The Wines of the Ancient Orient. 23 



Cuneiform literature'. 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 ', like that of Praetutia in Italy" *. 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 luunera, ccrnis 

 Quae bitis genuit sup aprico sole refect a 



(CIL III, 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, pTZJ^"!, 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 Ez^ech. c. 27, p. Ill, 887: '' significat 

 auteui, quod inter ceteras negociationes Tyri, ad nundinas cius 

 de Daniasco deferebatur vinutn pinguis simuni et lana prae- 

 cipua, quod usque hodie cernimus". Famous was the wine 

 of Laodicea^ 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 xoaOTTeiov uboip was also called [^aaiXiKOV. 

 i) 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", '|i:2b y^"^^ 'i^-.!- 



3) I. e. , honeyed wine. Either honey mi.\ed 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) riiny, XIV, 9. 5) Alexand. Trail, II. p. 483; Strabo, XVI, 751. 



