rhe Wines of the Ancient Orient. ^1 



in saying that hiu as well as tittu (= tintii) are West-Semitic 

 borrowings. Meissner, Assyr. Studien, VI mentions three brands 

 of wine: 



gis-gestin-igi-gud = i-ni alpi = ox-eye ^ 

 gis-gestin-sur-ra = sa-ah-tu = pressed wine 

 gis-geMn-ha-babbar-a = mu-zi-qu = mixed wine-. 



The date-palm grew in abundance in Babylonia. This is 

 shown by its Sumerian name = ka-liwi{-)na), which signifies 

 "fruit {ka) (which) grows in abundance, or, which grows luxu- 

 riantly {lum)"^. Thus date-wine supplied a cheaper drink for 

 the poorer classes of Babylonia. According to Xenophon 

 {A?iab. II, 5, 14) it was a pleasant drink, but caused headache. 

 Pliny {h. n. 23, 51) states that fresh dates cause intoxication 

 and headache. Kur'unnu was the name applied to datewine, 

 to which some sesame-oil had been added. Sometimes also 

 cassia-leaves were used to flavor and improve the quality of 

 the date-wine, Meissner, Babylonien und Assyrieii, Heidelberg, 

 1920, p. 240 observes that during the Neo-Babylonian time 

 1 kur (= 121 1) of dates yielded one ton of date-wine. Tabatu 

 was a beverage prepared from water and a small addition of 

 fermented fruit-juices or wine. It is frequently mentioned in 

 medical texts. The national drink of the Babylonians, how- 

 ever, was always beer"*. Harper 43 (K. 122) is important 

 for our investigation, since it supplies us with a number of 

 names of towns and districts in which the vine iwas culti- 

 vated. Obv. lines l8ff. read: ^'"^'"rab-kar-man ""-Daian-Adad 

 (19) '''"I-sa-na ^'" Hal-zi-ad-bar (20) '''"Bir-tum ^'"Ar-zu-hi-na 

 (21) ^'"Arba-ilu ^'"Gu-za-na (22) -''"Sa-ris '^'^Tam-nu-na 



i) Ini alpi in Meissner, Assyr. Studien, VI, as well as inu sa sikari in 

 Delitzsch, HW, 49, are naturally different words from mu, wine. A compa- 

 rison between V R 52, 64 65 a with II R 25, 38 a, b shows that a word Inu 

 ^^ tnutin -= kardnu existed. See also Syl. S (b), line 168 (Delitzsch, AL, 

 3. ed., 57) 7nu = namzitu = pressed wine. Nanizitu is probably in some in- 

 stances the same as the sahtu above. See ZDMG, 48, 705. Namzitu = "must" 

 in Str., Nbd. 278. 



2) Also written munziqu and munzuqu. "Pressed" wine? More jirobably 

 a "filtered" wine = CiprlSfp D^n^d, Is. 25, 6; Jer. 48, 11. 



3) Delitzsch, Sum. Gl. s. v. 



4) See chajner HI. 5) See also BA IV, p. 5i3ff. 



