Wine in ancient Egypt

Wine in hieroglyphics
irep jrp wine
Treading the Wine, Tomb of the Night ( TT52 )

In ancient Egypt, wine was a drink of the upper class, the production of which was given special attention and the consumption of which was an expression of high prestige . Since the grapevine did not belong to the original flora of Egypt , it was probably imported from Canaan in pre-dynastic times .

Private wineries were first recorded in Ancient Egypt in the Old Kingdom . In the Theban Tombs of the New Kingdom , the depiction of vineyards and wine production was a popular motif.

Origin and Earliest Imports

The origin and first cultivation of the wild grapevine ( Vitis sylvestris ), which does not belong to the flora of Egypt, is believed to be in the Syrian - Palestinian region, where viticulture was in the 4th millennium BC. Was already an essential part of food production. Even in pre-dynastic times, refined wine was imported from this area to Egypt.

An important evidence for these pre-dynastic wine imports is the grave Uj of Pharaoh Scorpio I , which was discovered in 1988 in the cemetery U in Abydos (Umm el-Qaab) by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and dates back to the Naqada IIIa period around 3320 BC. Is dated. Two chambers still contained around 200 imported vessels in situ , which can be clearly distinguished from contemporary Egyptian ceramics by their shape and material . Chemical tests have confirmed that the contents of the vessels are wine. Some vessels also contained fig slices, which were probably hung in the vessels to improve the taste (sweetening, flavoring). Ulrich Hartung suspects that the grave of this king with about 700 imported vessels, i.e. H. with an average capacity of 6 to 7 liters, it was equipped with around 4500 liters of wine.

Vineyards

Vintage, depiction in the burial chapel of Nebamun

Wine making, tomb of Ineni ( TT81 )

Wine making, tomb of Ineni ( TT81 )

In contrast to the everyday drink beer , which could also be produced in smaller households, the wine was initially only available to a small upper class. To make wine, you had to own your own winery and tools to make wine. The most common word for vineyard is k3mw . In its basic meaning, k3mw means a garden which, in addition to vines, also included a pond and fruit trees. The Egyptians called vineyards that were created exclusively for the production of wine k3mw n jrp .

The first evidence of a private winery in Egypt comes from the biographical inscriptions from the tomb of Metjen in Saqqara . Metjen was a high official in the 4th Dynasty who owned a large house complex in the Nile Delta with a circumference of 11,000 square meters. The wine was probably mainly made for domestic consumption, but it cannot be ruled out that he had to contribute some of it to the royal court. There was plenty of space in this complex for a pond, lots of trees, garden land and farm buildings. The inscription about the vineyard says:

An estate 200 cubits in length and 200 cubits in width was laid out and furnished, planted with good trees; a very large pond was created in it; Figs and grapes were planted […] Trees and grapes were planted in great numbers and a great deal of wine was made from them.

The architecture of such gardens seems to have changed only slightly over the centuries. Similar structures are shown in the Theban tombs of the New Kingdom.

Winemaking

Grape harvest, tomb of the night ( TT52 )

Treading the wine, depiction in the burial chamber of the Userhat

Since there were no scissors yet, the grapes were picked directly from the vines during the grape harvest , which is described in some inscriptions as tearing off . Then the grapes in baskets were brought directly to the tub to step.

The grapes were kicked in a tub, next to which bars were placed on the sides, to which the men who were busy treading the wine could hold on.

The grapes that were trodden and squeezed in a first step were then treated further in the so-called bag press. The apparatus used for this consisted of a sack-like structure, through each of the lateral ends of which a rod was inserted. By turning these laterally attached bars, the sack was pressed so hard that the remaining juice in the grapes was released under the resulting pressure and flowed in a wide stream into the vessel placed under the sack press.

Then the juice was poured into the wine jugs and the jugs were sealed.

Labeling

Wine jugs from Abydos

19th Dynasty wine jug

In the New Kingdom, the wine vessels were very precisely labeled with hieratic inscriptions . One of the largest finds of labeled wine vessels comes from the tomb of Tutankhamun ( KV62 ). The inscriptions on the 26 labeled wine jugs provide better information about the wine they contain than most modern bottle labels. The year of harvest was given with the year of the reign of the king. The quality, the origin of the grapes, the owner of the vineyard and the head winemaker who was responsible for the product were also noted.

Wine-growing areas

The ceramic inscriptions give precise information about the wine-growing areas in ancient Egypt. Many labels name vineyards in the western and eastern Nile Delta, in particular the cities of Buto and Memphis . In the lists of victims of the Old Kingdom, jrp mhw (wine from Lower Egypt) was probably a general term for wine from the Delta. The rather stony earth and the mild climate were ideal conditions for the vine plant. Compared to the delta, there is little information about the existence of vineyards in Upper Egypt. From this it can be concluded that there were only a few vineyards there. The high demands on wine production also suggest that wine was mainly grown in ideal growing areas such as the Delta. From the Middle Kingdom onwards, high quality wine was also produced in the oases of the western desert. The wine from the Bahrya oasis was particularly popular .

Wine consumption

In the Old Kingdom, wine was only accessible to a small upper class. In the New Kingdom, advances in production and delivery certainly made it accessible to a wider class of society. But it was still a sign of great prestige to have your own wine cellar. From a few pieces of information from Deir el-Medina it can be concluded that wine in the Ramesside period was around five to ten times more expensive than beer.

The enjoyment of wine should not have been entirely alien to the simpler man either. A royal messenger under Seti I , who looked after 1,000 workers in the Gebel Silsila quarries , recorded the extremely appropriate food for him and his men, which also included wine. Also Ramses II. Mentioned on a limestone Tele how well he took care of his craftsmen and also managed to get the privileged workers in addition to the usual pay for food and clothes wine. Priests and soldiers were also regularly supplied with wine from state and temple estates. The Great Harris Papyrus implies that the temples received large amounts of wine as a contribution.

One can assume that much more wine was drunk at festivals than in everyday life. Wine could not be missing at any festival, such as the New Year celebration or the festival of drunkenness , which was celebrated when the flood of the Nile arrived . Drinking and drunkenness played an important role at these festivals. Herodotus reports that more wine was drunk on the New Year celebrations in Bubastis than usual throughout the year.

Use in medicine

The medical texts show that the wine (next to water and beer) was one of the most important solvents to dissolve the medicinal substances in it. The alcoholic beverages were presumably viewed not only as carrier substances, but also as pharmaceutical raw materials. The wine was also used in ointments, enemas and bandages. Wine was also used externally for swelling.

For example, a recipe for a demonic disease states:

Ointment and myrrh, repeated dipping in wine and letting it dry.

Mythological meaning

In the pyramid texts , wine is part of the burial offerings and the essential drink of the king in the afterlife. Wine is further described as the drink of the gods and that the king should make his meal from the figs and the wine from the garden of the gods.

The divine drink is associated with the gods Osiris and Schesemu . Osiris is referred to as the lord of the wine during the feast of the dead of Osiris and this could be interpreted to mean that he was the giver of the banquet wine.

Schesemu, the god of the wine press, at the same time lord of perfume and ointment production and god of embalming, is responsible for the wine yield in his original role. The destructive property of the wine press to squeeze the juice out of the grapes, it was associated with the image of a butcher .

The wine has also often been compared to blood, probably due to the identical color.

literature

• Hartwig Altenmüller , Ahmed M. Moussa: The grave of Nianchchnum and Chnumhotep (Archaeological publications; Vol. 21). von Zabern , Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0050-6 .
• Georg Dittrich: Wine and viticulture in the Holy Land. A little cultural history . Maaruf-Verlag, Neusäß 2010, ISBN 978-3-943333-01-5 .
• Günter Dreyer : Umm El-Qaab, Vol. 1: The predynastic royal tomb Uj and its early written documents (Archaeological Publications; Vol. 86). von Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-8053-2486-3 .
• Karin Barbara Goedecken: A consideration of the inscriptions of the Meten in the context of the social and legal position of private individuals in the Egyptian Old Kingdom (Archäologische Abhandlungen; Vol. 29). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-447-01613-2 (also dissertation, University of Hamburg 1973).
• Maria R. Guasch Jané: Wine in ancient Egypt. A cultural and analytical study . Archaeopress, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-4073-0338-3 .
• Kristina Hein: Viniculture in Egypt. An examination of viticulture from an administrative and economic point of view from the early period to the end of the Middle Kingdom (Aegyptiaca Monasteriensia; Vol. 6). Shaker, Aachen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8322-9161-7 (also dissertation, University of Münster 2007).
• Thomas Kühn: Wine and Wine Enjoyment in Ancient Egypt. In: Kemet. The Black Land , Vol. 16 (2007), Issue 3, ISSN  0943-5972
• Leonhard H. Lesko: King Tut's Wine Cellar. 2nd ed. Scribe Publ., Berkley 1977, ISBN 0-930548-00-0 .
• Patrick E. McGovern: Ancient Wine. The Search for the Origins of Viniculture. University Press, Princeton 2003, ISBN 0-691-07080-6 .
• Patrik E. McGovern, Stuart J. Fleming, Solomon H. Katz [Eds.]: The Origins and Ancient History of Wine. International Symposium. Gordon & Breach Publ., Amsterdam 1997, ISBN 2-88124-577-3 (from April 30 to May 3, 1991).
• Mu-chou Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt (Studies in Egyptology). Kegan Paul International, London 1995, ISBN 0-7103-0501-X .
• Rinhard Rhaue: The wines of Egypt (Blaubeurer geographical booklets; Vol. 36). Denkhaus Verlag, Nürtingen 2009.
• Wolfhart Westendorf u. a. (Ed.): Handbook of ancient Egyptian medicine ( Handbook of Oriental Studies / The Near and Middle East; Vol. 36). Brill, Leiden 1999 (2 vol.).

1. 1999, ISBN 90-04-11320-7 .
2. 1999, ISBN 90-04-11321-5 .

• Wine, wine jug, wine offering and grapes. (Sp. 1169–1192) In: Wolfgang Helck ( original) , Wolfgang Westendorf: Lexikon der Ägyptologie , Vol. 6 . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1986, ISBN 3-447-02663-4 .

Web links

• Wine Making in Ancient Egypt
• Wine in Ancient Egypt

Individual evidence

1. ^ T. Kühn: Wein, Weinkrug, Weinopfer und Weintrauben. In: Lexicon of Egyptology. Wiesbaden 1975-1986, Col. 1169-1192.
2. ^ D. Zohary: The Domestication of the Grapevine Vitis Vinifera L. in the Near East. In: The Origins and Ancient History of Wine. P. 30.
3. ^ G. Dreyer: Um El-Qaab I, The predynastic royal grave Uj and its early written documents. P. 92.
4. ↑ KB Godeckin: A consideration of the inscriptions of the Meten. P. 364.
5. ^ TGH James: The Earliest History of Wine and Its Importance in Ancient Egypt. In: Origins and Ancient History of Wine. P. 204.
6. ^ T. Kühn: Wine and Wine Enjoyment in Ancient Egypt. In: Kemet No. 3, 2007 and for the description of the depictions of wine production in the grave of Nianchchnum and Chnumhotep: Hartwig Altenmüller, Ahmed M. Moussa: Das Grab des Nianchchnum and Khnumhotep. P. 111ff.
7. ^ Leonhard H. Lesko: Egyptian Wine Production During the New Kingdom. In: The Origins and Ancient History of Wine. P. 221.f. and Leonhard H. Lesko: King Tut's Wine Cellar. P. 49.
8. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 17ff. and Kuhn, pp. 20f.
9. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 17ff.
10. ^ Leonhard H. Lesko: King Tut's Wine Cellar. P. 230.
11. ^ T. Kühn: Wine and Wine Enjoyment in Ancient Egypt. P. 20.
12. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 28.
13. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 29.
14. ^ Leonhard H. Lesko: King Tut's Wine Cellar. P. 229.
15. ^ W. Westendorf: Handbook of ancient Egyptian medicine. P. 64.
16. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. S. 148 and PT § 815a-816d and § 1112.
17. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 149 and PT § 820a.
18. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. P. 151.
19. ^ M. Poo: Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. 152.