30 



Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing. 



The Hebrews 1 liked to strengthen the wine by adding 

 spices, thus making it more palatable"^. Wherever the Old 

 Testament speaks of "mixing the wine" 3, the preparation of 

 such "spiced wines" is meant. Spiced wines were prohibited, 

 however, for ceremonial purposes. Wine mixed with myrrh 

 was considered a narcotic*, while amongst the Greeks and 

 the Romans, myrrh-wine was esteemed as less intoxicat- 

 ing, therefore being favored as a drink for women. The 

 Mishna (Baba Bathra 98 a) mentions perfumed wine, which 

 is possibly identical with spiced wine. The Classical writers 

 do not dwell on the discussion of the strictly Palestinian 

 wines. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that much 

 of the wine that was exported from Phoenicia was labelled 

 as Phoenician, or thought to be Phoenician wine by the fo- 

 reign receivers, whereas it was originally prepared by peoples 

 living in the countries adjacent to Phoenicia, 



Pomegranate-wine (CiiTGn D"^py) is mentioned in Cant. 8, 2. 

 The pomegranate, an apple-shaped red fruit of 5 locm dia- 

 meter, contains a large number of juicy fruitstones. It was 

 from this juice that pomegranate-wine was prepared. Apple- 

 wine seems also to have been known to the inhabitants of 

 Palestine ^ During the time of harvest a sour beverage called 

 fiph (Rt. 2, 14; cf Ps. 69, 22) was sometimes used. Choniez 

 (Coptic 2MX, j^FHK; Aram, xbn; Syr. jv^; Arab. J^) is the 

 common word for "vinegar", which was customarily prepared 

 from a poor quality of wine {vinum cuipatum). It was con- 

 sidered a refreshing and strengthening beverage even in later 

 times; cf.fi., jSabb. I4d, 10 ffiSCn rx nf i'^^ fl2^nn. There 

 remains some doubt whether the following beverages should 

 be classed with the wines or the beer. According to Rabbinic 

 usage they should be enumerated amongst the beers, but we 

 shall rather follow the Greek and Roman usage and refer to 

 them here. From the fruit of the laurel-tree \\as prepared 

 the KDSrn XIDttJ (bPesach. 56a). The leaves of the MD, i. e., 



i) All the ancient people were fond of spiced wines. 



2) Yavin harekakh; Cant. 8, 2. 



3) Is. 5, 22; Ps. 75, 9; Prov. 9, 2. 5 (TIO^). 4) Mk. 15, 23. 

 5) Talm. M. Terum. 11, 2 (Cimsin "pi). 



