S6 Lutz, Viticulture aud Brewing. 



Kingdom (c. 1800 B. C.) ^ there were brought daily 130 jars 

 of beer to the royal court, and the queen received on one 

 day five jars filled with beer. 



Egypt until recently, was considered the oldest beer 

 country in the world. Since the last decades, however, from 

 the materials published, we learn that Babylonia was not less 

 engaged in the brewing industry than Egypt. The oldest 

 evidences of beer brewing in Babylonia reach back to the 

 very threshold of its history. The material is so large and 

 so detailed that we are enabled to receive a pretty complete 

 insight into the work of the Sumero- Akkadian brewer 2. 



The commonest beer (Sumerian: kas, Akkadian sikaru) 

 in Babylonia was, like that of Egypt, prepared from barley 

 {ieuni). But also spelt (as-a-an) was extensively used for 

 that purpose, and it is possible in some instances also wheat 

 i^" GIG, GIG,'' GIG. B A). Essentially the method of theSumero- 

 Akkadian brewing industry "differed very little from that of 

 Egypt: Weliave seen that in Egypt beer brewing to a large 

 extent was connected with the baking of bread loaves. In 

 the Sumerian beer recipes which go back to c. 2800 B. C, we 

 meet continually with the word KAS-{- NINDA, that is the 

 "beer-loaf". Also the name in Sumerian for brewer, /u-KAS-\- 

 NINDA 3, i. e., the "man of the beer-loaf", points to the close 

 relation of the brewer and the baker. The texts acquaint us 

 with a great variety of beers. We meet with the kas-gig^ the 

 "black beer", kas-si, the "red beer", kas-sig, "fine-beer", 

 Kal-as-an-na, or kas-as-a-an = u-lu-si-in, Akk. u-lu-si-in-nu, 

 "spelt-beer", kas "barley-beer", kiirun-babbar, "fine white beer", 

 kurun-gig, "fine black beer", kas-sag, "prima beer", kas-sag- 

 as-a-an, "prima spelt-beer, kas-20-qa, "20 qa beer", ka^-jo-qa, 

 "30 qa beer", kas-40-qa, "40 qa beer", kahas-a-an-mah = 

 ulusinmah, Akk. ubdimnahhu, "fine spelt beer". In addition 

 to these we also find a large number of so-called mixed beers, 

 as for instance, kas-a-sud, "beer mixed with water", also called 

 kas-bir, and the many beer names composed with the element 



i) See Borchardt, in Aeg. Z., XXVIII, 1890, pp. 66 iif. 



2) The first scholar, who expL^ined the.se texts Avas Hiozny, Das Gt- 

 treide im alien Babylonien, Wien, 19 14. 



3) Later written .'-S IM -f- NINDA = happir Akk. bapplru. 



