The Vineyaril, the Vintage, and the Making of Wine in the Ancient Orient. 51 



while the berries are indicated by black dots. Sometimes 

 the cluster is painted in pink or a pale violet. . According to the 

 wall paintings the Egyptians knew white, pink, greenish, red 

 and dark blue grapes. Whenever the grapes are painted 

 black, as for instance, in the tomb of Sennofri near Sheikh- 

 abd-al-Gurnah, blue or dark blue is naturally intended. The 

 Egyptians, as well as all Orientals, have great difficulty in 

 distinguishing between these two colors. In the tomb of 

 Thut-hotep at al-Bersheh' the grapes are of a greenish color. 

 At the time of the ripening of the grapes great care was 

 taken to preserve the clusters from the birds. 



^=^;^^^vj,^._J 



r~7g 



1'' 



1 



No. 4. \'intage-scene (after Pelrie, Deshashek^^. 



Men, women and children participated at the time of vin- 

 tage-, whi ih'r.t, 



=z> 1661 '*, in the picking of 



the grapes (see Illustrations Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7). The bunches were 

 carefully put into deep w^icker-baskets ^. When these were filled, 

 men carried the baskets either on their head, or shoulders, or 

 slung upon a yoke to the winepress. These men are sometimes 



Q AAAAAA 



seen marchmg in file, and in the tomb of Ti the legend A 



(, ^^. <r:=> ']66l <=> 9 ^ "the bringing of the grapes for press- 



i) See Newberry, El-Bersheh, 1, pi. 24, 26, 31. 



2) The vintage took place in the month Epiphi, towards the end of func. 

 or the commencement of July. 



3) Tomb of Plah-hotep. 4) So according to \"wg. Gtorg. 11, 241. 



4* 



