, the mistress of neka, who
resides in hat-ii ar-lmnt,
In Dendera 2
is represented the festive offering of the mnw-]a.r unto the
goddess of wine. Between the king, who offers the wine jar
with his right hand, and the goddess, who sits on her throne,
there is a long inscription, -which contains the songs, which
were sung on the 20 th day of the month of Thot before the
mistress of intoxication during the ceremony of presenting
he wine jar to the goddess. With reference to this mnzv-jar
Hathor is called "mistress of the mnw-ja.r, whose ka was first
prepared on the 2Oth day of Thot 3 . This day was the "feast
of drunkenness of the mistress of Dendera",
The song of the seven Hathors is of especial interest. It
reads 5 :
"We gladden daily thy majesty,
And thy heart rejoiceth, when thou hearest our songs.
We shout, when we behold thee,
Every day, every day.
And our hearts rejoice at the sight of thy majesty,
Fof thou art the mistress of the wreath,
The mistress of the dance,
The mistress of drunkenness without end" 6 .
i) See Diim., Tempel Inschr. I, 73, i. In the same passage she is also
called "mistress of the jars, mistress of Yemet."
W :
SI'
2) Mariette, Dendera, I, 31.
3)
4) Mariette, Dendera, III, 200.
5) Mariette, Dendera, 60, e h, = Diim. Res., XLV; see also Junker, H.,
Poesie aus der Sfdtzeit, Aeg. Z., 43, pp. 101 128.
6)
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. \ \ --2
By the side of Hathor appears the goddess Menqet, as
a beer-goddess of the Egyptians. Menqet is mentioned as
a vegetation divinity, and as such she is orthographically
connected with a tree. But later she is shown as a woman
holding two (beer?-)jars. She is often described as maker or
giver of beer, f. i., "Menqet, the goddess who makes beer",
" " " ' /( ff\ tt / \ O\ O AA/VAAA
O 1 * " Menqet, give me beer!",
thee beer "
. A
ii i Hi i /^
The Classical writers most frequently identified Osiris
with Dionysos 5 . Herodotus states "Otfipid; Se tfri Ai6vutfo<^
Kara EXXcxSa yXtbtftfav. The identification of the two gods
was undoubtedly due to the similarity of the rites of the
Anthesteria (dv^etftrjpta) to those Egyptian festivals which
took place in the month Choiak, commemorating the passion
and resurrection of Osiris. The holy plant of Osiris as well as
of Dionysos was the ivy 6 , but also the vine. The reproduction
, ,, c
no
HI
Ton?;
^
^~> i j >
v^
muh]
, ,
1) Rec. XXIII, p. 167.
2) Lieblein, Z/Vr^ $rw^ mon nom fleurisse, XXXIII, 16.
3) Aeg. Z., 50, p. 42.
4) See further De Morgan, Ombos, No. 112; Mariette, Dcndera, IV, 6, 15;
Piehl, in Melanges Charles de Harlez, p. 222; v. Bergmann, Buck vom Durch-
wandeln, 1. 71.
5) Diod. I, u, 13 if., 96; IV, i; Plutarch, de Iside 17, 28, 34 ff., 37; Ti-
bull. I, 7^ 29 ff.; Anson. ep., 29 30; Dio Cass. 50, 5, 26; CIG, 4893; Tertull.,
cor. 7, etc.
6) Plutarch, de Iside 37. According to Plutarch the ivy was called by
the Egyptians xevoaipiq, or the "plant of Osiris"; cf. Diod. I, 17, 19.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 8
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
of vegetation in general, and the fructification of the vine in
particular, symbolized to the Egyptians the successive phases
of the rebirth of Osiris. In this mystic signification the vine-
plant figures for instance in the tomb of Sennofri near Sheikh-
abd-el-Gurnah. The observation made by the Ancients of
the vine's reproduction and multiplying without seed, tended
naturally to see something divine in this plant. It was, there-
fore, a befitting symbol of Batau 1 , or Osiris, who revives
again, in spite of his mutilation 2 . According to Pyr. 1082 the
sky-goddess conceived Osiris by wine. In a bilingual the element
IDS of the name of a man of Tyre, called "1D&TDP, corresponds
to Aiovudio^, Baudissin, Der phonizische Gott Esmun, ZDMG,
Vol. 59, (1905) p. 485, note 1. A second Egyptian Dionysos
was Antaeus, who is known to us only by this classical name
Antaeus (or Antaios), and who was worshipped at Antaiopolis
in Middle-Egypt. Also to him the vine or the ivy was holy.
Golenischeff 3 wished to identify him with the Semitic god
Resheph, 5|tth, Respu, referring to Plutarch's de Is. et Os.,
chapter 37, in which it is said that Dionysos is called in Egyp-
tian Aptfcccpfjc;. The god Osiris of the Ethiopians of Meroe
has been considered very early as a Dionysos 4 . Also Horus
is sometimes identified with Dionysos by the Greeks 5 . A deity,
identified with the l6th decan star, the principal star of the
constellation Shesmu (Sedjjir)) is written with the hieroglyph
of a press. In Pyr. P 707 he appears to give water and wine.
Pyr. T 41 brings him into connection with a "vine-city". See
Miiller, Myth. p. 58. Tenemet also seems to have been a pa-
troness of intoxicating drink, according to de Morgan, Ombos
No. 65.
It may finally be remarked that the misshapen god Bes,
of Punt(?), who gained a footing in Egypt as well as in Asia
1) Pap. d'Orb.
2) On the identification of Osiris with Dionysos see Revue des Questions
historiques, avril, 1893 and Rec. XX, p. 211 if. See also Miiller, Max W., Mytho-
logy, p. 113, fig. 117 Osiris under the vine.
3) Aeg. Z., 1882, p. 138 ff. and plates 3 and 4. Antaeus sometimes
in the monuments is identified with Seth.
4) Herod. II, 29 and Origines, c. Celsum V, 37 and 38.
5) Diod. I, 17 and Plut., de Is. et Os., cap. 37.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. \ \ t
and the islands of the Greeks, was very fond of drinking and
is represented on scarabs as sucking beer from a large vessel
in the fashion of the ancient Hittites, the Armenians and
early Babylonians (see Illustration No. 25). He "is no other
than the benificent Dionysos, who as a pilgrim through the
world, dispensed with hand rich in blessings, mild manners,
peace and jollity to the nations" 1 .
The frequent mention of wine and beer in the Sumero-
Akkadian documents makes it quite certain that the quanti-
ties of intoxicating liquors consumed by the ancient Babylo-
nians and Assyrians were enormous. The Babylonians had
the reputation of being heavy wine-drinkers, and they sur-
passed even the Persians in the consumption of wine, who
were notorious as wine-
drinkers 2 . We possess
not many documents
which refer to drunken-
ness in Babylonia, but this
lies in the nature of the
case. The Babylonians,
also, were less prone to
picture their own vices
than the more careless
Egyptians. But such docu-
ments, nevertheless, have
come down to us. In an Assyrian letter 3 to the king three army-
officers who had recently been raised to higher military posts,
are accused by the writer, Bel-iqisha, of drunkenness. The
letter reads: "To the king, my lord, thy servant Bel-iqisha.
May Nabu (and Marduk) be gracious unto the king my lord!
The servants of the house of my lord, whom the king, my
lord has distinguished to-day, Tabzua, son of Bel-harrani-ah-
usur, whom the king my lord has raised to the rank of
a major, (and) Nabu-sakip, whom the king my lord has raised
to (the rank of) third commander of the regular cavalry, (and)
1) Brugsch, History of Egypt, London, 1879, Vol.1, p. 115.
2) Curt. V, i, 37: CowvvoaUs ludi tota Per side regibus purpuratisque cordi
sunt; Babylonii maxime in vinum, et quae ebrietaUm sequuntur, effusi sunt.
3) K. 613; Harper 85; see also VR 54, No. 2.
No. 25. God Bes drinking beer through a reed
(alter Miiller, W. Max, Egyptian Mythol.}.
116
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Emur-ilishu, whom the king my lord has raised to (the rank
of) body-guard these three men are drunkards. As soon
as they are inebriated, none turns away the iron dagger from
him, who is in front of it. The information, which I know,
I write unto the king my lord. The king my lord may do
as he pleases" 1 . For a drinking scene in a fortress see the
second tent from the left in the middle row of Illustration
No. 26. In the right compartment we notice the army-brewer
and a huge beer-vessel. In the third tablet of the Babylonian
No. 26. Interior of a fortress (after Klio, VI, p. 396).
creation series Anshar speaks unto Gaga, his minister: '"Let
the gods, all of them, prepare for a feast, let them sit at a
i) A-na sarri be-li-ia (2) ardu-ka m.Bel-ikisV (3) Nabu Marduk a-na
arri beli-ia (4) lik-ru-bu (5) ardani la bit beli-ia (6) 3a Sarru be-li u-mu
(7) an-ni-it it-par-ri-su-u-ni (8) ni.Tab-zu-a-a mar m.Bel-harrani-ah-usur (9) Sa
a-na amelu r ab ki-sir-u-tu (10) Sarru be-li il-sVlu-u-ni (11) m.Nabu-sa-kip Sa
ana amSluHI rakbe (12) ka-a-ma-nu-tu (13) iarru be-li xi-se-lu-u-rii (Rev. i)
m.Emur-ili-s'u (2) a ana am61u m utir-pute (3) garni blu ii-e-lu-u-ni (4) III an-
nu-tu sabe (5) a-ak-ra-nu-tu iu-nu (6) ki-ma i-lak-ki-ru (7) amelu patra par-
zilli (8) ultu pa-an me-hi-ri-5u (9) la it-sa-ah-ra (10) a-bu-tu a u-du-ii-ni
(n) a-na Sarri be-li-ia (12) as-sa-pa-ra (13) Sarru be-li (14) ki-i a i-la-u-ni
li-pu-u.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 117
banquet, let them eat bread, let them mix wine." The closing
lines give a vivid description of a banquet of the gods:
iksahmimma illak\kuni\
Hani rabuti kaliSunu mu$im[mu $imti\
trubuma muttti An$ar imlu
inniSku afyfi ahi ina puhri
lisanu iSkunu ina kireti \usbu\
a$nan zkulu iptiku [kurunua]
Sir is a matku usanni beradisu\rui\
sikru ina Sate habasu zum\ri\
madiS egu kabittaSun itel[li]
"They came together and went,
The great gods, all of them, who decree fate.
They entered and before Anshar they filled
They kissed each other, in the assembly
They prepared for the feast, they sat at the banquet;
Bread they ate, strong wine they mixed. .
Sweet herb-wine confused their minds (?).
They became intoxicated with drinking, (their) bodies
were filled.
They were wholly at ease, their spirit was exalted."
In the recently published version of the Gilgamesh epic
Enkidu is decribed in these words: ul idi ilu Enkidu aklam
ana akalim sikaram ana Satim la lummud, "Enkidu did not
know to eat food. He had not been taught to drink beer."
From the Assyrian version we know (see Tablet I, 2, 3940;
3- 37, 3334; 4, 34) that.
"He ate herbs witfi the gazelles,
Drank out of a through with cattle."
The woman, who introduces him to civilized life, speaks to him :
akul aklam Uu Enkidu
simat balatim
sikaram siti Zimti mati
"Eat food, O Enkidu, the provender of life! Drink beer, the
custom of the landl" So "Enkidu ate food till he was satiated.
Beer he drank, seven goblets. His spirit was loosened, he
became hilarious. His heart became glad and his face shone"
Il8 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
(see Jastrow-Clay, An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilga-
mesh Epic, p. 65). Drinking was practised on a large scale at
the courts of Babylon and Persia 1 , and Nineveh 2 . From the
latter city we possess monumental representations of Assyrian
banquets 3 . The banquet scenes represent the guests only as
drinking. The sculpture never shows them eating. We see
the servants emptying a huge wine-bowl with drinking-cups.
The wine-bowl stands on the ground and is of a tremendous
No. 27. As's'urbanipal reclining in a bower (after Jeremias, Das Alte Testa-
ment im Lichte des Alien Orients).
size, reaching up to. a man's chest. The prophet Nahum cha-
racterizes the Ninevites as drunkards, saying 4 : "While they
are drunken, as drunkards, they shall be devoured, as stubble
fully dry". Ishtar bids Assurbanipal: "Eat food, drink strong
wine, make music (and) exalt my divinity," a-kul a-ka-lu H-ti
1) Herod. 9, no; Dauiel 5, i; Esther i, 3; Diod. Sic. II, 20.
2) Nahum i, 10.
3) See Botta, Monument, plates 5167: 107114.
4) Nahum i, 10.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. \\g
ku-ru-un-nu nin-gu-tu $u-kun nu--id ilu-ti (Assurbanipal, Annals
Cyl. B Col. V, 65, 66 and K 2652, Rev. 5). A marble slap from
Nineveh, now in the British Museum pictures Assurbanipal with
his consort in a bower, enjoying the precious juice of the
grape (see Illlustration No. 27). The Assyrian banquet scenes
depict the guests as sitting together in the company of always
four on one table, two on each side. Each table had its special
waiter. In one case there are depicted some forty or fifty
guests present at the banquet. The artist has- brought little
No. 28. An Assyrian banquet scene (after Meissner).
animation into his picture. Each guest is shown in the same
pose, holding in his right hand a wine cup, raised to the level
with the head (see Illustration No. 28). The wine cups are very
beautifully worked. They show the form of a lion's head, from
which the cup itself rises forth. The Assyrians, as well
as the Egyptians reveal a great deal of good taste in the
form of their drinking-ctips. These cups had different shapes
and were made from different material. Herodotus' state-
ment 1 that the Egyptians drank wine only out of brass
i) Herod. II, 37: K xaXxeuuv irorripiujv irivouai, biao>iuwT<; diva udaav
,u^pr|V, OIK 8 uv 8 b'oO, ciXXd TrcivT<;. Hellanicus, fr. 149 makes a similar
statement.
12O Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
or bronze cups is wrong. Joseph 1 , we are told, had a wine
goblet wrought of silver, while golden cups are mentioned in
the demotic novel (Papyr. Mariette), "and they had set down
many golden cups 2 on the drinking-table. Each of the golden
goblets was filled with wine". Also Papyrus Harris pi. 6 mentions
vessels of gold for wine and beer. Amongst the many jugs and
bowls, there have been found particularly often the , l<)
<K\ "" (1 , f .t~irp, i. e., "wine-cup" 3 . Wine-cups were
rr^ - fl O 1 LJ
often made of alabaster, porcelain, and perhaps also, judging
from the pictures, of glass. They had either the form of an
opening flower, which was held in a stand, or contained, like
the Assyrian representation, heads of animals, or birds, from
whose necks they drank (see Illustration No. 29). A simpler drink-
ing-vessel had the form of our own coffee-cups or saucers (see Illu-
stration No. 30). These latter forms seem to have been most custo-
mary with the Syrian neighbors of the Assyrians. In one monu-
ment we see representatives of conquered Semitic principalities
bringing their tribute of wine in such bowls, while one bears a
wineskin on his neck and shoulder (see Illustration No. 31 ; see also
the drinking-scene on the Stele of Nerab, Illustration No. 32).
The Assyrians also had musical entertainments with their drink-
ing bouts, as is seen in the banqueting scene of Khorsabad.
Two players are playing on ten-stringed lyres, which were
of a square shape, and hung around the neck of the musician
by a string. Among the high court-officials we meet with the
rab $aqe, chief-cup-bearer", or "chief butler" and the rab bap-
piri, "chief-brewer". These titles were rather honorary, since
we find the rab saqe employed as military commander, f. i.,
II Kings 18, 17 "And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and
Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah
1) Gen. 44, 2, 5.
A PI Tx /VVWVA
2 ) v)rs^rf^ fa n n ^' F r wine-cups "made of gold", see Diim.,
J /~S ^ \ ^"* I
Recueil de mon* Egypt. II, 10, 59.
3) This word represents at the same time a certain measure. On
(determ. O or }), "wine-cup", see Bnrchardt, M., Die ah-
leu i i
kanaan&ischcn Fremdworte und Eigennamen imAgyptischen, Leipzig, 1909 10, 106.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 121
with a great army unto Jerusalem." On one of the most an-
cient relics of Sumerian art dating back to the time of Ur-
Nina, the founder of the dynasty of Lagash, we see the king
in the guise of a laborer, surrounded by his children and the
No. 29. Assyrian eunuchs carrying drinking vessels (after Lenormant, Fr.,
Hist, ancienne de I'Orienf).
royal cup-bearer. Thus it appears that this official must have
held one of the highest court-positions even at this very early time.
From the cylinders B and C of Urukagina, the last king
of Lagash, who stood forth prominently as a great reformer,
122
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
No. 30. Sennacherib upon his throne (after Lenormant , Fr. , Hist, ancienne
de I'Orienf).
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 122
we learn that it was customary for the priests to receive
a certain quantity of beer besides other things, when officiat-
ing at funerals. "(When) a dead body (was) laid in the grave
his beer (amounted to) seven jars", lu-idim ki-mah-su gub
kas-ni 7 dug. In Cylinder A, V, 1 ff. he narrates what took
place after order was again restored 1 . "(When) a dead body
(was) laid into the grave, his beer (amounted to) three jars", lii-
idim-idim-a ki-mah-$u gub kas-ni 3 dug. The priests were
restricted, by Urukagina's reform, to contend themselves with
three, as against formerly seven, jars of beer. In an other
No. 31. Representatives of conquered peoples bringing their tribute to the
Assyrian king (after Lenormant, Fr., Hist, ancienne de I' Orient}.
passage 2 he fixes the quantity of beer for the lamentation-
priest 3 of Girsu, the lamentation-priest of Lagash, and the
artisans. It reads: Two hubur and one amphora of beer for
the lamentation-priest of Girsu, 490 loaves of bread, two hubur
and one amphora of beer for the lamentation-priest of Lagash;
406 loaves of bread, one hubur and one amphora of beer
for the lamentation-priests; 250 loaves of bread, one hubur of
beer for the artisans; 180 loaves of bread, one hubur of beer
1) See also Cylinder B and C, IX, 26 X, i ff.
2) Cyl. B and C X, 21 ff.
3) Kaln.
124
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
No. 32. The stele of Nerab (after Ball, Light from the East).
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 125
for the of the city of Nina" etc. 1 Hubur and sd-dug
designate in the pre-Sargonic tablets measures of liquids. The
specific amount of these measures is not known. The dug-
measure, which was smaller than the sd-dug, contained either
20 or 30 qa, which equalled about 8 to 12 liters. The fyubur
was again larger than the sd-dug' 1 . In the oldest periods of
the Babylonian history it is known that also the women
received their special quantity of wine or beer. One text
interests us in this connection, since it shows that wine was
drunk by the ladies of the harem 3 . The text reads: "130
pomegranate cakes, 40 qa of wine, Etur; 90 pomegranate
cakes, 30 qa of wine, Urki; 138 pomegranate cakes, 20 fig
cakes, 1O qa of wine, Etae; total: 358 pomegranate cakes, 20 fig
cakes (and) 80 qa of wine the gardeners have returned. Shakh,
the superindendent, brought it into the harem. Year l (of
Lugal-anda)".
Wine and beer were offered up as sacrifices to the gods 4 ,
and Gudea ordered his donkey-shepherd Ensignun "to make
plenty beer" 5 for the god Ningirsu, Bel-Marduk received
daily six metretes of wine (Hist. Bel. v. 3). The daily wine-
offerings were presented in gigantic golden chalices. 'Upon
a golden table of offering, measuring 41 feet in length and
15 feet in width, and weighing 500 talents, stood two golden
chalices (Kccpxrjtficc) weighing 1 5 talents each, and three golden
chalices, the one of 1200 talents and the other two of each
1) Cyl. B and C X, 21 ff. : 2 kas hubur i sd-dug its-ku Gir-suki-kam
60x8 -{-io ninda 2 kas-hubur i sd-dug us-ku &irpurlaki-kam 6ox6-\- 10x4. -{-6
ninda i kas hubur i sd-dug us-ku-an 60x4 + 10 ninda i kas hubur nam-um-
ma-an 60X3 ninda i kas hubur AB.AS.SI Ninaki-na-me.
2) See Zeitschrift f. Assyr., XVII, pp. 94 und 95.
3) H. de Genouillac, Tablettes Sumeriennes archa'iques, No. 43. In Rev.
d'Assyr., VI, p. 134, AO 4424, Obv. i ff. (neo-Babylonian) ladies of the palace
receive each three qa of spelt-beer as their daily portion. In the suratotal
(Rer. i) it is called, however, kas-ka-lum-ma. i. e., "datewine". See also
AO 4423 in Rev. d'Assyr., VI, p. 134 and often.
4) Gudea, Cyl. B III, 18; Cyl. B V, 21 (wine libated in a vessel of lead,
bur-an~na mu-tum din mti-ni-de-de)\ Cyl. B VI, 26 (beer- and wine-libation
named together, kas bur-ra de-da- din kas-a de-da, "in order that he libate
beer, in order that he libate wine with the beer".
5) Cyl. B X, 3 "kas ha-da". ^
126
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
600 talents (Diod. II, 9). Diodor's account is, of course, ex-
aggerated. Varro (Plin. XXXIII, 15) speaks of a chalice of
Semiramis, taken by Cyrus in Babylonia, which only weight
15 talents, while according to Diodorus its weight was
600 talents. Assurbanipal , on one of his hunting-inscriptions,
is pictured as offering a drink-offering over four dead lions (see Illu-
stration No. 33). The inscription states: "An offering I offered
up over them. Wine I libated over them," muh-hu-ru e-li-su-mi
u-ma-hir karana ak-ka-a e-li-hi-un. The same king refers
to a corner-stone rite of the bit riduti in Nineveh in the follow-
ing words: "With strong wine and wine I sprinkled its cellar,
I poured (it) on its foundation-wall (?)," (Annals, Col. X, 83 84
No. 33. Ashurbanipal pouring a drinking-offering of wine over lions slain in
the chase (after Ball, Light from the East).
ina kurunni u karani ka-lak-ka-$u ab ju lul am-ha-sa sal-la-ar-
su). K 2674, 26 refers to a libation of wine after the beheading
of enemies: "The heads of my enemies I cut off, (and)
I libated wine over them," kakkade mel \nakir e\ me *-ia ak- ki kis
karana ak-ka [e-li-$u-nu]. Illustration No. 34 shows king ASsur-
nasirpal about to pour a wine libation, after a successful
lion hunt. The fermented liquors were conserved in the e-
KAS + NINDA, i. e., "the brewery", or, "the beer-cellar".
We have seen above that Babylonia imported much grape-
wine. The wine was brought from the Eastern mountains
in large jars 1 . From a text 2 it appears that brewers were
1) Tab. pier. d'Urukll, 6: MtAS-f-NINDA gestin qa-gal kur-ta tum-a.
2) Sippar I23*>is (No. 12 in Friedrich, Altbabyl. Urkunden aus Sippara\
BA Vol...V, p. 491 and pp. 422 424).
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 12?
drafted into the army, probably to provide the soldiers with
beer rather than to serve under arms. It perhaps contains
a list of military conscripts, who were called to the colors 1 .
In the second tent in the middle row of Illustration No. 26,
which pictures a fortress we see in one apartment two sitting-
men, of whom one is drinking. The second compartment shows
a large vessel probably filled with beer.
Babylonia possessed its wineshops and beerhouses 2 , which
seems to have been located generally near the water of a river
or of a canal. See f. i., Ebeling, KAR, I, No. 16, Rev. 35, 36, kar
No. 34. Ashurnasirpal about to pour a wine libation over dead lion
(after Ball Light from the East}.
ge$tin-na-ge ma ne-in-u$\ ina karkarani elippu um-mid-ma, "The
ship stopped at the 'wine- wharf". See also references below, p. 130,
n. 4. The Babylonians, however, considered the frequenting of a
public tavern by any respectable person as disgraceful. In a moral
text 3 it is said (line 15): ^TTT ^T?^i, (belnm ana] bit Hkari
la tirrub, i, e., "O lord, thou shalt not enter the beer-house".
The same view prevailed, as is well known, amongst the
Greeks, for whom it was likewise improper to visit a kapeleion.
1) Date-formula is mu ugnim(M} ab-nun-naki , i. e. , the 32th year of
Hammurabi.
2) For instance, Bu. 88-5-12, 58 lines 2 3, "bit $ikari"\ see Meissner,
Beitrage zum Altbabyl. Privatrecht.
3) S. A. Smith, Misc. Texts.
128 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
In Athens, a visit to a tavern was a sufficient cause to bring
about expulsion from the Areopagus. According to tradi-
tion Kish owed its existence to queen Ku-Bau, who was
a woman of obscure and humble origin. It is told of her
that she achieved her first popularity and influence as the
keeper of a wine shop. There seems to be sufficient
reason to believe that the public inns (without exception)
were at the same time places of prostitution. The Code
of Hammurabi devotes four paragraphs to the regulation
of inns, which are "called "wineshops". A striking feature
of the Code is the fact that it speaks only of female taver-
ners, sal gestin-na , sabitu. Men in the liquor-business are not
mentioned. But this is merely accidental. The Code may,
after all, refer only to such wineshops as were also / brothels,
kept by women only. Paragraph 108 (Col. XVIII, lines 1525)
makes it clear that it was illegal to accept money for drinks.
The price of a drink had to be paid in grain. The taverner
was also bound by law to give full measure. Severe punish-
ment was inflicted upon her in case the measure for drink
was not in proportion to the measure of grain. The para-
graph reads: "If a liquor dealer do not receive barley as the
price of drink, but if she receive money by the great stone,
or make the measure for liquor smaller than the measure for
barley, they shall call that liquor dealer to account, and shall
throw her into the water" l . BM 26961 (King, L. W., The Let-
ters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, No. 85) illustrates the
application of this section of the law-code. King Abiesu
(2042 2015 B. C), in a letter to Sin-idinnam. writes: "Unto
Ibni-Samas, Sin-idinnam, the board of trade (?) of Sippar and
the judges of Sippar speak as follows: Thus says Abi-esu:
Messengers and. chief-shepherds (?) are going from Ba-
bylon to Sippar- Yahrurum. They will reach you on the 24th
day of Tisritu. As soon as you see this tablet of mine, buy
300 (kegs) of mixed barley-beer (= pihu) from taverners in
Sippar-Amnanu, for refreshment(?). When they send you in-
i) summa sals&bitum and sim sikarim se'am la imtahar ina abnim rabitim
kaspam imtahar u mahtr sikarim ana mahtr se'im umtati sa-habitam suati ukan-
nusi-ma ana me inaddusi.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. \ 2Q
formation, ship the barley (?)-beer to Sippar-Yahrurum. Re-
garding the barley to be given to the taverners, about which
you have written unto me (I reply): It has been ordered (that)
they shall give the barley in Sippar to the taverners." The second
paragraph prohibits riotous gatherings in public drinking places
and fixes the deathpenalty on the innkeeper in case she does not
cause the arrest of the outlaws, "If outlaws collect in the house of
the liquor dealer, and she does not arrest these outlaws and
bring them to the palace, that liquor dealer shall be put to
death" 1 . The tavern, thus, was a favorite haunt for all kind
of rabble that shunned the light. It was a breeding-place for
all kinds of crime and the best way for the state to pro-
tect itself and its citizens was the imposition of a severe pu-
nishment on the innkeeper herself. It would be interesting
to know how this law worked in actual practice. The inn-
keeper certainly was immensely concerned to keep order
and not to allow outlaws to make her house a meetingplace
or a place of refuge. According to the verbal form employed
in the paragraph it would seem that the innkeeper had the
power of arrest in her own hands, for otherwise we should
expect the causative form, "cause them to be arrested", and,
"cause them to be brought". The next paragraph ( no,
Col. XVIII, lines 3644) provides for the punishment on the
stake, in case a vestal virgin leaves her house to open
a wine-shop or to frequent it for strong drink. It reads: "If
a votary, who is not living in a cloister open a tavern, or
enter a tavern for a strong drink, they shall burn that
woman" 2 . Only two cases are mentioned in the Code of
Hammurabi, in which the horrible punishment of death by
burning is ordered. The one referred to above, and the
other in 157, dealing with the heinous crime of incest of
mother and son. The last paragraph ( 111, Col. XVIII,
lines 45 49) regulates the price of liquor sold on time
payment. "If a liquor dealer", it states, "give one
1) summa s ^sabitum sarrutum ina biti-sa ittarkasu-ma sarrutim sunuti Id.
issabtam-ma ana ekallim la irdiam s ^sabitum si-i iddak.
2) summa natitum entum sa ina gagim la wasbat bit sabi iptete & lu
ana sikarim ana bit sabl iterub awiltam suati iqallusi.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 9
12O Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
on credit, at the time of harvest she shall receive 50 qa of
barley" 1 .
Zimmern has recently published 2 the transliteration and
translation of a text, which is of interest in this connection,
It contains incantations and rituals, which were intended to
increase the business of a taverner, which had for some
reason or other fallen off 3 . Two incantations were to be re-
cited by an incantation-priest, while the third incantation,
a love charm, was to be used by a demimondaine, or a vo-
tary of Ishtar, in order to bring back the lovers, who had
stayed away from the inn and the brothel. The text con-
tains an additional proof, if proof were necessary, that the
Babylonian inn was at the same time a brothel. All three
incantations are addressed to Ishtar, the goddess of love, and
possibly also a goddess of beer and wine, like her Egyptian
counterpart Hathor. Some passages may illustrate the general
character of the text. "O Ishtar, enter at my word, and this
tavern let be thy tavern! O Ishtar, support thy hand on the
jug and the pressing vat! May profit enter unceasingly, (since)
thou takest upon thyself responsibility!" The harlot recites:
"Come enter into our house; thy beautiful bed- fellow may
enter with thee, (and) thy lover and thy courtesan". The in-
cantation of the harlot ends with the sentence: "As the heaven
fructifies the earth (and) plants are plentiful, so may be plen-
tiful the (saying): 'Be sweet unto me'".
In mythology we meet with a divine female taverner,
Siduri sabitu, who dwells at the "seat of the ocean" 4 . Gilga-
i) summa salsabitum isten $iham ana qiptim id din ina eburim jo qa
se'im iliqi.
2} Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, Vol. XXXII. pp. 164 184.
3) Inim-nim-ma summa^ a mi-hi-ir-tum ina bit amelu s a~bi-i par-sat, "In-
cantation in case that the profit has ceased in the house of the taverner" ; inim-
nim-ma is-di-ih sa-bi-i ka-ri-ka, "Incantation for the profit of the innkeeper
at the dyke".
4) Kusse tamti; Zimmern, ZA, Vol. XXXII, p. 169 explains this phrase
quite naturally, by referring to the sabu kari, "the innkeeper of the dyke"
and to the si-bi-'-i ka-a-ri in Gray's Hymn to Samas, Col. Ill, 45 (= Jensen,
KB, Vol. VI, 2, i, p. 104) and ZA, Vol. XXXII, 114, 16. See, however, also
Albright (AJSL, Vol. XXXVI, p. 260) who considers the phrase "a yery cu-
rious detail".
Wine and B eer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 1 3 j
mesh in his burning quest for eternal life, having passed
the abodes of men, finally reached the gate of the sun.
Giant scorpion men guard this gate. He is unwillingly ad-
mitted to pass on the dark road of the sun. He travels
for twentyfour hours, and at last he comes to a beautiful
vineyard.
"Amethyst it bore as its fruit,
Grape-vine was trellised, good to behold;
Lapis-lazuli it bore as grape-clusters,
Fruit it bore, magnificent to look upon" 1 .
Gilgamesh meets Siduri, the taverner, in this her vineyard.
The vineyard is her domain, the vinestalk the tree of life
and the noble and precious fluid, which she prepares, the
means of imparting eternal life. As the Babylonian female
taverner was primarily concerned with the preparing of beer
or wine, and secondarily with the serving of beer or wine 2 ,
so Siduri, the taverner, is described as engaged in the pre-
paration of wine. To this purpose "they have made her ajar,
they have made her a pressing vat" 3 .
One of the oldest divinities of the pantheon of the
ancient Sumerians was a vinegoddess, called din s ir Gestin 4 , or
also, din g ir Ama-gestin, i. e., "the mother vinestalk". A temple
was dedicated to her in the city of Lagash, which is men-
tioned in an inscription of Urukagina 5 . At a very early date,
however, she loses all characteristics of a vinegoddess, and
appears as the goddess Nina, "the lady of the waters". This
was but natural, when we consider, how little vine was culti-
vated in Babylonia, on the one hand, and on the other,
i) sdmtu nasdt inibsa
isfyunnatum ullulat ana dagala t&bat
uknu nan hashalta
inba nasi-ma ana amari sa'd/i.
2} Scluvenzner, Altbabyl. Wirtschaftsleben, p. 25 ft'. (MVAG, 1914, III).
3) Gilgamesh-Epos , Tablet X, 3: epsusi kannu epsusi namzltu. On the
restoration nam-zi-tu see Zimmern, 1. c., p. 169.
4) Or dingirMu-tin and dingirMu-ti. As the consort of the god of heaven
she is later called Ges"tin-anna, "the vinestalk of heaven", or Mu-tin-an-na.
5) Urukagina, Clay Tablet, Rev. II, i and 3.
9*
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
how important a role water and irrigation played in Baby-
lonia 1 .
A vinegod appears by the name din g ir Pa-gestin-dug 2 , "the
good vinestalk", whose consort was din s ir Nin-kasi, "the lady of
the inebriating fruit", also called din ir Sa-bil, i. e., "she who
causes burning". She is also mentioned by the name din s ir Kas-
tin-nam, "the intoxicating beverage, which decreed life". As
her mother appears the goddess din g ir Nin-til, "the lady of life".
din s ir Sa-bil is the mother of nine children 3 , who seem all to
have some connection with intoxicating drinks, or describing
an effect of the use of alcoholic beverages. In the list
dingirSiffs i s mentioned first. Her name refers to "beer" or
any intoxicant not prepared from grape-vine. This goddess
is followed by din ir SIM -f- K AS. a certain kind of beer prepared
of barley and an addition of spices, and din s ir SIM-}-KAS-gig, pro-
bably a dark kind of beer. The names, which follow, describe
the effects of beer or wine. Here we meet with din s ir Me-hus, who
may perhaps best be translated by "the brawler", literally,
"he of frightening speech". The fifth child is called din si Me-
azag, i. e., "he of a clear speech"; the sixth, din & ir Eme-te, i. e.,
"he of an eloquent tongue"; the seventh din s ir Ki-dur-ka-zal,
i. e., "he of the abode of mirth"; the eighth, din s ir Nu-silig-ga,
i. e., "the braggart", or, "the boaster", and the last, din s ir Nin-
ma-da, i. e., "the lord of the land". Ninkasi lives on Mount
Sabu, which, of course, is not a geographical designation, but
means either "the mount of the taverner", or, "the mount of
retailing (scil. beer or 'wine)" 4 . The god Ninurta, at least
in one instance (see Meissner, Altorient. Texte und Untersuchun-
1) For -wine in the incantation literature see Ebeling, KARI, II, No. 62,
lines 10 13. karanu tt-pat-ra qable-ka lis-sa-pah sepe-ka dan-nu ki-ri-mu-ka
li-ir-mu-ka.
2) See CT XXIV, 10, 22 ff.
3) They are sailed ilinimu-dm dumu-mes dingii'Nin-ka-si-ge mus-lah-lah-
e-ne an-na-ge, i.e., "they are the nine children of Ninkasi, the "snake-drivers"
of "heaven".
4) Ninkasi is called in CT, XV, 41, 24: geme-tug-tug dagar-ra me-U-
gar sinnistu itpistu ummu sa ana simati saknat , i. e. , "the clever woman,
who tends to the giving of drinks". Sim&ti seems to be etymologically con-
nected with sibii, and
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, 1 33
gen, I, 279, 39) is referred to as one who knows "well to pre-
pare strong wine."
In passing on to Palestine, we may finally remark that
the Babylonian literature has not yet produced anything like
moral prescription in which a warning is contained in regard
to the excessive use of alcoholic beverages. That such "pro-
verbs", however, were existent is seen from such passages as:
pukli napi me$tu ul uhhurSu, i. e., "(as for) the strength of the
worm, the drunkard is not inferior to it" *.
The Hebrews, like their neighbors, appreciated wine, and x
no festivity was held without it, for the very name "festivity" ./
mishteh, points to this 2 . Numerous passages in the Old
Testament praise the vinestalk and its fruit. "Wine cheers
man's heart" 3 , yea even the gods 4 . It is indispensable at the
meals of the Hebrews 5 , and was not allowed to be missed on
the altar of Yahweh as a drink-offering. Drunkenness was by
no means unknown to them 5 . Only the Rekhabites and the
Nasiraeans abstained from its use. The majority of the people,
probably, always regarded wine with favor. The numerous
wine-presses still testify to that The religious leaders, of
course, took quite another view-point, regarding the use of
wine 7 . During the early days of the history of Israel, no
opposition from that side was as yet encountered. But it
soon set in. Viticulture represents a higher form of culture,
which, like every other form of an advanced stage of human
progress, was looked upon with disfavor. The simple beduin
1) II R 1 6, lines 23 24 d; see also BA, II, p. 296. Cf. Sir. 34, 30 "(wine)
diminishes the strength]', M3 *l[0]lna.
2) This designation occurs first in Gen. 21,8. It becomes more com-
mon, however, at a later time. It is strange that in the story of Abraham's
reception of the strangers (Gen. 18, 6 9), and even at the mention of the
deliveries for the royal court of Solomon, only bread and meat are mentioned
(I Kings 5, 2, 3) but not wine, while the possesssion of a privately owned
vineyard is ascribed to every citizen (I Kings 5, 5).
3) Psalm 104, 15. Sir. 40, 20 a: "wine and beer gladden the heart",
4) Judg. 9, 13. 5) I. Sam. i, 9. 13.
6) I. Sam. 25, 36; i, 13; II. Sam. n, 13; Jer. 5, 22; 23, 9; Hos. 7, 3 etc.
7) On a discussion of the "Wine in the Pentateuchal Codes", see Jastrow,
in JAOS, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 180192.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
life of the nomadic patriarchs was the ideal life to which
Israel's religious leaders looked back. Each step of an ad-
vance to a more refined mode of living is a step farther away
from Yahweh. To warn against viticulture and wine-drinking is
narrated an occurrence in the family of Noah 4 , and another
in the house of Lot, in which the use of wine led to shame-
ful intercourse with his two daughters 2 . The lawgiver permits
parents, whose son is living in debauchery and is a drunkard
to accuse him to death before the judges 3 . This is an extra-
ordinary ordinance, which stands without parallel. Drunken-
ness, for instance, is never mentioned in the Code of Ham-
murabi, or any other legal regulations of Babylonia and
Assyria. This fact is significant and tends to show that
drunkenness was not considered a" crime by the Babylonians
and Assyrians. On the other hand, Deut 21, 20 permits the
most severe punishment to be imposed upon the drunkard.
The Ancient Orient otherwise knows no punishment for into-
xication. A change was wrought in this respect by the intro-
duction of Islam. The Muhammadan law provides for forty
beatings in case of drunkenness. They could be augmented
up to eighty strokes in case of habitual drunkenness 4 . The
Hebrew lawgiver forbids the priests to partake of intoxicating
drinks during their services 5 . The assumption of the pre-
exilic Hebrew leaders is that he who drinks wine necessarily
becomes inebriated. This is still evident in a later period of
Hebrew history. There is preserved a pleasant song, in which
the mother warns the royal prince of wine-drinking 6 :
"It is not for kings to drink wine,
Nor for rulers to mix strong drink;
Lest, drinking, they forget the law,
i) Gen. 9, 21 ff. 2) Gen. 19, 32 ff. 3) Deut. 21, 20.
4) Mawerdi, 388. Cf. also Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs
of the Modern Egyptians, 5th ed., London, 1871, p. 137: "Drunkenness was
punished, by the Prophet, by flogging; and is still in Cairo, though not often:
the l hadd', or number of stripes, for this offence, is eighty in the case of
a free man, and forty in that of a slave."
5) Levit. 10, 9.
6) Proverbs, 3 1 , 4 7 , given according to Toy , Critical and Evangelical
Commentary on the Book of Proverbs, p. 539.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 135
And disregard the rights of the suffering.
Give strong drink to him who is perishing,
Wine to him who is in bitter distress;
That, drinking he may forget his poverty,
And think of his misery no more".
Motive and close of the admonition are equally interest-
ing. The Book of Proverbs takes a decidedly unfavorable
position to wine. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a braw-
ler" 1 ; "he who loves wine and oil will not be rich" 2 ; "look
not on wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup" 3 ;
"thou shalt not be with the wine-bibbers, with the gluttonous
eaters of flesh, for the drinker and the gormandizer shall
impoverish, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags" 4 .
"Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? Who hath contentions ? who
hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? who hath red-
ness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that
go to try mixed wine" 5 . The opposition, however, from the
religious leaders, becomes weaker as the time passes on. The
establishment of the kingdom, which marked a real political
and material progress in the history of the Hebrews, but
making also higher claims regarding the mode of living,
undermined the ultra conservative position of the religious
leaders, and by the end of the seventh century the opposition
towards wine and other intoxicants had ceased. In post-exilic
times only the excessive use of alcoholic beverages is con-
demned 6 . It is now considered as a distinct blessing of God,
when the vine-harvest showed a good crop and the wine-
cellars could be fully stored with wine. Sir. 30, 25: "I stood
in the blessing of the Lord, and like a gatherer I filled my
wine-press." According to Jastrow 7 "the later view of post-
exilic Judaism is reflected in the juxta-position of 'bread
and wine', as the accessory to the blessing formula in Gen.
i) Prov. 20, i. 2) Prov. 21, 17. 3) Prov. 23, 31.
4) Prov. 23, 2021. 5) Prov. 23, 2930.
6) In spite of all the bad experiences of Judah with wine, he does not
prohibit the use it, but only warns against its excessive use. (See Das Testa-
ment Judas, p. 47 1 ff. in Kautzsch , Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen,
Vol. II).
7) JAOS, Vol. XXXIII, p. 182.
136 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
14, 18". Also the stereotyped phrase, characteristic of Deu-
teronomy, ddgan, ttrbS yishar ("in$11 : tBiTft "J^r) undenvent
later a change due to the view taken by the post-exilic
prophets towards wine. In place of tiros, which according
to Jastrow "represents a preparation of the grape-juice in
a less advanced stage, than the finished fermented product"
the word yayin was inserted *. This, of course, does not imply
that at the time of the Deuteronomistic writer "the process
of manufacturing a thoroughly fermented article had not yet
been perfected" 2 , but that for quite another reason yayin was
not used in a phrase, which summed up the products of the
land. In this phrase ttrbs is used, with means "new wine".
Each year the land yielded "corn, new wine and oil", but
not yayin, which refers to "old wine", and which was 'the pro-
duct of the land of former years. Yayin was introduced due
to a change of view taken towards strong old wine, it is true,
but the change to yayin is really less correct than the tiros
of DeuterOmy.
Sir. 9, 10, 11 likens new wine to a new friend: "Do not
give up an old friend, for a new one does not equal him.
New wine is a new friend, when it becomes old, then thou
mayest drink it."
ten btf
Cf. here Alcharisi's Tachkemoni (p. 70 b):
t^tpag is fsinp 1 ] nb;n. nan D^J
tntM^! tntfba ttato 1$^! ftbai "iip$ bs \y\
No feast was considered to contain true joy for men unless.
it was celebrated with wine, while women found their pleasure
rather in beautiful dresses (bPesach 109 a), although custom
permitted women to drink wine, as f. i., in the example of
Hannah. Wine nourishes fp^t), refreshes (120) and cheers
(ntt) (bBerakh 35 b; cf. also bSukka49b). Wine is the fore-
most of all medicines; wherever wine is lacking, medicines
become necessary. Sir. 34, 27, 28: "Wine is like water of life
1) And instead of d&gan (corn) hittim and in place of yishar, semen:
2) See Jastrow, p. 183.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, j 37
for man, whenever he drink it moderately. What is life for him
who is without wine, since it is destined from the beginning
for joy! Joy of heart and jubilation and life of pleasure is
wine, which is drunk at the right time and for satiation."
"Wine and aroma clarify" [(i"? tfW) D^npS ^n^.1 T9tf]-
But the use of wine may become also dangerous. Sir. 34, 29:
"Headache and shame and ignominy is wine, which is drunk
in quarrel and anger. Wine often brings the fool to ruination,
it diminishes the strength and multiplies the wounds." Sir.
34, 25: "The must has killed many." "Man is known by
three things: by his (wine)-cup, by his purse and by his
anger," (SttinDfi; iOSD^ ^^ '10'iDSl IM Dltfn t3*ny] fittbtpa
mp). "When the wine goes in, the secret goes out/'
^ft I 1 *. D 5??> var -> ' the sense', rtrrft; Tanchumah, Shem).
He who sings Bible-verses in the tavern has no part in the
eternal blessed life (Sanh. loi a).
The Hebrews seem to have practised a good deal of
luxury at the banquets of the rich and at the royal court.
Solomon, we are told, had golden drinking vessels 1 . Jere-
miah speaks of "chalices" filled with wine, ("p. ^tib &$$$
Fiiobl), with which were given drinking cups, probably in order
to take out the wine with them from the chalice, as was the
fashion in Assyria. This indicates that the wine was served
in large chalices, similar to those in Assyria. In the time of
the prophet Amos wine was drunk also from flat dishes, or
flat bowls 2 . These flat wine-bowls, it seems, were an object
of bitter reproach of the prophet, since they let the spirit of
wine evaporate quickly and thus necessitated faster drinking,
which led so much more readily to debauchery.
The public inns of Palestine, we may conjecture from
the story of Rahab, had the same evil reputation as those of
Babylonia. Rahab, the innkeeper was at the same time a har-
lot 3 . The public inns were attended by singing-girls, who
played some kind of musical instruments. Cf. Sir. 9, 4: "Do
not have intercourse with a cither-player in order that thou
art not caught in her snares."
i) I Kings 10, 21. 2) Amos 6, 6 ",^ ijD^ '.?. 3) Joshua 2, i,
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
(Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach, Berlin, 1906). In view
of conditions in Arabia, we may judge that these singing-girls
in Palestine constituted a large, if not the largest, class of
prostitutes. Here as well as in Arabia she was a foreigner,
a m T J, which means both the foreign woman and the harlot
(Prov. 2, 16; 5, 3; 5, 20; 7, 5; 22, 14; 23, 27). The Palestinian
tavern ("j^Sl Sn^) was distinguished by a sign, the bin, Arabia
&* (see below p. 149). Correct singing at drinking-bouts 1 is
likened to a seal-stone of carbuncle on a golden neck-chain
and to a seal-stone of emerald, Sir. 35, 5, 6:
sm M b? DTK
bip zipni Dimw t>
The custom of the Greeks and Romans, to wreath oneself at
banquets, had been introduced also by the Jews (Wisd. 2, 8; cf.
Is. 28, l 5). Johns 2 has pointed out that there exists a striking
parallel between the Code of Hammurabi and Lev. 21, 9.
Death by burning is decreed to the daughter of a priest who
is unchaste. The Code, we have seen above, mentions the
horrible punishment only twice, but so does Hebrew legisla-
tion, and in the same cases. Josephus directly states that in
the case of the priest's daughter it is not unchastity alone
that brought upon her this fearful punishment of burning,
but this punishment was imposed upon her in case that .she
at the same time opens a tavern. The Talmud seems to in-
dicate that the rabbis also connected the crime of the priest's
daughter with the tavern, for they ask: Shall not a priestess or
priest's daughter be treated better than a tavern-keeper?
There appears to have remained thus in Talmudic time
a recollection that in certain circumstances the law had pre-
scribed the death-penalty by burning for innkeepers.
Wine was sold at the market. An inspector (plE 31 in the
inscriptions; NH pwn b^, more often DIB^i-fta and DlBTflK,
i. e., dyopavopo^) who controlled the market-prices and weights
and examined the provisions and the grain, tasted (WB) the
1) The name of Josiah is likened to a song at a wine drinking-bout
(Sir. 49, I)-
2) Johns , C. H. W. , The Relations between the Laws of Babvlenii and
the Laws of the Hebrew Peoples, The Schweich Lectures, 1912.
Wine and Beer. in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 139
quality of the wine by means of a reed, a siphon or a special
cup, or by simply smelling the wine. -The price of wine was
of course fluctuating. A sextarius (Vlb, KoruXr]), which is
32 ounces, i. e., one quart, of common tavern-wine cost four
pieces of the small coin lumi (tflb v "pttlb, vooiip-tov, nummus).
According to another reckoning a sextarius of wine cost ten
follars (obIB and "ib"!5 cpoXXic; =follis and cpoXXdpiov; GenR
49, 4; LevR 27, 2). Wine was drunk to excess at wedding-
festivals (bBerakh 9 a, ibid. 6b, 3ob etc.) and at funeral-feasts
it was not missing, but in order to prohibit over-indulgence,
ten cups of wine were the maximum set for the seven days
of mourning. The slaves, in Rabbinic times, had the reputa-
tion of often being drunkards, and "the slave, who frequents
the wine-house, is not worth his food" (tltB tfb rTO'ni D1W "D2
bBm 64 b). The effects of chronic alcoholism are mentioned
neither in the Old Testament nor in the Talmud. A legal
distinction was made between the Satkuy, the person slightly
intoxicated, and the sikkbr, the person totally drunk (Erub. 64a;
Erub. 65 a; Eben haezer 44, 3 and Choshen hamishp. 235, 22).
Aged wine, according to Ned, IX, 8 (66 b) is beneficial to the
intestines, while new wine is harmful. As a rule, unmixed
wine should be drunk after letting blood, but in case one is unable
to buy wine, seven black dates should be eaten instead (Sabb.
129 a). Wine was also used as an application (Sabb. 109 a).
In Northern Syria the custom seems to have prevailed
of sipping beer or wine through a long cane directly out of
a large vessel, in which the liquor was brewed. On a tomb-
stone 1 of a Syrian mercenary found in Tell el-Amarna this
custom is proved for Syria in the fourteenth century B. C.
This custom prevailed amongst the Hittites and the peasants
of the Armenian mountains. In the cylinder of black serpen-
tine, which was found in Kueltepe, the main-scene shows two
seated men, who drink barley-beer through a long reed. The
same custom of drinking appears in Babylonia in the oldest
time 2 , but seems to have been unknown amongst the Hebrews.
1) Berlin Museum, No. 14122; see plate 17, facing p. 126 in Aeg. Z.,
Vol. 36.
2) See Ward, Seal-Cylinders, Nos. 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 95, 99, 732, 734
and 738.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Wiedemann, in OLZ, 1901, Vol. IV, 7 drew attention to
the fact that the Armenian tubes for sucking beer differed
in so far from those used in Egypt, as Xenophon states regard-
ing the Armenian KdcAajioi: yovara OUK e-xovtec, while the
Egyptian tubes possessed the yovu. Drinking- tubes were pro-
bably used in order to avoid swallowing the particles of yeast,
which gathered on top of the brew (see OLZ, 1900, Vol. Ill, 307),
as well as the barley-grains.
Yahweh the austere god of the Hebrews, strange as
may seem, was identified in Classical times, with Dionysos,
the god of wine and merry life. In the Symposion of Plu-
tarch 1 , it is stated by one who is initiated into the Athenian
Dionysian mysteries, that the god of the Hebrews is the same
as Dionysos. He makes this assertion on account of the fact
that the Hebrews commence other festivals some days after
the feast of the tavernacles, which they themselves call those
of Bacchos 2 . Movers 3 explained this statement in Plutarch
by referring to the Hallelu-yah shouts at the feast of the taver-
nacles, which lasted for eight days. The Athenian, thus, was
led to his statement on account of the Hallelu-yah shout
which reminded him of the lately, i. e., the iau-shout of the
Dionysian rites. Baudissin 4 has shown beyond doubt that
the identification of Dionysos with Yahweh is due to misunder-
standings. The eud^eiv, i. e., the euoi, or eiixx-shout as well
as the icrxstv, i. e., the laO-shout had been considered the
same rite as the Fa-shout, i. e., the Hallelu-yah of the Hebrew
priests, while on the other hand, the thyrsos-staves of the
festivals of Dionysos were wrongly brought into connection
with the palm- and myrrh-branches of Jewish festivals. The
feast of the temple-dedication, particularly, according to
II. Mace, lo, 7, at which hymns were song, while carrying
thyrsos-staves, palm-branches and other branches, was respon-
sible for this mistake of identification. Tacitus 5 also mentions
1) L. IV, 6, 2.
2) doprriv oiJK ftv bi' aivrfudriuv , dX\d avriKput; BCXKXOU
3) Movers, Die Phonizier, Bd. I.
4) See Baudissin, W. W. , Studien zur Semitischen Religions geschichte,
Leipzig, 1876; III. Der Ursprung des Gottesnamens 'loiuj, pp. 181 254.
5) Hist. 1. V c. 5.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. \A\
this confusion of the ceremonies, but he rejects it: .... quia
sacerdotes eorum * tibia tympanisque concinebant, hedera vin-
ciebantur, vitisque aurea templo reperta, Liberum pair em coli,
domitorem orientis, quidam arbitrati sunt, nequaquam con-
gruentibus institutes : quippe Liber festos laetosque ritus posuit,
Judaeorum mos absurdus sordidusque.
The names of Dionysos, Eoac;, Euioc;, EiHjioq, Evan and
Ebon are derived from the exclamation eucc, or euoi, and the
name lacchos ("laK^cc;) from the Homeric la^eiy, "to call
aloud" 2 .
While the identification of Yahweh with Dionysos must be X'
rejected, there is a strong probability of identifying the Phoe-
nician god Esmun with Dionysos 3 t . Dionysos appears on coins
of Tyre 4 since the time of Seleucus IV (167 175 B. C.) and
on coins of Sidon 5 since 111 B. C. In the time of the emperor
Gordianus the representation of Dionysos appears also on coins
of Berytos 6 . A Hittite wine-god appears in Illustration No. 35.
According to Baruch II, 4, the tree that seduced Adam
was the vinestalk. It was planted by the angel 'SamaeF. This
angered God, and he cursed it and did not permit Adam to
touch the plant. But Satan seduced Adam through the vine.
The vine was swept away from Paradies through the waters
of the flood, but it was not completely destroyed. Noah
found the plant after the Flood. He was troubled in his con-
science whether to make use of the plant or not. In order
to ascertain the will of God regarding it he prayed for forty
days. Finally God sent his angel Sarasael with the permission
1) Scil. Judaeorum.
2) Baudissio, o. c., pp. 209 and 210. In Homeri Hymni, XXVII, El!
APTEMIN, 7: idxei b' em bdaiaoi; uXrj bevvov OTTO K\crfYf|<; dipuiv, the verb
idxeiv goes back to iarjxew. lar^xeiv > ir^xeiv > idxeiv. It, therefore, has no
bearing on the question.
3) See Baudissin, Der phonizische Gott Esmun, ZDMG, Vol. 59 (1905),
pp, 482-489.
4) Rouvier, Journ. Intern, d'archeol. numismat., Vol. KI, p. 279, n. 1829
-1835; Vol. VII, p. 76 n. 2366.
5) Rouvier, o. c., Vol. V, p. 131, n. 1279; p. 230, n. 1298; p. 230 ff.,
n. 1299 1302; p. 245, n. 1397; p. 248, n. 1417; p. 248 ff., n. 1418 1437 ;
p. 267 ff., n. 1528; p. 277, n. 1573; p. 282 ff., n. 1613 and 1614,
6) Rouvier, o. c., Vol. IIT, p. 307 ff., n. 603 606.
142
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
to plant the vine. Tanchumah, Noah contains the story as to
what happened at the time when Noah was about to plant
the first vineyard. "When Noah began to plant the vineyard,
came Satan up to him and said to him: What art thou plant-
ing?'; he said to him: 'A vineyard'. 'What are its properties?'.
No. 35. Rock- sculpture at Ibriz a king or noble worshipping a god of
corn and wine (after Ball, Light from the East}.
'Its fruits are sweet and pleasant, green as well as dried; and
wine is made from them, which gladdens the hearts, as it is
written: 'Wine gladdens the heart of man' (Ps. 104, 15). Satan
said to him : 'Come on and let us both lay out this vineyard'.
,Alright' he said. What did Satan do? He brought a lamb
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancit?nt Orientals. 143
and killed it under the vinestalk, and again he brought a pig
and killed it and again he brought a lion and killed it, and
again he brought a monkey and killed it under the vine and
caused the blood to drip on the vinestalks, and they were
moistened from their blood. He indicated thereby, that man,
before he has drunk of the wine, is innocent like a lamb, which
knows nothing and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb
(Isaiah, 52/7). Has he drunk moderately, (then) he is strong
like a lion, and is saying that none is like him in all the world.
Should he drink wine beyond measure, he will become like
a pig, trodding about in the mire and if he has become drunk,
he will act like a monkey, jumping about and speaking filthy
words, without knowing what he does." i^b hi fctttt?
"6 -) staia nntf rra ib "IES -pssb -roan TBE a
d^hb ^n d^pinft iw^s ib -ifcK is^ta ma ib
nnb nw 1^1 rrnDi imnnb httftfrn ^ ^
ib niatf nr d-on i^stt? cinncsi xn "jtstt ifb "i (V't: "i"p
aoift ID nni- ^s^n nnn mm innD ^n pw nwy ma
nnn n^m C|ip x^nn ^D inxi na-im ^i K^sn ID ins
D-npw ib TEH .dn^ttiB impt?m diDrt inia d*n is^tj
bn-iDi dibD JHV 15^10 tr^DD dn ih ^n i^n p din
('r a "5 n^w^ ntab^i mm
ns nibns bDrr ^s
Pre-Islamic Arabia has left us sufficient material to form
an idea of the use of wine in that country. Our sources are
exclusively Old-Arabic poems. Wine-drinking was a habit
freely indulged in by the pre-Islamic Arabs, and no old poem,
which pictures the daily life of the Arab, is without a refer-
ence to it. Ibn Haldun (see S. de Sacy, Chrest. arab. Vol. I,
pp. ifi, ifv), makes the strange statement that the pre-Islamic
noble Arabs abstained from the use of wine, that the vine was
not one of the trees cultivated in Arabia and that old and
young regarded wine-drinking as shameful:
^\. There
always were, of course, to be found individuals in pre-Islamic
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
time, who abstained from the use of wine and other liquors.
But these were rather isolated cases, so f. i., 'Asad, the son of
Kurz ibn c Amir ('Ag. XIX, 53, 22). 'Asad's father "a. man of
high qualities" was seemingly always well supplied with wine
(see, Kais ibn al-Hatim, ed. Kowalski, XIV, 1617). Self-
imposed temporary abstinence from wine (and food, women,
etc.) is often undergone before starting on the mission of blood-
revenge. Amruul-Kais, at the news of the murder of his father
at Demmun in al-Yaman vowed, after seven nights spent in
drinking, to abstain from it until he had taken blood-revenge
(Kitab al-'agani, VIII, p. 68). 'Abu Kais ibn al-'Aslat swore
to abstain from wine for thirty nights (var., years; Kais ibn
al-Hatim, ed. Kowalski, IV, 28). Ta'abbata Sharran, after hav-
ing accomplished his task of avenging his uncle, slain by the
tribesmen of Hudhayl, sings 1 :
"Lawful now to me is wine, long forbidden:
Sore my struggle ere the ban was o'erridden.
Pour me wine, O son of 'Amr'! I would taste it,
Since with grief for mine uncle I am wasted."
Three motives are always recurring. The poet boasts
of his drinking powers, mentions his liberality when drunk,
and the exorbitant price he paid for the drinking-bout.
Yet, the Arab had not always a chance to drink wine. He
was dependent upon the wine merchant, the tagir, who was
generally a Jew 2 , and sometimes a Christian. In 'Ag. VIII, 79
the Christians of Hira are mentioned as being engaged in the
sale of wine. Wine was very expensive in all parts of Arabia.
In the deathsong of 'Abd-Yaghuth, son f Waqqas, chief of
the Banu-1-Harith, of Najran, he sings: "Now am I as though
I ne'er had mounted a noble steed, or called to my horsemen
- "Charge! gain space for our men to breathe", or bought
for a wealth of gold the full skin of wine" 3 . c Amr ibn Qa-
mfah 4 XII, 3: "The wine-skin is a kingdom to him who pos-
1) Hamasa, p. 382 ff. ; translated by Micholson, R. A., A Literary History
of the Arabs, p. 100.
2) Goldziher, ZDMG, Vol.46, 1892, p. 185. Mufaddaliyat, ed. Lyall
II, 34.
3) Lyall, Ch. J., Transl. of Anc. Arab. Poetry, London, 1885, p. 86.
4) Lyall, Charles, The Poems of ^ Amr son ofQamfah, Cambridge, 1919.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. IAC
sesses it, and the kingdom therein, though small, how great
it is!" 'Abid VII, 1718: "We bid up the price of all old
wine, strong and fragrant, whiles we are sober. And we hold
of no account, in pursuit of its delights, the mass of our
inherited wealth, when we are drunken 1 ." When 'Abd-Yag-
huth was taken prisoner and "was about to be gagged,
lest he should utter satires against them before being put to
death: for he was a famous poet ...... then he said "Ye
men of Taim, if ye must slay me, let me die as befits one
noble". "And how wouldst thou die?" asked they. "Give me
wine to drink, and let me sing my death-song, 'he answered'" 2 .
Mutalammis 3 describes the wine as his sweetheart 4 , who
exercises such a great power over him, that his own volition
completely succumbs to his beloved, It has made him light-
minded, frivolous. But, finally, he severs the bonds and gives
up drinking, after he recognized that fear of god and thrift
are after all more profitable. He says ( 5 :
"My heart is frivolous after a period of rest and it is gene-
rous in submissiveness to the friend.
i) Lyall, o. <:., p. 29; see also 'Abid XXVIII, 4 (Lyall, o. c., p. 59): "If
I drink wine, if I buy the costly juice at its price."
'2) Lyall, o. c.; pp. 84 and 85.
3) See Vollers, Arabische Gedichte des Mntalammis, in BA, Vol. V.
pp. 189 190 and p. 218.
4) The poet really turns it around and describes his sweetheart as wine.
His love is filled for woman as though he is a drinker etc.
5)
(8)
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. IO
146 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
I am like a drinker on the day they go their own way, and
the driver rouses them for the departure to the desert,
(a drinker of) wine that has aged in the wine-jar, until the
drops of its foam are like the eyes of the locust.
A curse upon it! a curse upon it! And thou shalt never say
to it, when it is mentioned: Praise unto it! 1
Its love is either non-enduring, or like the joy for every pre-
cious thing from which one draws profit.
But (now) I know with absolute certainty, without a doubt,
since the fear of god is of the best endowment:
To guard the wealth is easier than to seek it and to wander
about in the country without provisions.
A little which is kept in good order multiplies, but abun-
dance does not remain with corruption."
In a second poem the same author thinks of death and
the grave and he asks his friends to think of him when he is
gone. In this mood he turns back and remembers the joy
which he experienced in life. Amongst the pleasures he does
not fail to mention also the wine:
"And did not a maiden give him to drink of a well-tasting,
agreeable, cool beverage, which the people guard?
And has he not taken a morning-drink of wine, whose fire
permeates his members, be the day warm or cold?" 2
c Amr ibn Qami'ah' 3 deplores his lost 'youth, in which he
often used to sit in the wine-shop, in the following verses:
"O woe unto me for the youth which I miss
(I miss in it no small thing!)
1) A similar sentiment is expressed in c Amr 'ibn Qamfah, XII, 6.
2) L>
3) l Amr was a contemporary of Imruul-Qais , with whom he journeyed
to the Court of the Greek Emperor Justinian (C. 535 A. D.). He died on the
way in Asia Minor at a great age.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion- of the Ancient Orientals.
When I trailed my garments of silk and wool to the
nearest of my wine-sellers,
And I shook my locks" l .
- "
A slight intoxication was considered as constituting one
of life's joy by Sulmi ibn Rabfah of Dabbah2;
"Roast flesh and a slight intoxication
These are life's joy" 3 .
Burdj ibn Mushar of Tai describes his care-free life with
his friend in the following song 4 :
"And many a drinking-companion, who increased the cup's
sweet odor, -
I gave to drink, when the stars disappeared.
I lifted his head and removed from him,
With pure wine, the rebuke of him who found fault.
>\ <*0 jJiil ^ ^_jl^JL)\ J* ^jX^AJ CAj^J \S
.? J>\ 4 i,^ ii 4^-1 >.
2} He seems to have lived some two generations before Muhammad. [' >
^ ^ ^
3) ***?j \$y*
* ^
^^ 9 s <^ VI - ^^ 9 S . S 1 < x ^ ^ * *'" t \
* **> * "' ^^ >
Jy*. r i$ ^JLS ^f liw (3)
^- ? ^ &
(5)
(7)
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
When he was inebriated, he rose up
The most liberal youth (and) a well-bred lavisher
Unto a strong and fat camel. It limped
And its knee-joint and tendon was torn,
An old (and) noble (camel) which belonged to a sheikh,
Whose disposition was feared by the creditor.
He satiated his drinkers and hastened unto them
With two wine-jars; whose cup filled to the brim.
You see it in the vessel having strength, reddish even
As the red goat's skin (of Yaman).
Its drinkers stagger, so that they seem
Like warriors, whom wounds have exhausted."
The wineshop, or tavern, is called hanut. Tarafa, Mu'all. 46:
"If you seek me in the circle of the people, you will meet
me, and if you hunt for me in the taverns, you will find
me" 1 . The hanut which is most generally frequented by a
person is called malaf, -*Jl*, "the customed, familiar
place", i. e., die Stammkneipe, f. i., Kais ibn al-Hajim, XII, 4.
The tavern was most likely a wooden booth, which could
easily be erected and taken down, since these wine-booths were
to be found particularly at fairs 2 . In some instances it may
have consisced of a special compartment of the bazaar-booth,
being separated from the bazaar proper by means of cur-
tains. c Abda 3 describes the tavern as a cube (kaba], which
was illuminated by lamps. Carpets or rugs with elaborate
designs of animals, etc. 4 , were spread on the floor. The Arabs,
like the Greeks and Romans, reclined at their banquets 5 ,
a custom which was introduced into Arabia probably through
Syrian influence. The tavern contained (sometimes) also a
table (khiwan\ f. i , in Abda Mufaddaliyat XXV, 77, which is
a piece of furniture which is otherwise unknown in the Arabic
2) Ibn-Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, 438.
3) Mufaddaliyat, XXV, 72.
4) 'Abda, Mufadd. XXV, 70. 71.
5) Jacob, Georg, Sfudien in arabischen Dichtern, Heft III, p. 102.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Lite and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. lAQ
household. The Ghassanid king Jabala 1 sat on a couch of
myrtle and jasmine and other sweet-smelling flowers when he
would drink wine. About him were gold and silver vessels
full of ambergris and musk (Agani, XVI, 15 1. 24 ff.). The wine
was served by a waiter, whose finger-tips were colored red
with firsad. He also wore a woman's upper-garment and was
adorned with ear-rings 2 . The wine was drunk either from
<5 '-'
a glasscup (J^) or from a goblet, called sahn (c^"* 5 ) o r from
a bowl, called qadah (***). The tavern was distinguished
by a sign, probably a green branch 3 , which indicated that
the wineshop-keeper had still a supply of wine for sale. When
the wine had run out, the sign was taken down. c Antara
calls him a gallant man "who causes to be taken down the
taverner's sign". Lebid 4 sings: "Moreover, you do not know
how many serene nights , pleasant in their amusement and mirth-
ful revelry I passed in gay conversation and how many a sign
of the wine merchant I went to, when it was raised and the
wine had become high in price". The drinking bouts were
attended by singing-girls. "My companions are bright as
stars, and a singing-girl comes to us at night, clad in a striped
robe and saffron-colored mantle" 5 . In A'sha m. 30 the singing
girl (Qaine) wears a wide kimono and is, therefore, called
fudul. According to Tarafa m. 50 the singing-girl was by no
means bashful. She is asked to sing by calling to her "as-
mfina", i. e. "let us hear". "When we say: 'Let us hear', she
steps before us at her ease, gently, in a voice not forced.
When she repeates her tones, you would believe her voice to
be that of a camel lamenting her lost young" 6 . Abu Mihgan
compares her song to the buzzing of flies of the meadow 7 .
1) Jabala was a contemporary of the ruler of Hlra lyas ben Qabisa of
the tribe of Tayyi', who ruled from 602611 A. D.
2) al-Aswad ibn Ja'fur in Mufaddallycit, ed. Thorbecke, XXXVII, 23 and
A'sha muall. 29. The upper-garment is called ^a^S kurtak. Compare with
this garment that of the ancient Egyptian butler, p. 84.
3) See Jacob, Georg, Studien in arabischen Dichtern, Heft I, p. 18.
4) Lebid, m. 5758; see also Lebid, XII, 20.
5) Tarafa, m. 49.
6) Tarafa, m. 51 52. 7) See Jacob, Georg, o. c., Heft III, p. 103.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
In Antara, m. 23 the song of a man inebriated with wine
is likewise compared to the humming of the fly. In Lebid
XVII, 37 the song of the drinker is 'whining'. The singing-
girl accompanied her song sometimes with musical instru-
ments 1 . As presents the qaine received the drinker's cloak,
which was torn apart in case two singing-girls were present 2 .
In the description of. the Ghassanid court by Hasan ibn
Thabit (Agani, XVI, 15, line 22 ff.) mention is made of ten
singing-girls, of whom five were Greeks, singing Greek songs
to the music of lutes, and five came from Hira, probably Chri-
stian girls, who had been presented to king Jabala by lyas
ibn Qabisa, who was the successor of Nu'man III. of Hira.
The Hira singing- girls sang Babylonian airs. In addition,
Arabic singers were accustomed to come from Mecca. The
singing-girls 3 were disrespected (Diwan of the rfudhailites,
107, 30) and prostitutes (Lidzbarski, M., Das Johanne struck der
Mandaer, Giessen. 1915, p. 97 and 99). For the evil influence
of the tavern see, ibid., p. 99: "Einen jeden der in einer Schenke
Wein trinkt, sich bei Pauken und Liedern berauscht und in
diesem Zustande Unzucht treibt, wird man mit Kammen von
Ketten zerkammen und er wird seine Augen an Abathur nicht
sattigen."
The tavern was often visited during the early morning-
hours. The morning draught is called sabuh (^y^). Lebid,
m. 60, 6l : "Many a morning draught of pure wine I quaffed,
the singing-girl taking her stringed instrument, which her
thumb manages skilfully. I hastened in the early morning
before the cock for want of it, that I might take a second
draught from it, when the sleepers awoke" 4 . Kais ibn al-
Hatim, I, 3: "As often as I take my morning draught, four
1) See Lebid, m. 60, 61; Imr. 63, 5, 6; 'Alqama XIII, 37. For the use
of the tambourine (duff'] see Gabir ibn Hunay, Mufadd. XXXV, 9.
2) 'Abda, Mufadd. XXV, 81; Kitab ' al-agani. XV, 76.
3) The oraayyade caliphe Yazid II. was completely under the influence
of two singing-girls Hababa and Salama. When Hababa died, he worried
himself to death over her loss (Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients, I, p. 150).
4) See also l Abda, Mufadd. XXV, 66 ff. ar.d Tha'laba, Mufadd. XXI, 17,
and 'Abid ibn al-Abras V, 14 (Lyall, The diivans of ^Abid ibn al-Abras,
etc. 1913).
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 151
(cups) , my mfzar draws lines (in the sand) and in generosity
I let my pail follow its pulling-rope,"
Also A c sha makes mention of his early walks to the tavern,
stating that he is followed by a zealous, quick and active
cook (de Sacy, Chrest. Arab., p. ior, verse ro). A c sha was buried
in Manfuha in Yamama. Revellers were accustomed to meet
at his grave and to pour wine over it (Nicholson, R. H., A Lite-
rary History of Arabs, New York, 1907. p. 124). c Antara, m. 37
speaks of the time of the midday-heat: "And I quaffed after
the midday -heat had abated, old wine bought with bright
and well-stamped coin". Fortunes were squandered in the
tavern, on account of the great expense of wine *. "When
I have drunk", says c Antara 2 , "verily, I am the squanderer of
my property, but my fame remains great and unsullied". The
generous host is praised even though wine has overcome him
(Lebid XII, 21). Liberality was a characteristic trait of the
host. "And if you meet my drinking companions they will
tell you that I am the string of a purse, from which I never
took refuge in poverty (i. e., by pleading poverty)", Kais ibn
al-Hatim, fr, v, r :
Kais ibn al-Hatim probably reviles the Banu Harita in the
following verses: "But there are in aS-Saut some servants
from Yathrib, whose price will perish in wine. The al-'Aus
consider their price despiceable, when one of their drunkards
staggers at evening" (III, 16, 17)
\M
1) The price of a wine-skin filled with wine was a three-year old camel ;
see reference in Jacob, Georg, Studien in arabischen Dichtern, Heft III, p. 104.
Jacob also cites a passage in which it is said that also mares, stallions and
slaves were spent iu drinking.
2) Antara, m. 39.
1J2 Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
The drinker, in his intoxicated condition, is compared to a male
hyaena (Lyall, 'Amr ben Rami'ah. XII, 15).
The Nabataeans, who were of the Arabic race, wor-
shipped as their chief-god Dushara (Nabataean fcOtBTi, Greek
Aoutfccprjq), whose chief sanctuary was situated at Petra '.
The Classical writers identified Dushara with Dionysos-
Bacchus. The Nabataeans from about the sixth century
B. C. occupied the old Edomite country, with Petra as the
capital. In history, however, they do not appear before
312 B. C, when, according to Diodorus 2 , Antigonus sent two
expeditions against them. In the first century of our era
the kingdom extended from Petra northward ast of the
Jordan over Hauran. Twice it reached even as far as Damas-
cus 3 . In the third century A. D. coins were struck a"t Bostra
in Hauran, which show a wine-press and the legend AKTICC
Aoutfdpia. Since Petra, as we have seen above, cultivated the
vine extensively, it is altogether possible to suppose that the
Bacchic character of Dushara is original and that he did not
change from a solar deity to that of a Nabataean Dionysos 4 .
Gods of Bacchic character are otherwise unknown in Pre-Islamic
Arabia.
In a Palmyrene inscription (Littmann, E., Sem. Inscr. p. 70
= Ephemeris 1, 345) ' 5 appears the god Sai c al-Kaum, who seems
to have been worshipped by a group of Nabataeans in op-
position to the cult of Dushara-Dionysos. The votive inscrip-
tion reads in lines 4 and 5: "to Sai* al-Kaum, the good and
gracious god, who does not drink wine,"
We may finally mention the old tradition concerning the
destruction of the peoples of c Ad in the Hadramaut, in which
wine and two famous singing-girls play an important part
(Tabari, Annals, I, 231 ff.). The c Adites were of great stature
i) See Epiphanius. Haer, 1. 22. 2) Diod. XIX, 94.
3) In 85 B. C. and about 3462 A. D.
4) For wine-prohibition amongst the Nabataeans see Diod. XIX, 94, 3.
5) See also Dussaud, Rene, Les Arabes en Syrze avant I' Islam, Paris,
1907; Clermont-Ganneau , Rec. d'arch. or., IV, p. 382 402, and Wellhausen,
Gotting. gelehrte Anzeigen, 1902, p. 269.
Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 1 e?
and strength. They committed all sorts of evil deeds. Fi-
nally God sent the prophet Hud un to them, to preach repen-
tance. The 'Adites, however, disregarded the warning of this
messenger of God and answered: "O Hud, thou hast brought
us no evidence, and we will not abandon our gods for thy
saying, nor will we believe in thee. We say: 'One of our
gods has afflicted thee with madness'" (Koran, XI, 66, 57). The
divine punisment at last overtook the evil c Adites. A fearful
draught fell upon the land. A number of c Adite chiefs were
sent to Mecca to pray for rain. Mu'awiya ibn Bakr, an Ama-
lekite prince sent his envoys on their arrival to the city and
he received the 'Adites hospitably. They were entertained
by him with wine and music. Two famous singing-girls, known
as al- Jar ad at an, took part in these entertainments. For an
entire month they neglected their mission. When they, at
last, executed it, there appeared three clouds in the sky, one
red, one black and one white. However, by choosing the
black cloud 1 , they brought about the destruction of their
people, for God drove the cloud unto the land of 'Ad and
from it issued a roaring wind, which consumed all the people,
except a few who had listened.
The prohibition of wine-drinking by Muhammed brought
about a great change in the attitude towards wine and other
intoxicants. This prohibition was never felt to be very severe
in a country, such as Arabia, since wine was always expen-
sive and often difficult to procure. And in Syria, the chief /
wineland of the Orient, it never vitally affected the culture of ?
vine, on account of its strong Christian and Jewish population,
while amongst the Persians the new conquering religion of Islam
very seldom took a great enough hold on the people in order
to break them away from the customs of their wine-growing
country. The prohibition of wine in Sura V, 93 is stated as being
due to the fact that Satan causes dissentions in the congre-
i) The 'Adites quite naturally choose the black cloud, sfnce it was con-
sidered to contain much water. Compare here: 133S "pttJh
(o"p bxiDii: aipVi .a"s "* n*2$n) *irra "pwt 1153$ 11 r
"In Palestine it is said : The dark clouds contain much water, the white clouds
contain little water."
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
I gation through wine and gambling. But this is, however, not the
real cause which induced Muhammed to introduce his injunc-
tion. Palgrave 1 held that "the strongest arguments would lead
us to assign it, with considerable probability, to the Prophet's
antipathy to Christianity, and to a desire to broaden the line
of demarcation between his followers and those of Christ."
"Wine"' he proceeds to say, "has, in fact, been not only to-
lerated by the Founder of Christianity, but even, if I may so
say, patronized, and raised to a dignity of the highest reli-
gious import; nay, in the belief of three-fourths of the Chri-
stian world, absolutely supernatural. Close on its religious
and mystical use follows its social quality and among all
^ nations who own, in Eastern phrase, "the Gospel for their
book", that is, are Christians in the most comprehensive sense
of the term, wine has always been in high favour, the accom-
paniment of civilization, of friendship, of cheerful and elegant
life, of social, domestic, even of political union, and in this
view has been everywhere greatly esteemed and largely em-
ployed. This Mahomet well knew; his Greek neighbors alone,
with whose ways and customs he was by no means unacquain-
ted, might suffice him for a good example of the fact. Mean-
while his &eer-like sagacity, in which he had few equals, led
him to anticipate from the Christians far more dangerous
opponents, and a more lasting and more perilous hostility
than whatever might be expected from Jews or Persians; and
at the same time the prudent and almost respectful toleration
which numbers and strength exacted, rendered pre-eminently
necessary the' establishment of distinctive nay disjunctive
marks, calculated to maintain his followers in a permanent
antagonism with those whom they could not lightly despise,
nor yet securely persecute. To declare the social, the sacred
liquor which had become well nigh typical of Christianity,
and in a manner its badge, "unclean", "an abomination", and
"the work of the devil", was to set up for his own followers
a counter-badge, equally unmistakable and irreconcilable, of
a nature to last through all time, of daily occurence, and of
equable application in the mosque that antithesis of the sanc-
i) Palgrave, W. G., Central and Eastern Arabia, Vol. I. p. 428.
,Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 155
tuary, and in the harem that contradiction of the house." Pal-
grave really ascribed to the prophet greater wisdom and insight
than he actually possessed. Historical evidences also would v
point to another direction. Since the law falls within the time,
when Muhammed was engaged in a warfare of extermination
of the Jews, i. e., in the fourth year of the Hedjra, during the
campaigne against the Jewish tribe Nadir, it is probable to
suppose that this law was primarily directed against the Jews, 1
in order to undermine their flourishing wine-trade in Arabia 1 . /
During the earliest period of the new religion prohibition was
strictly observed, although it was not always easy to enforce
the law on unwilling Arabs. In Mas'udi, Murug edhdhahab
VI, I53 2 it is said of the tribe Garm: "They did not drink it,
when it was permitted, and did not raise its price on the
market-day, but since the prohibition of wine has come from
heaven, behold no Garmi is sober anymore".
Under the Omaiyades a tolerant attitude was taken towards
the wine-prohibition 3 , but the 'Abbasides introduced a stricter
enforcement of the law. Transgressors were threatened with
severe punishments', which, however, had not always the de-
sired effect. Already Omar II. was forced to issue a special
order prohibiting the use of fermented wine, but allowing the
use of ma zebib and date-wines. In South-Arabia the muslims
continued to drink the misr-bttr as well as their national
beverage of honey-wine (pif also called madi}. The lower
classes in the Irak continued to drink date-wine, and sakar,
1) This view was first expounded by Georg Jacob, Stud, in arab. Dick-
tern, Heft III, p. 106.
2) Cited after Jacob, o. c., p. 107.
3) At the court of the Omayyades in Damascus wine-drinking was intro-
duced by Yazid I. , of whom it is said that he intoxicated himself daily and
that he hardly ever was sober. Abdalmalik drank wine once every month
emptying his stomach by means of emetics, in order to be well again next
morning. His son Walid I. drank wine every second day. Walid II. spent
most of his time in the circle of musicians, singers and his drinking-compa-
nions. When in 1 10 a. H. his uncle Hisham appointed him leader of the
pilgrim-caravan to Mecca, he entered Mecca with great pomp and even desired
to have his tent erected on the roof of the Kaaba, in order to carouse therein
with his drinking-companions.
. Lutz, Viticvilture and Brewing.
which was prepared from dried dates and addition of bitter
herbs and myrrh. The court-poet Abu Nowas frequently men-
tions the khumar, the effect of excessive drinking, in his wine-
songs."' When, in time, a stricter application of the prohibi-
tion had taken place among the people, other narcotic and
stimulating substances came more generally into use, as, for
instance, the chewing of the leaf of the <$<-shrub (catha
edulis), a plant which grows only in South-Arabia, and the
consumption of coffee.
Index
Abel Keramim, 25.
Absinthium 18.
abstinence, tempory 144.
Abyssinia, wine-import into 23.
Adam 14!.
c Ain-Kushith, wine of 29.
Alashiya 20, 24.
alcoholism, chronic 139.
Aleppo 23, 42.
Alexandria 24.
'Alt, city of 39.
Ama-gestin, goddess 1.31.
Amedi, city of 44.
Amminea 27.
c Amr ibn Qamfah 146.
Amt, wine of, see Yemet.
Amurru 24.
f n 12.
c Ana, wine of 43.
c Anab, 25.
Anafit, vineyards of 33.
*nd-mr 59.
Androna, wine of 24.
anqullu 37, 48.
Antaeus 114.
Antaradus 29, 65.
anthesteria, rites of the 113.
Anthylla, wine of 4.
Apamea, wine of 23.
Apple-wine 30.
c Arab-Dagh 43.
Arabia, vineyards of 33.
, wine of 36.
, wine export from 34.
, wine import into 24, 31, 43.
Aranabanim, country of 43.
Arba'ilu 41, 42.
Arsinoitic nomos, wine of 2, 6
Artificial wine 16, 17, 19.
'Artuf 66.
Arvad, wine of 32.
Arzabia, mountain of 38.
Arzuhina 41, 42.
Asalli, country of 43.
Ascalon 33.
c A$^-beer 7 n. l
assistant wine master 69, 70, 71.
Assyria, viticulture of 38.
Athafit, in al-Yaman 33.
'Atiqa, mahalla al-, of Bagdad
39-
B
Baalbek, wine of 24.
Baal-Ham on 26.
Babylonia, beer of 4!, 86.
, viticulture of 37, 38.
, wine of 38.
, wine-export 43.
158
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Bagdad 39, 40.
Bahr al-Mashra c 15.
Bahrain 43.
Bahriye, oasis of 14.
Bait Ras, wine of 24.
Bakuba 39.
banquets, Assyrian 11 8, 119.
, Arabic 148.
, Hebrew 137. 138.
baqa 18.
barley 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82,
86 ; 89, 92, no.
Barygaza 34.
Bata c 33.
beer, in Arabia 93, 94, 95, 96.
, in Babylonia 41, 86.
, in mythology 1 lo.
, Nubian 72.
beer-house 69, 105, 108, 1 lo, 127.
, keeper of [ a -ka$lub == saku]
70.
beer-loaves 8l, 86, 89, 90.
beer-mash 8l.
beer-tax 85.
"beer which does not sour" 77.
"beer of eternity" 77.
"beer of the goddess Maat" 77.
Belih 43.
Berytos, wine of 32.
, coins of 141.
Bes, god 114.
Beth Hakkerem 25.
Beth Laban 26.
Beth Rima 26.
Bezek, wine of 29.
Bilgai, stele of 20.
Biq c ath beth Kerem 25.
Birath Sariqah 29.
Biregik 42.
Birtu 41, 42.
Bit-Adini 43.
Bit-Kubatim 43.
Bitatu 43.
bitumen 56, 8l.
Bit-Zamani 44.
black beer 88.
Boeotia 1.
Book of Proverbs 135.
Borgatha, wine of 29.
Bosra, wine of 24.
Bostra, coins of 152.
bottles, beer- 8l.
Brewers 70, 72, 76, 85, 86, 89,
90, 92, 93, 116, 120, 127.
brewery 76, 87, 93, 126.
"brier "-wine 31.
Bubastis 2, 107.
| Butamu 43.
butler 84, 85, 120, 121.
Byblos, wine of 31.
Caesarea, wine of 23.
Cairo 5.
Cana, of Eleazus 16 n. 3.
Carchemish 44, 70.
cardamom 94.
carob 9, lo.
catha edulis 156.
Cathif, grapes of 34.
Caucasus 1.
Chaibar 35.
Chalybon 22, 31.
Chatulim, wine of 26.
chief wine-master 69, 70.
Chios 1.
cinnamon 94.
clapping, of hands 53, 54.
Index.
159
clay-barrels 68.
clove 94.
City of the Apis-bull 12.
Code of Hammurabi 128, 134,
138.
of Justinian 32.
coffee 156.
consumption, of beer 85.
, of wine 115.
conversations, at banquets loo.
cuscuta 31.
cup-bearer, see butler.
Coptos, wine of 4, 14.
Crocodilopolis-Arsinoe 2.
custom-house 20, 41.
, official of the 20.
tax 45.
18.
Dadiyy 95.
Dair al-'adara, wineshops of 39.
Dair al-'Alt, wineshops of 39.
Dair az-Zandaward, grapes of
39-
Dair Darmalis 39.
Dakhel, oasis of 13, 14.
Damascus 22, 23, 36, 43.
Damr, grapes of ad 35.
Daphnae 16.
dark beer, 72.
dark wine 9, 36.
date-wine 17, 31, 35, 41.
day of drunkenness 107.
dbw 9.
dby(y}.t 18.
Delta 2, 10, 15, 20.
Dendera 112.
desert, Libyan 13.
Diyar-Bekr 44.
Dionysos 2, 113, 114, 115, 140,
141,152.
Diospolis parva 13.
dnrgB 9.
dracunculus hortensis 94.
drinking-bouts 98, loo, 106, 138.
drinking-custom 139, 140.
drinking-tubes 140.
drinking- vessels 133, 143.
drunkenness 1O, 35, 97, 98, loo,
108, 115, 133, 134.
durra-beer 77, 78, 95.
Dushara 152.
Daha, the presses of 22.
Dsds, oasis of 1O, 17.
Dshendale-grape 64.
74.
East Africa, wine-import into
23, 31.
Ecboladic wine 4.
Edom 152.
Egypt i, 2, 5, 6 etc.
Elephantine 14, llo.
Eme-te, god 132.
Engedi, vineyards of 28.
Esmun, god 141.
Esna 7, lo.
Ethiopia llo.
Etolial.
Euphrates 42, 43.
Expense, of wine 137, 144.
Fall-festival 65.
Fayyum, vineyards of the 2, 6, 7.
Fenhu, wine of the 33.
l6o
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
fermentation 54, 56.
, vat 80.
figs 17, 25.
fig-wine 9, 18, 40.
filtration, of wine 56.
y#/-beverage 24.
fokka 93.
foreign wines 16, 20.
frankincense 23.
"Friends"-beer 73.
funerary wine 56.
G
Galilee 29.
Garm, tribe 155.
Gath, viticulture of 29.
Gath-Hahefer 29.
Gath-Rimon 29.
Gaza 16, 32.
G'abal akhdar, in c Oman 34.
Gennesaret 26, 29.
G'enwan, grapes of 34.
Gestin, goddess 131.
ghobaira 95.
Gilgamesh 131.
G'izah, vineyards of 6.
gods of inebriating liquors 1312.
G'auf, viticulture of the 35.
grapes 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 23, 24,
25,29,33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39,
40, 50, 51 etc.
grape-juice 54, 56, 65.
Greece, wine-export of 16,20, 22.
Gurgum, country of 43.
Gurumu 42.
Guzana 41, 42.
H
fcwfr.t 9, 74-
Habur, mountain 38.
Habur, river 42, 43.
hag Yahweh 64.
Ha'il, vines of 36.
Halziadbar 41, 42.
Hamrin-mountam 39.
harp-player 103, 104.
Harran, vinestalks of 40.
Haru, wine of 26.
Hathor, inventress of beer ill.
- , patron goddess of wine 112.
Hat-seha-Hor , produce of lo.
Hat-ur-imnt, produce of 8.
Hauran, wine of the 24.
Hawaii, river 40. , ; ^--
Hazaz ( c Azaz) 43.
^/-beverage 74.
Hebron 25.
Heliopolis 19, ill.
hellebore 18.
Hemy-vj'mz 13.
Heracleopolis, vineyards of 14.
Herb-wine 28.
Heroonpolis, viticulture of 14.
^^-beer 72.
Hihi, mount 38.
Hilbunum 43.
hiliston 26.
hinwaya-beveragQ 74.
Hira 144, 150.
hk.t 74, 77-
72.
72.
hbmez 30.
Horns 32.
honey 88,91.
honey-wine 28, 33.
hops 75.
horteum hexastichmn, L. 74.
, tetrastichum, Kche. 74
Index.
161
Horus 114.
Horus-eye, the green 7, 8, 59.
- the white 8 n. 2.
"house of drunkenness" 111.
ht-hsp.t 14.
Huneb, god 15.
Husur, river 42.
^ze/.^-beer 73.
u
lacobite Christians 39.
lynbu 24.
'Imet 11.
' Imn.t, nomos of 12.
import, of wine, into Egypt 16.
, of beer, into Egypt 82, 83.
incantations 130.
India 23, 31.
inn-keepers Io6, 128, 129, 130,
137-
inspector, of brewery 84.
inspector, of wine test 58.
'Iraq 39.
irrigation 49.
iron-beer 72.
Irp 7, 9, 10.
Irp-wl 8.
i'-p-lm.t 11.
irp-hm 11.
irp-rs 10.
lrp-mh 1O.
Irp-sjn 11.
Isana 41, 42.
fc 76.
Izallu, country of 43.
Jaradatan, al- 153.
Jemnuti, city of 4.
Jericho 68.
Joppa, vineyards of 32.
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Kab, al- 15.
ka ^/-leaves 156.
Kaine, customhouse of 21.
Kaish, island of 34,
Kalah, vineyards of 38.
ka-n- kerne t 15, 48, 58.
Kantara, la- 16.
Kara Amid 44.
Kasiari-mountain 44.
Kasius, mount 16.
Kas-tin-nam, goddess 132.
Kefar Aziz, vineyard of 26.
Kefar Pagesh 29.
Kefar Shalem 29.
Kefar Signar, wine of 26.
Kerzun 42.
Khargeh, oasis of 13, 14.
Khuss, wine of al-24.
Kiman Paris, mounds of 2.
knm.t, of Diospolis parva 13.
knm.t, oasis of 1O, 17.
Koran 35, 153.
kurunnu 41, 117, 119.
kushi 27.
Lachish, vines of 26.
Lake Mareotis 3, 12.
Laodicea, wine of 16, 23.
laurel-tree 30.
laurus malabathrum 31.
laws.regarding drunkenness 1 34.
, regulating sale of beer 128,
129.
Lebanon, wine of 23, 29.
lemon tree, leaves of the 94.
Libyae nomos 12.
Lot 29, 134.
ii
162
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
lotus flower 98, 99.
Love-poetry, Egyptian 108.
lupin 75.
luxury, at banquets 137.
M
ma zebib 37, 155.
Ma c arrah an-Nu c man 24.
madi 155-
Maganuba, vineyards of 43.
Maioumas, harbor of 32.
Malaga, in Spain 66.
malt 88 n. 4, 89.
mandrake llo.
Mar c ash 43.
Marea, wine of 2, 3, 5.
Mar gat, wine of 29.
Maryut 3.
Maron, companion of Diony-
sos 3.
Marqasi 43.
Masius, mount 44.
Masqat 34.
mastix 94.
Me-azag, god 132.
Mecca 34, 150, 153.
Medina 35.
Memphis 2, 16.
Mendes, wine of 4.
Menqet, beer-goddess 113.
Meroe, viticulture of 4.
Mesopotamia, vines of 38.
Miniet ibn al-Khasib, vine of 6.
mint 94.
mixed wines 18, 41.
mizr, mizar, Arabian beer 95,
155;
mn-wine 9.
morning-draught 150.
Mutalammis 145.
mulsum 23.
muscatel grape, original home
of 34-
musk 94, 149.
must 24, 78.
Muza, in South Arabia 33.
Mykerinos 2.
myrrh 30.
myrrh wine 30.
myxa 17.
Nabataeans 152. ;
Nahal Eshkol 25.
nahlayn 58.
Naphtali 29.
Nasiraeans 133.
Nebesheh 11 n. 1. 14.
Negeb 62.
Nestorians 39.
Nh3mw, wine of 12, 13.
Nham.t, city of 14.
Nineveh 38, 44, 45, 69, 126,
Nin-Kasi, goddess 132.
Nin-mada, goddess 132.
Nin-til, goddess 132.
Ninua 39.
Ninurta, god 132.
nms.t-beer 73.
Noah 134, 142.
noon-day draught 151.
72/r-beverage 74.
Nubia 2 n. 1, 6.
Nulia 43.
nunneries, wineshops of 39.
Nu-silig-ga,' god 132.
nutmeg 94.
nvut-nt-Hapi 12.
Index.
163
Nysa, in Arabia 33.
, in Phoenicia 31.
Oasis, the northern 13. 14.
, the southern 13, 14.
Ogdor, wine of 29.
oinomeli 28.
olive 25.
'Oman, viticulture of 34.
Orontes, valley of the 23.
Osiris 2, 113, 114.
Ostracine 16.
overseers, of wine-cellars 6
"ox-eye"-wine 41.
Pa-gestin-dug, god 132.
Palestine 18, 24, 25, 26, 31, 36,
6l, 64 etc.
palm-wine 35.
Pa-mer 3.
Pa-merti, district of 3.
Pangeum 22 n. 2.
Paraetonium 12.
parsley 94.
Patin, country of 43.
Pelusium lo, 13, 14, 1 6, 17, 76.
Peparthian wine 5.
pepper 28, 94.
Per- Ramses- Mery-Amon 1 5
Persia, wine-import into 22.
Perugitha, wine of 26.
Petra, vineyards of 34, 152.
peuce 4.
/$-beer 72.
Phoenicia 16, 30, 31.
Plinthinic wine 3.
r 73.
poetry, pre-islamic 143, 144.
pomegranate -wine 9, 13, 15,
17, 18, 30.
Pontus, wine of 5.
pressed wine 41.
pressing- vat 53, 66, 130.
priests, Babylonian 123.
priests, Egyptian 2 ; 107.
prima beer 89.
prohibition,of wine-drinkingl 53.
props 63.
psythia 27.
ptry, canal 15.
Purim 107.
pura 66, 67.
Pyramid-texts lo.
pyrgos 62.
Qadesia 24.
Qasirin 24.
24.
Qenqen-tane 83.
Qeruchim, wine of 26.
Qode-beer 82, 83, 84.
Qutrabbul, wine and wineshops
of 40.
raisins prohibition of the sale
of 5 .
raisin-water 37.
Raphia 16.
Rashid 6.
recipes, beer- 78, 8l, 89, 91,
93, 94-
red beer 89.
red wine 7, 36.
164
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
Rekhabites 133.
Rephaim, wine of 29.
Resheph, god 114.
Rome, beer export to 76.
, wine export to 3, 5.
resin 56.
Rhinokorura 16.
Rimusu 42.
Ror 65.
rue 18, 94.
7, 46.
12.
12.
73.
7.
Sa-bil, goddess 132.
Sabu, mount 132.
sajn 11.
sacrificial offering of beer and
wine ill, 125, 126.
Sadjur 42.
Sadum Rah 35.
safflower-seed 82.
Sai c al-Kaum, god 152.
Salihiyeh, as- 11 n. 1, 16.
salt 82.
Samaria 29. .
Samarra, vineyards of 40.
San'a 33, 34.
Sarepta, wine of 32.
Saris, city of 41, 42.
Sarkhad, wine of 24.
Sharon, plain of 25, 26, 62.
Sarugi (Serug) 43.
sathuy, the 139.
Sawiq 95.
Ub.t 9.
Uh 9, 17, 18.
sdw-ib 8.
Scbennytic wine 3, 4.
sehpet 72.
Ukk&r 93.
Seleucia, wine of 24.
sft.t 1 3 .
Shedet, city of 2.
Shesmu, constellation 114.
Shibam, mount of 34.
Shilo 26, 64.
shoots 63.
Sicily 31.
Sidon, wine of 26, 29.
, coins of 141.
Siduri, sabitu 130, 131.
sign of wineshop 138, 149.
'\ sikkor, the 139.
SIM + KAS, goddess 132.
SIM + KAS-gig, goddes:, 132.
! Simminu, country of 43.
j simuqim 27.
Singara, vinestalks of 40.
singing-girls, Hebrew 137, 138.
i singing-girls, Arabian 149, 150,
152.
I siphon 19, 67, 68, 139.
Siris, goddess 39. 133.
! skirret 75.
: slough, linen 54, 55, 56.
j smh- beverage 74.
"smoked" wine 27.
Sohet, vineyard of 8.
sokorkah 95.
, Somali Coast, wine import to
the 23.
South Arabia, wine import
into 23.
Spain 31.
Index.
16 5
spelt 76, 79, 86, 89.
spiced wines 1 8, 30.
*rt 76.
storage, of wine 58.
Suhu, country of 43.
Sulmi ibn Rabi'ah 147.
sumach 25.
Sunaya, grapes of 39.
superintendet,of the vineyard6o.
Susa 40.
sweet beer 73.
sweet wine 15, 26.
Syria 16, 20, 22, 24, 26, 31,
32, 36, 37, 153-
tabatu-wme 41.
Tabuke-grapes 64.
Taeniotic wine 3.
Taia 43.
Ta'if, grapes of at- 34, 35.
Tamnuna, city of 41, 42.
Tanis 15.
tavern 127, 128, 129, 137, 148,
150, 151.
tax, for vineyards 60, 6l.
Tbui, district of 14.
Tell Defenneh 16.
Tell al-Kasr 4.
Tell Roba 4.
Tenemet, goddess 114.
Thasian grape 3, 4.
Thebais, wine of the 4.
th 9.
"Three-leaf'-wine 27.
Tiberias, sea of 65.
Tilabne 43.
tinrekw 9.
Tmei al-Amdid 4.
toast, Egyptian 102.
Trace, moutains of 1.
transportation, of wine 17.
tribute, wine- 22.
Tripolis, wine of 32.
Tu'immu, country of 43.
Tur-'Abdin 44.
Turkestan 1.
Tylos, island of 34.
Tyre 1, 16, 22, 26, 31.
, coins of 141.
U
c Ukbara, grapes of 40.
Upper Egypt, wine of 4.
, vineyards of 13, 14.
use of wine, in Palestine I33ff.
vats 53, 54.
vine 1, 6, 14, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26 etc.
"Vinebearing Region of Amon"
12.
vine-city 114.
vinedresser 49, 62, 66.
vinegar 5, 30.
vinegod 132.
vine-goddess 131.
vineyard 2, 6, 8, 13, 14, 15, 21 etc.
vintage 50, 52, 53, 64, 65.
vintage- festival 64, 107.
vintner 68.
vinum conditum 28.
vinum culpatum 30.
vitis labrusca, L. 28.
vitis Schimperi 5.
vitis vinifera 1.
166
Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing.
w
wadi Dahr 33, 34.
waiter, Arabian 149.
warning against drunkenness
105, 108, 137.
wheat 79, 82, 86, 94.
wine-god, Hittite 141.
"White Wall", near Memphis 48.
white wine 7.
wicker-baskets 51.
wine, price of 139, 151.
, mixed with rain-water 36.
, in mythology 111, 130, 131.
, new 136.
wine-cellar 7, 15, 58, 59, 68.
wine- wharf 127.
wine-cups 119, 120.
"Wine-district", the 14.
wine-drinking, in Arabia 143.
wine-jars 1.6, 32, 47, 58, 68.
wine-labels 57, 58, 69.
wine-lees 54, 56, 57.
wine-merchants, in Arabia, 144.
, Phoenician 16.
wine-must 9.
wine-offering 19. [62, 66.
wine-press 33, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56,
wine-presser 53, 66, 68, 71.
wineshop 39, 69, 105,127, 128,
148.
wine-skin 36, 57, 68.
wine-tax 20, 21, 68.
wns 8 n. 1 .
Yaa, in Syria 22.
Yahweh 133, 134, 140, 141
Yaman, wine of al- 33.
yayin 28.
yeast 75, 79.
yeast-wine 67.
Yemet, wine of 11.
yeqeb 66, 67.
Yisreel, plain of 62.
Yusur 24.
Zab 42.
Zaban, city of 42.
Zanet, city of 15.
Zeb-nuter, city of 4.
Zembur 42.
Zoan, city of 15.
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