THE GRAPE-VINE 



2. The grape-vine (Vitis wnifera) belongs to the ancient cultivated 

 plants of western Asia and Egypt. It is not one of the most ancient 

 cultivations, for cereals and many kinds of pulse are surely far earlier, 

 but it is old enough to have its beginnings lost in the dawn of history. 

 Viticulture represents such a complexity of ideas, of a uniform and 

 persistent character throughout the ancient world, that it can have 

 been disseminated but from a single centre. Opinions as to the loca- 

 tion of this focus are of course divided, and our present knowledge of 

 the subject does not permit us to go beyond more or less probable 

 theories. Certain it is that the primeval home of vine-growing is to 

 be sought in the Orient, and that it was propagated thence to Hellas 

 and Italy, while the Romans (according to others, the Greeks) trans- 

 planted the vine to Gaul and the banks of the Rhine. 1 For botanical 

 reasons, A. DE CANDOLLE 2 was inclined to regard the region south of 

 the Caucasus as "the central and perhaps the most ancient home of 

 the species." In view of the Biblical tradition of Noah planting the 

 grape-vine near the Ararat, 8 it is a rather attractive hypothesis to con- 

 ceive of Armenia as the country from which the knowledge of the 

 grape took its starting-point. 4 However, we must not lose sight of the 

 fact that both vine and wine were known in Egypt for at least three or 

 four millenniums B.C., 5 and were likewise familiar in Mesopotamia at 

 a very early date. This is not the place for a discussion of 0. SCHRADER'S 

 theory 6 that the name and cultivation of the vine are due to Indo- 

 Europeans of anterior Asia; the word for "wine" may well be of Indo- 

 European or, more specifically, Armenian origin, but this does not 



1 Cf . the excellent study of G. CURTEL, La Vigne et le vin chez les Remains 

 (Paris, 1903). See also A. STUMMER, Zur Urgeschichte der Rebe und des Weinbaues 

 (Mitt. Anthr. Ges. Wien, 1911, pp. 283-296). 



* Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 192. 

 8 Genesis, ix, 20. 



4 Cf. R. BILLIARD, La Vigne dans 1'antiquite*, p. 31 (Lyon, 1913). This is a well 

 illustrated and artistic volume of 560 pages and one of the best monographs on the 

 subject. As the French are masters in the art of viticulture, so they have also pro- 

 duced the best literature on the science of vine and wine. Of botanical works, 

 J.-M. GUILLON, Etude g<ne"rale de la vigne (Paris, 1905), may be recommended. 



6 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 99. 

 6 In HEHN, Kulturpflanzen, pp. 91-95. 



220 



