The Wines of the Aacient Orieut. 



43 



of the city of Maganuba. Since the document is dated in 

 the eponymate of Ilu-ittia, the governor of Damascus i, it is 

 most likely that the city of Maganuba lay within the district of 

 Damascus. This would give us an additional Assyrian testimony 

 of the viticulture of the district of Damascus -. In mat Asalli 

 Adad-'i-me brings to Asurnasirpal in the year of 877 B. C. 

 amongf other tribute also wine. Bit-Adini was an excellent 

 wine-growing country. Ahimi of Bit-Adini offers wine as tri- 

 bute to Salmanassar 11. in 859 B. C. Wine is also mentioned 

 among the tribute of Pjlapini of Tilabne, Ga'uni of Sa[rugi], 



i. e., y^'ip (Gen. X, 20 23) and Giri-Dadi of 



Sarugi is the district of Serug, between Belih and the Euphra- 

 tes, south-east of 'Arab-Dagh '. Mutallu of Gurgum, whose 

 capital was Marqasi, modern Mar'ash, also furnishes wine to 

 Salmanassar II, according to the list of tribute. So does Arame 

 apil Gusi, king of the Patinaean cities of Taia, Hazaz ('Azaz), 

 Nulia and Butamu. Nebukadnezzar praises the wines of mat 

 Izallam, mat Tu'immu, mat Simmini, mat Hilbunim, mat Ara- 

 nabanim, mat Suljam (extenting from above the mouth of the 

 river Belih towards the mouth of the Habur; probabh' n^TD 

 Job II, 11), mat Bit-Kubatim and mat Bitatim (I R 65 I, 22 25, 

 Grot. Cyl.). The wine of these countries he offered up, con- 

 tinually, like the water of the river on the altar of Marduk 

 and of Zarpanitum. Imr. 59, lo and Alqama led. Socin II, 4I) 

 mention the wine of 'Ana at the upper Euphrates. At al- 

 Bahrain the vines were planted between the date-palms. In Pre- 

 Islamic times Bab\lonia exported some wine to Arabia^. 



Amongst the multitude of business documents of Assyria 

 and Babylonia, there are some which refer to the sale of wine, 

 which we shall presently discuss. K. 423 ^ reads: "[. . . shekeljs 



i) Vear 694 B. C. 



2) I R 65 66a, 21 23; 531 32 end, II R mentions as wine-coiintries 

 Hulbum and Izallu, 



3) SchifFer, Die Aramaer, p, 64. 



4) Lebid, I, 7; XVII, 37; XL, 47. 



5) See Johns, Assyf. Deeds and Documents, 125: 



(i) [. . . siklu]nies sa matuGar-ga-mis (2) [5a m. , . . . -abu-u-a (3) a-na 

 "i-Bel-ahhC-mes ina libbibi (4) 9 imeru karanimes ina gis-bar Iz 9 qa (5) ina 

 raatuBit-Za-ma-a-ni iddanan-i (6) [suml-ma la iddinini a-ki ma-hi-ri (7) .sa 



