Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1206 VINUM. YIN UM.
not conducted with care, and the amphorae not usually standing alone without any disting-.ishing
stoppered downl perfectly tight, a disagreeable epithet. The wine of most early celebrity was
effect would be produced on the contents, and it is that which the minister of Apollo, Maron, who
in consequence of such carelessness that Martial dwelt upon the skirts of Thlracian Ismarus, gave to
pours forth his maledictions on the fumaria of Ulysses. It was red (epv0pdv), and honey-sweet
Marseilles (x. 36, iii. 82, xii. 123). (gteAolqea), so precious, that it was unknown to all
The year B. c. 121 is said to have been a season in the mansion, save the wife of the priest and one
singularly favourable to all the productions of the trusty housekeeper; so strong, that a single cup
earth; from the great heat of the autumn the wine was mingled with twenty of water; so fragrant,
Awas of an unprecedented quality, and remained that even when thus diluted it diffused a divino
long celebrated as the Vinumzz Oopisianunm, from and most tempting perfume. (Od. ix. 203.) Pliny
L. Opimits the consul of that year, who slew (H. N. xiv. 6) asserts that wine endowed with
C. Gracchus. A great quantity had been similar noble properties was produced in the same
treasured up and sedulously preserved, so that region in his own day. Homer mentions also more
samples were still in existence in the days of the than once (II. xi. 638, Od. x. 234) Pcamnnian swine
elder Pliny, nearly two hundred years afterwards. (oboe Inpagvevos), an epithet which is variously
It was reduced, he says, to the consistence of interpreted by certain different writers. (Athen. i.
sough honey, and, like other very old wines, so p. 28, f.) In after times a wine bearing the same
strong and harsh and bitter as to be undrinkable name was produced in the island of Icaria, around
ulntil largely diluted with water. Such wines, the hill village of Latorea, in the vicinity of Ephehlowever, he adds, were useful for flayouring others sus, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna near the
when mixed in. small quantities. shrine of Cybele, and in Lesbos. (Athen. i. p. 30, c.
Our most direct information with regard to the &c.; Plin. xiv. 6.) The Pramnian of Icaria is
price of common wine in Italy is derived from characterized by Eparchides as dry (o'CAsjpos),
Columella (iii. 3. ~ 12), who reckons that the harsh (aiirelpos),astringent andremarkably strong,
lowest market price of the most ordinary quality qualities which, according to Aristophanes, renwavs 300 sesterces for 40 urnae, that is 15 sesterces dered it particularly unpalatable to the Athenians.
for the amphora, or Gd. a gallon nearly. At a (Athen. i. p. 30, c.)
much earlier date, the triumph of L. Metellus But the wvines of greatest renown during the
during the first Punic war (u. c. 250), wine was brilliant period of Grecian history and after the
sold at the rate of 8 asses the amphora (Vrarro, ap. Roman conquest were grown in the islands of
Plin. I;. N. xviii. 4), and in the year B. c. 89 the Thasos, Lesbos, Chios and Cos, and in a few ficensors P. Licinius Crassus and L. Julius Caesar voured spots on the opposite coast of Asia (Strabo,
issued a proclamation that no one should sell xiv. p. 637), such as the slopes of Mount Tiolus,
Greek and Aminean wine at so high a rate as 8 the ridge which separates the valley of the Hermus
-Lsses the amphora; but this was probably intended from that of the Cayster (Plin. v. 29; Virg. Geoar.
as a prohibition to their being sold at all, in order ii. 97; Ovid. Mlet. vi. 15), Mount Messogis, which
to check the taste then beginning to display itself divides the tributaries of the Cayster from those of
for foreign luxuries, for we find that at the same the Maeander (Strabo, xiv. p. 650), the volcanic
time they positively forbade the use of exotic region of the Catacecaumene (Vitruv. iii. 3) which
uinguents. (Plin. H. N. xiv. 16, xiii. 3.) still retains its fame (Keppell's Travels, ii. p. 355),
The price of native wine at Athens was four the environs of Ephesus (Dioscorid. v. 12), of Cnidrachmas for the metretes, that is about 4Id. the dus (Athen. i. p. 29, a.), of Miletus (Athel-. 1. c.),
gallon, when necessaries were dear, and Bdckh con- and of Clazomnenae. (Plin. xiv. 9.) Among these
siders that we may assume one half of this sum as the first place seems to have been by general conthe average of cheaper times. In fact, we find in sent conceded to the Chian, of which the most dean agreement ill Demosthenes (fiz Lactcit. p. 928) licious varieties were brought from the heights of
300 casks (icepdlua) of Mendaean wine, which we Ariusium, in the central parts (Virg. iEcl. v. 71;
kinow was used at the most sumptuous Macedonian Plin. H. 1V. xiv. 7; Silius, vii. 210), and from the
entertainments (Athen. iv. p. 129, d.), valued at promontory of Phanae at the southern extremity of
600 drachmas, which gives two drachmas for the the island. (Virg. Geors. ii. 97.) The Thaisian and
metretes, or little more than 2d. a gallon; but still Lesbian occupied the second place, and the Coan dismore astonishing is the marvellous cheapness of puted the palm with them. (Athen.i. pp. 28,29, &c.)
Lusitanian wine, of which more than ten gallons In Lesbos the most highly prized vineyards were
wvere sold for 3d. On the other hand high prices around Mytilene (Athen. i. p. 30, b., iii. p. 86, e.;
were given freely for the varieties held in esteem, p. 92, d.), and Methymna. (Athen. viii. p. 363, b.;
since, as early as the time of Socrates, a metretes Pausan. x. 19; Virg. Geowy. ii. 89; Ovid. As. Am.
of Chian sold for a mina. (Plut. de Anias. Tlzan- i. 57.) Pliny (xiv. 9), who gives the preference
quill. 10; B6ckh, Publ. Econ. of Athens, vol. i. p. over all others to the Clrzomenicn, says that the
133,- st ed.) Lesbian had naturally a taste of salt water, while
With respect to the way in which wine was the epithet "innocens," applied by Horace, seems
drunk, and the customs observed by the Greeks to point out that it was light and wholesome.
and Romans at their drinking entertainments, the It may here be observed that there is no founreader is referred to the article SYMPosIUua. dation whatever for the remark that the finest
It now remains for us to name the most esteemed Greek -wines, especially the products of the islands
wines, and to point out their localities; but our in the Aegean and Ionian seas, belonged for the
limits will allow us to enumerate none but the most part to the luscious sweet class. The very
most celebrated. As far as those of Greece are reverse is proved by the epithets aiosTr'pods, oacAXlconcerned, our information is scanty; since in the pds, AsErrds, and the like, applied to a great nuimolder writers we find but a small number defined ber, while yXvtcuv' and yXvucd'wv are designations
by specific appellations, the general term lvoTs comparatively rare, except in the vague languinge