DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0029
LIVELY AND FOND OF WINE. 13
Indeed, the fact of this advice being thought so necessary
suffices to prove the character of the people who required it;
and those who suppose, from the introduction of the figure of
the human mummy at a festive meeting, in order to remind
them of the transitory nature of this life's pleasures, that the
Egyptians enjoyed their recreations in a serious mood, have
made not only a hasty hut an inconsistent conclusion ; not very
unlike that which might pronounce the morality of a people
from the number of methods devised to deter them from vice.
They were the reverse of a serious people; and while their
philosophers gave their attention to grave abstruse studies, the
rest of the community appreciated a merry life, and were
remarkable for a love of excitement, quite consistent with the
scenes of buffoonery and the talent for caricature so often
displayed in the paintings.
They indulged very freely in wine, many qualities of which
were highly esteemed in Egypt. Of these the most noted were
the Mareotic, the Anthyllan, the Teniotic, the Sebennytic, the
Coptite, and a few others; those " of the north" appear to
have been reputed the best; and in after-times, Avhen the trade
with Greece was opened, wines from that country, as well as
from Phoenicia, were imported into Egypt. It always had its
place on the altars of the gods, as well as on the tables of the
nch; it was not forbidden to the priests; and a certain
quantity was always allowed to the soldiers on duty in the city,
as part of their daily rations. It was kept in earthenware jars,
resembling the amphora; of the Romans, and arranged in the
same manner upright in the cellar ; and if in late times they
occasionally carried it in skins, this was rather a Greek than an
-Egyptian custom; and Athenams mentions a monster skin
made of panthers' hides, displayed in the festive procession of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, on a four-wheeled car, twenty-five cubits
Indeed, the fact of this advice being thought so necessary
suffices to prove the character of the people who required it;
and those who suppose, from the introduction of the figure of
the human mummy at a festive meeting, in order to remind
them of the transitory nature of this life's pleasures, that the
Egyptians enjoyed their recreations in a serious mood, have
made not only a hasty hut an inconsistent conclusion ; not very
unlike that which might pronounce the morality of a people
from the number of methods devised to deter them from vice.
They were the reverse of a serious people; and while their
philosophers gave their attention to grave abstruse studies, the
rest of the community appreciated a merry life, and were
remarkable for a love of excitement, quite consistent with the
scenes of buffoonery and the talent for caricature so often
displayed in the paintings.
They indulged very freely in wine, many qualities of which
were highly esteemed in Egypt. Of these the most noted were
the Mareotic, the Anthyllan, the Teniotic, the Sebennytic, the
Coptite, and a few others; those " of the north" appear to
have been reputed the best; and in after-times, Avhen the trade
with Greece was opened, wines from that country, as well as
from Phoenicia, were imported into Egypt. It always had its
place on the altars of the gods, as well as on the tables of the
nch; it was not forbidden to the priests; and a certain
quantity was always allowed to the soldiers on duty in the city,
as part of their daily rations. It was kept in earthenware jars,
resembling the amphora; of the Romans, and arranged in the
same manner upright in the cellar ; and if in late times they
occasionally carried it in skins, this was rather a Greek than an
-Egyptian custom; and Athenams mentions a monster skin
made of panthers' hides, displayed in the festive procession of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, on a four-wheeled car, twenty-five cubits