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'. 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 \\ith 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^ 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 (bis^N b^?)^ i. e., "the valley of grapes". 

 South-west of Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, lay the city 

 of *Anab (n:y). Abel Keramim (D^Tan? 55^) ^ a village of the 

 Ammonites, was still rich in vineyards at Eusebius' time, 

 according to Onomastica sacra, ed. Lagarde, 225, 6. Beth 

 Hakkerem (an.sn rfs) ' in Judah is another place-name indi- 

 cating the culture of vine. MNidda 1, 7, T 3, 11, b 20a biq'ath 

 beth kerem (DID T^'2 J^^P-l) is a place-name testifying to the 

 culture of vine in the plain. The plain of Sharon, and farther 

 south the old countr}- of the Philistines, were renowned wine- 

 districts in Rabbinic times until the beginning of the Middle- 



i) Num. XUI, 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, 11; 7, 13; 8, 8; Hos. 2, 10. 14. 17; Jer. 5, 17; 39, 10. 



3) Sour milk, according to the Kitab al-'a!>ani VIIl, 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. Pil. T. S., Vol. IV, pp. 5253. 



5) Nu. 13, 23ff. ; 22, 9; Dt. I, 24. 6) J<l!4- n. 33' 

 7) Jer, 6, I ; Neh. ;^, 14. 



