Wine and Beer in the Daily Life and Relij^ion of the Ancient Orientals, i^g 



quality of the wine by means of a reed, a siphon or a special 

 cup, or by simply smelling the wine. The price of wine was 

 of course fluctuating. A sextarius (Mb, KorOXr)), which is 

 32 ounces, i. e., one quart, of common tavern-wine cost four 

 pieces of the small coin himi (551315^ V'O'lb, vouij-iilov, mivtmus). 

 According to another reckoning a sextarius of wine cost ten 

 foUars (OblB and -|51B = fpoXXi^ =follis and cpoXMpiov; GenR 

 49, 4; LevR 27, 2). Wine was drunk to excess at wedding- 

 festivals (bBerakhga, ibid. 6h, T^oh etc.) and at funeral-feasts 

 it was not missing, but in order to prohibit over-indulgence, 

 ten cups of wine were the maximum set for the seven days 

 of mourning. The slaves, in Rabbinic times, had the reputa- 

 tion of often being drunkards, and "the slave, who frequents 

 the wine-house, is not worth his food" (''TlD iib niDinn Dins Jiiny 

 bBm 64 b). The effects of chronic alcoholism are mentioned 

 neither in the Old Testament nor in the Talmud. A legal 

 distinction was made between the hit/my, the person slightly 

 intoxicated, and the sikkor, the person totally drunk (Erub. 64a; 

 Erub. 65 a; Eben haezer 44, 3 and Choshen hamishp. 235, 22). 

 Aged wine, according to Ned, IX, 8 (66b) is beneficial to the 

 intestines, while new wine is harmful. As a rule, unmixed 

 wine should be drunk after letting blood, but in case one is unable 

 to buy wine, seven black dates should be eaten instead (Sabb. 

 129a). Wine was also used as an application (Sabb, 109a). 

 In Northern Syria the custom seems to have prevailed 

 of sipping beer or wine through a long cane directly out of 

 a large vessel, in which the liquor was brewed. On a tomb- 

 stone^ of a Syrian mercenary found in Tell el-Amarna this 

 custom is proved for Syria in the fourteenth century B. C. 

 This custom prevailed amongst the Hittites and the peasants 

 of the Armenian mountains. In the cylinder of black serpen- 

 tine, which was found in Kueltepe, the main-scene shows two 

 seated men, who drink barley-beer through a long reed. The 

 same custom of drinking appears in Babylonia in the oldest 

 time 2, but seems to have been unknown amongst the Hebrews. 



i) Berlin Museum, No. 14 122; see plate 17, facing p. 126 in Aeg. Z 

 Vol. 36. 



2) Sec Ward, Seal-Cylinders, Nos. 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 95, 99, 732, 734 

 and 738. 



