Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Religion of the Ancient Orientals. 125 



for the of the cit\' of Nina" etc.^ Hubur and sd-dug 



designate in the pre-Sargonic tablets measures of liquids. The 

 specific amount of these measures is not known. The dug- 

 measure, which was smaller than the sd-dug, contained either 

 20 or 30 qa, which equalled about 8 to 12 liters. The hubur 

 was again larger than the sd-diig-. In the oldest periods of 

 the Babylonian history it is known that also the women 

 received their special quantity of wine or beer. One text 

 interests us in this connection, since it shows that wine was 

 drunk by the ladies of the harem 3. The text reads: "130 

 pomegranate cakes, 40 qa of wine, Etur; 90 pomegranate 

 cakes, 30 qa of wine, Urki; 138 pomegranate cakes, 20 fig 

 cakes, \o qa of wine, Etae; total: 358 pomegranate cakes, 20 fig 

 cakes (and) 80 qa of wine the gardeners have returned. Shakh, 

 the superindendent, brought it into the harem. Year 1 (of 

 Lugal-anda)". 



Wine and beer were offered up as sacrifices to the gods*, 

 and Gudea ordered his donkey-shepherd Ensignun "to make 

 plenty beer" for the god Ningirsu. Bel-Marduk received 

 daily six metretes of wine {Hist. Bel. v. 3). The daily wine- 

 offerings were presented in gigantic golden chaHces. Upon 

 a golden table of offering, measuring 41 feet in length and 

 15 feet in width, and weighing 500 talents, stood two golden 

 chaHces (KapxrjCia) weighing 15 talents each, and three golden 

 chalices, the one of 12Co talents and the other two of each 



1 1 Cyl. B and C X, 21 ff. ; 2 kas hubur r sd-dug us-ku Gir-sukJ-kam 

 60x8 -\- 10 ninda 2 kas-hubur i sd-dug us-ku Sirpurla>"'-kam 6ox6-\- ioX4-\-6 

 ninda i kas hubur i sd-drig us-ku-an 60x4-^-10 n'mda i kas hubur nam-um- 

 nia-an 6oXj ninda i kas hubur AB.AS.SI Nlna-^'-na-tne. 



2) See Zeitschrift f. Assyr., XVII, pp. 94 und 95. 



3) H. de Genouillac, Tablettes Sumcriennes archdiques, No. 43. In Rev. 

 d'Assyr., VI, p. 134, AG 4424, Obv. i ff. (neo-B.abylonian) ladies of the palace 

 receive each three qa of spelt-beer as their daily ])ortic)n. In the sumtotal 

 (ReT. I) it is called, however, kas-ka-lum-ma. i. e. , "datewine". See also 

 AO 4423 in Rev. d'Assyr., VI, p. 134 and often. 



4) Gudea, Cjd. B III, 18; Cyl. B V, 21 (wine libated in a vessel of lead, 

 bur-an-na mu-tum din mu-ni-dc-de)\ Cyl. B VI, 26 (beer- and wine-libation 

 n.amed together, kas bur-ra de-da din kas-a de-da, "in order that he libate 

 beer, in order that he libate wine with the beer". 



5) Cyl. R X, 3 "kas ha-da'\ 



