Wine in the Ancient Near East & Mediterranean
The Oldest Beverage Served Many Purposes in Everyday Life
Following the devastating flood mentioned in many ancient myths but usually identified in the Judeo-Christian tradition with Genesis, Noah “began farming and planted a vineyard.” The very next passage states that he “drank of the wine and became drunk…” (9.20-21) The planting of vineyards and the cultivation of grapes for wine has been traced to the third millennium BCE. The grape harvests throughout the ancient world were periods of festivity and celebration. Wine was an integral part of everyday life in the ancient world.
Wine as the Universal Ancient Beverage
Wines in the ancient world were a staple in every civilization. Depending upon how the fermentation process took place, there were good wines and bad wines. After performing his first miracle at Cana, significantly, turning water into wine, Jesus heard the wedding guests exclaim that their host had saved the best wine for last. Even after several days of celebration and drinking, the guests could tell the difference.
In ancient times, Palestine was known for producing good wine. Egyptian records speak of “fine wine” imported from Canaan. Ancient wine was primarily red. The Hebrew term associated with wine cultivation and fermentation was hamra which refers to the color red. Ancient wine was still pressed by foot, usually in open-air presses; screw-presses arrived during the Roman period.
The creation of good wine depended upon the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process without allowing too much air into the mixture, spoiling the wine. The extent that this process was successful, determined the quality of the wine and its potency. Until the time of Archaic Greece, wine throughout the ancient world was drunk “straight;” it was the Greeks who first diluted wine with water, a practice standardized during the Roman period.
In the Greek pantheon of deities, perhaps the most controversial god was associated with wine. According to historian Lionel Casson, “Dionysus was the god both of wine and of the emotional release that comes from it.” Under the Romans, Dionysus was Bacchus, whose adherents frequently engaged in revelries so extreme that the cult was eventually persecuted.
Uses of Wine in the Ancient World
Wine was consumed at every meal by every age group. During the Roman era, wine production expanded and became a part of sumptuous banquets (as with the upper-class Romans), and the varieties of wine also increased. Pliny listed 80 types of wine while Strabo counted 130 from various parts of the empire.
Sweet wines were flavored with honey and spices. The watering of wine was considered standard and according to Casson, Romans stopping by ancient taverns and wine shops often complained that the proprietors had watered the wine too much. The accepted measure included two parts wine to three parts water. Those that drank undiluted wine were frowned upon and viewed as alcoholics.
Wine was used for medical treatments, from everything to preventing gangrene (Gallus) to settling the stomach (Paul’s advice to Timothy in the New Testament). As Christianity expanding during imperial Rome, wine became an essential element in the Eucharist, reminding devotees that Jesus had compared the wine to his blood at the Last Supper (another example of “red” wine).
Wine may be the oldest beverage in the ancient world, manufactured and exported between the many civilizations of the Near East and the Mediterranean. While there are many references condemning the abuse of wine, several in the Old Testament, the indulging of wine was accepted as a normal aspect of everyday life.
Sources:
Lionel Casson, Everyday Life in Ancient Rome (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
Burton Scott Easton, “Wine and the Wine Press,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volume V, James Orr, General Editor (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939) p 3086ff.
Miriam Feinberg Vamosh, Food at the Time of the Bible (Abingdon Press, 2004).
Fruit of the Vine
|
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles