Wine and Beer in the Daily Lite and Religion of the Ancient Orientals, jjc 



and the islands of the Greeks, was very fond of drinking and 

 is represented on scarabs as sucking beer from a large vessel 

 in the fashion of the ancient Hittites, the Armenians and 

 early Babylonians (see Illustration No. 25). He "is no other 

 than the benificent Dionysos, who as a pilgrim through the 

 world, dispensed with hand rich in blessings, mild manners, 

 peace and jollity to the nations" ^ 



The frequent mention of wine and beer in the Sumero- 

 Akkadian documents makes it quite certain that the quanti- 

 ties of intoxicating liquors consumed by the ancient Babylo- 

 nians and Assyrians were enormous. The Babylonians had 

 the reputation of being heavy wine-drinkers, and they sur- 

 passed even the Persians in the consumption of wine, who 

 were notorious as wine- 

 drinkers-. We possess ^^^ Q) 

 not many documents 

 which refer to drunken- 

 ness in Babylonia, but this 

 lies in the nature of the 

 case. The Babylonians, 

 also, were less prone to 

 picture their own vices 

 than the more careless 

 Egyptians. But such docu- 

 ments, nevertheless, have 



come down to us. In an Assyrian letter ^ to the king three army- 

 officers who had recently been raised to higher military posts, 

 are accused by the writer, Bel-iqisha, of drunkenness. The 

 letter reads: "To the king, my lord, thy servant Bel-iqisha. 

 May Nabu (and Marduk) be gracious unto the king my lord! 

 The servants of the house of my lord, whom the king, my 

 lord has distinguished to-day, Tabzua, son of Bel-harrani-ah- 

 usur, whom the king my lord has raised to the rank of 

 a major, (and) Nabia-sakip, whoin the king my lord has raised 

 to (the rank of) third commander of the regular cavalry, (and) 



1) Brugsch, History of Egypt, London, 1879, Vol. I, p. 115. 



2) Curt. V, I, 37: Convivales ludi tota Per side regibus purpuratisque cordi 

 sunt; Babylonii maxime in vinuvt, et quae ebrielattm sequuntur, effusi sunt. 



3) K. 613; Harper 85; see also VR 54, No. 2. 



8* 



No. 25. God Bes drinking beer through a reed 

 (after Miiller, W. Max, Epyptian MytkoL). 



