EGYPT Method of Wine-Making-Early Wines-Names of Wines -Ladies and Wine-Beer, etc. ASSYRIA List of Assur-ba-nipal's Wines-Method of Drinking-Different Sorts of Wine. HITTITE: Two Ladies Drinking-Their Appreciation of Wine -The Hittite Bacchus. JUDEA: Mention of Wines in the Old Testament-Wine as an Article of Commerce-Mixed WinesWine Vessels. H AS any man been bold enough to attempt to fix upon the discoverer of Wine? Not to our knowledge. Nor can a date be even hazarded as to its introduction. It was so good a thing, that we may be sure that men very soon came to know its revivifying effects. We do know this: that the oldest records of which we have any cognisance, those of the Egyptians (who were in a high state of civilization and culture when the Hebrews were semi-barbarous nomads), show us that they had wine, and used it in a most refined manner, as we see by the headpiece to this chapter. Here a father is nursing his child, who invites him to smell a lotus flower, another blossom of which his mother is showing him. An attendant proffers wine in bowls wreathed with flowers, and another is at hand with a bowl possibly of water, and a napkin. This wreathing the bowls with flowers shows how highly they esteemed the "good creature,' and, also, that they were then at least as civilized as the later Greeks and Romans, who followed the same practice. We have the Egyptian pictures showing the whole process of wine-making. We see their vines very carefully trained in bowers, or in avenues, formed by columns and rafters; their vineyards were walled in, and frequently had a reservoir of water within their precincts, together with a building which contained a winepress; whilst boys frightened the birds away with slings and stones, and cries. The grapes, when gathered, were put into deep wicker baskets, which men carried either on their heads or shoulders, or slung upon a yoke, to the winepress, where the wine was squeezed out of a bag by means of two poles turned in contrary directions, an earthen pan receiving the juice. But they also had large presses, in which they trod the fruit with their naked feet, supporting themselves by ropes suspended from the roof. The grape juice having fermented, it was put into earthen jars, resembling the Roman amphora, which were closed with a lid covered with pitch, clay, mortar or gypsum, and sealed, after which they were removed to the storehouse, and there placed upright. The Egyptians had a peculiar habit, which used also to be general in Italy and Greece, and now obtains in the islands of the Archipelago, of putting a certain quantity of resin or bitumen at the bottom of the amphora before pouring in the wine. This was supposed to preserve it, but it was also added to give it a flavoura taste probably acquired from their having been used to wine skins, instead of jars, and having employed resins to preserve the skins. The Egyptians had several kinds of wine, even as early as the fourth dynasty (above 6000 years ago, according to Mariette), when four kinds of wine, at least, were known. Pliny and Horace say that the wine of Mareotis was most esteemed. The soil, which lay beyond the reach of the alluvial deposits, suited the vine, and extensive remains of vineyards near the Qasr Karóon, still found, show whence the ancient Egyptians obtained their wines. Athenæus says, “the Mareotic grape was remarkable for its sweetness ;" and he thus describes the wine made therefrom: "Its colour 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. Still, however, it is inferior to the Teniotic, a wine which receives its name from a place called Tenia, where it is produced. Its colour 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 flavour of the wine, its fragrance is so delightful as to render it perfectly aromatic, and it has the property of being slightly astringent. There are many other vineyards in the valley of the Nile, whose wines are in great repute, and these differ both in colour and taste; but that which is produced about Anthylla is preferred to all the rest." He also commends some of the wines made in the Thebaïd, especially about Coptos, and says that they were "so wholesome that invalids might take them without inconvenience, even during a fever." Pliny cites the Sebennytic wine as one of the choice Egyptian crûs, and says it was made of three different sorts of grapes. He also speaks of a curious wine called Ecbolada. Wine took a large part in the Egyptian ritual, and was freely poured forth as libations to the different deities; and in private life women were not restricted in its use. In fact, the ungallant Egyptians have left behind them several delineations of ladies in a decided state of "how came you so?" It was probably put down to the Egyptian equivalent for Salmon. But if they noticed the failings of their womankind, they equally faithfully portrayed their own shortcomings, for we see them being carried home from a feast limp and helpless, or else standing on their heads, and otherwise playing the fool. Still, wine was the drink of the wealthy, or at least of those, as we should call them, "well to do." They had a beer, which Diodorus calls zythum, and which, 1 See tailpiece, where a servant is coming to the assistance of her mistress. 2 Jablonski is our authority for supposing it primarily an Egyptian |