The Beer in the Ancient Orient. 8^ 



wore a kind of apron, or a woman's garment, of course for 

 the identical purpose. Regarding the chief-butler of Pharaoh 

 the aiplijrirj nte see Gen. 40, 2, 9, 20, 21 and 4I, 9, Emperor 

 Augustus is represented in the temple of Denderah as 



^ SA >w^AA^ , "the butler of Re'". An inscription in the same, 

 (2 ^' I ^ ^^^^^^ 



temple calls the emperor: ^ V;^ ^vwvn ^ <2>- 'wv^A,^ v/ ^ 



^> ^ Q ^^ I czz: <j. <> I n "the butler of Re', who prepares 



the drink for Re*, filling the vessels with "green Horus-eye"- 

 wine (see Dumichen, Die Oasen der Libyschen Wiiste, p. 1 and 

 plate XVII). 



Under the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors the Egyp- 

 tian beer was subjected to a tax (L,UTi]pd, scil. cbvr]). This 

 tax was paid by the producer, the L,UTO:n:oi6q. It was leased 

 jrpoq \(x\\^b\ icJovoiaov, i. e., was to be paid in copper without 

 agio ^ 



The tax on beer played a great role in the finances of 

 the Ptolemies and of Roman times. A papyrus in the British 

 Museum - refers to the taxation of a large brewery firm, named 

 "Pasion and Sentheus". This text makes us acquainted with 

 a brewery, which must have done a tremendous business, as 

 the tax receipts show. For each month of the year the two 

 brewers, who lived in the first century B. C, paid five copper 

 talents, as cpopoq, which according to Wilcken^ is the tax for 

 production. 



The consumption of beer in Egypt for all periods of its 

 long history must have been considerable. According to an 

 inventory, for instance, of the income and the expenses of 

 the royal court at Thebes, dating from the end of the Middle 



i) Wilcken, Grlechische Ostraka, p. 369. 



2) See Grenfell and Hunt, 11, 39 



Ta^f.uiTixo<; TTaaiiuv (read TTaaioivi) 

 Kai ZevOeujc (read Zev9ei) Z^utottoioTs 

 Xaipeiv. 'ATT(^)xa) tov 

 (q))6pov [toO fpaaj]cp[i xIoiXkoD 

 [TdXa]v[Ta Trevre iKJe 

 [''Etou(; Pq)auJq)iJ \L 



3) Wilcken, Griech. Ostr., p. 371. 



