Making, Trading, and Consuming Phoenician Wine
September 2021 | Vol. 9.9
By Adriano Orsingher, Jens Kamlah, Hélène Sader, Aaron Schmitt, Silvia Amicone and Christoph Berthold
The coastal cities of the central Levant – Iron Age Phoenicia – made their own wine in antiquity and Phoenician wine was acclaimed. But what do we know about it archaeologically?
Tell el-Burak: reconstruction of the wine press, from the south-east (drawing by O. Bruderer; courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
The 8th century BCE prophet Hosea mentions the “wine of Lebanon” as a symbol for something famous and valuable (14.8). The importance of Phoenician wines is also acknowledged by various Graeco-Roman sources. The wine of Byblos, sometimes described as “fragrant”, enjoyed the highest reputation and is mentioned by authors such as Hesiod (Op. 589), Euripides (Ion1177), Theocritus of Syracuse (Id. 14.15), Archestratus of Gela (fr. 59.5), and Athenaeus of Naukratis (Deipn. 1.29B). Pliny the Elder (HN 14.9.1) referred to the wines of Tripoli, Beirut, and Tyre, while the wine of Sidon is cited in a ca. 5th century BCE scroll from Elephantine. Sidon is also mentioned in painted inscriptions on Phoenician-type transport amphorae of the Persian period from Elephantine, and, possibly, even as far west as the cave-sanctuary of Grotta Regina near Palermo, in Sicily.
In Phoenicia, as in many other regions, wine was an expensive and rare commodity, which was probably available only to people of high social status. It was certainly consumed during feasting activities, as part of civic/secular, religious or funerary ceremonies. Libations of wine were also offered in sacred and funerary contexts.
It is not surprising that the coastal Levant played such an important part in the wine-making industry of the 1st millennium BCE, as it stems from an earlier tradition. Indeed, this region is described in the Egyptian tale of Sinuhe (ca. mid-19th century BCE) as having “more wine than water.” This long-lasting role in wine production and trade is archaeologically well-documented especially during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 16th-12th centuries BCE), with Ugarit providing overwhelming textual evidence.
Such long continuity may be explained by the favourable environmental conditions which allowed the development of viticulture. Wine production on the Phoenician coast has long been recognized in the large quantities of Levantine-type transport amphorae that were traded in the eastern Mediterranean over the centuries and which have been usually assumed to have contained either wine or oil. As regards the Early Iron Age, the possible relation of Phoenician-type amphorae to a beverage (likely wine) finds support from other Phoenician-type ceramics that were exported alongside them to Cyprus during the 11th-9th centuries BCE. They appear to have formed a sort of drinking set, which included kraters, dipper juglets, strainer- and tubular-spouted jugs, namely vessels usually associated with mixing, decanting and pouring wine. Small pilgrim flasks are another pottery form frequently exported with them. The recent discovery of cinnamon residues inside some pilgrim flasks from the southern Levant – occasionally also containing traces of tartaric acid (a marker for wine) – should also be considered as possibly related to the frequent practice of mixing wine with various types of additives.
Cyprus, Phoenician-type pottery possibly forming part of a drinking set: 1) dipper, 2) pilgrim flask, 3) tubular-spouted jug, 4) krater, 5. transport amphora; Cypro-Geometric II: c. 950-900 BCE (adapted by A. Orsingher after Gjerstad, E. – J. Lindros – E. Sjöqvist – A. Westholm 1935. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition Volume II. Finds and Results of the Excavations in Cyprus, 1927–1931, Stockholm, pl. CXXXVIII:10; Aupert, P. – Tytgat, C. 1984. Deux tombs geometriques de Ia necropole nord d’Amathonte (NT 222 I-II). Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique 108, pls. 3:9, 5:20; Bikai, P.M. 1987, The Phoenician Pottery of Cyprus, Nicosia, pls. VIII:117, XX:601).
In antiquity, wine could be consumed unmixed, diluted with water or with the addition of other ingredients such as honey, spices, herbs or tree resins, which seasoned, enhanced and changed the taste of wines, improving their conservation, flavour, and psychoactive properties. In the Iron Age Near East, the mixing of ground additives with wine is attested in Ashurbanipal’s banquet scene from the North Palace at Nineveh (ca. 645-635 BCE). In this relief, the Assyrian king and queen are drinking what is probably wine under a grapevine canopy. On the low table between the two royal figures holding a bowl, stands a small tripod mortar together with other objects, probably used for grinding substances.
Nineveh, North Palace: gypsum wall panel relief showing the banquet of Ashurbanipal, c. 645-635 BCE; British Museum, inv. no. 124920 © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Although locally used for a variety of purposes, Phoenician wines were also exported to neighbouring regions, as shown by the wide distribution of Phoenician-type transport amphorae in the eastern Mediterranean. However, as archaeometric and residue analyses have not yet been extensively carried out, many of these amphorae cannot be pinpointed to specific production centers or even sub-regions, and their original content usually remains elusive.
Cyprus: Phoenician-type amphorae with a painted inscription, c. 8th-7th century BCE; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, inv. nos. 74.51.2298a, b, 74.51.2299, 74.51.2300 (CC0).
In Cyprus, they are attested in all archaeological phases, while a peak of imports during the Persian period seems to be well documented in Egypt. This evidence supports the famous account of Herodotus (Hist. 3.6), who claimed that Phoenician wine was imported twice a year in Egypt. Two shipwrecks (ca. 8th century BCE), nicknamed Elissa and Tanit by archaeologists and discovered about 30 nautical miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip, provide some evidence for the Phoenician wine trade. They were laden with hundreds of carinated-shoulder amphorae, probably destined for Egypt. The organic residue analysis of one amphora allegedly showed that it contained wine. At the same time, Ezekiel’s oracle against Tyre (27:19) suggests this city’s involvement, in the 6th century BCE, in transporting and marketing wines produced in other regions of the Levant. At present, however, there is no archaeological evidence for the Phoenicians shipping both local and foreign wines, which may represent an even more complex view of wine production and trade in the Iron Age Levant.
Cyprus, the “Kourion treasure”: silver bowl fragment with banquet scene, c. 710-675 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, inv. no. 74.51.4557 (CC0).
Until recently, our understanding of wine culture in Phoenicia was mainly based on evidence from trade such as the transport amphorae, and on wine consumption attested by drinking scenes that are a common motif in the imagery of this period. The gap in our knowledge about Phoenician winemaking has been partly filled by the new evidence which resulted from the multidisciplinary investigation at the coastal site of Tell el-Burak (ca. 725-350 BCE), 9 km south of Sidon, in Lebanon. Tell el-Burak was established as a large-scale agricultural production centre. As no residential area was found on site, its products – mostly wine, but also cereals and olive oil – were most probably intended for the regional and extra-regional market. This site sheds light on a regionally integrated economic system, with a larger centre nearby – probably Sarepta or Sidon – providing the amphorae used for the storage and transport of agricultural products, and a main administrative center (most probably Sidon), securing the redistribution of these commodities.
Tell el-Burak: left) plan of the site with the excavated areas, including the wine press in Area 4; right) view of the site, from the west (courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
The strong agricultural (especially winemaking-related) and export-oriented vocation of Tell el-Burak is testified by ceramic and botanical finds: transport amphorae dominate the pottery repertoire (57.6%), while Vitis vinifera (common wine grape) seeds represent 41.7% of the entire archaeo-botanical assemblage. The increasing standardization of the carinated-shoulder amphorae from Tell el-Burak and other sites in Phoenicia has been connected to the intensification of agriculture in this region during the late Iron Age and Persian period.
Tell el-Burak, Vitis vinifera seeds: TB18-29/21-140, sample no. 341, from room 4.1; phase D/C: c. 650-550 BCE (photo by A. Orendi; courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
Tell el-Burak, House 3: a selection of carinated-shoulder amphorae from the destruction layer of Phase D: c. end of the 7th/beginning of the 6th century BCE (courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
Tell el-Burak, House 3: a selection of carinated-shoulder amphorae from the destruction layer of Phase D: c. end of the 7th/beginning of the 6th century BCE (courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
The presence and size of various processing and storing facilities further support the large scale of the agricultural activities at Tell el-Burak. Among the plastered installations from this site, of prime importance is a well-preserved wine press (ca. late 8th/7th-mid-6th century BCE) which was exposed on the southern slope of the tell. Not far from it, the geophysical survey has revealed the existence of another similar structure, suggesting the strategic location of winemaking facilities near the vineyards. This wine press included: 1) a rectangular treading basin (ca. 3.20 × 3.50m), with a perimeter wall of ashlar blocks and a flat stone-slab foundation, where grapes were trodden, 2) a (not preserved) connecting channel, through which the must flowed, and 3) a semi-circular vat (ca. 2.50 × 1.95m) with a maximum capacity of around 4,500 litres, where the must was collected and fermented. Archaeometric analyses provided new data on the composition and technology of the plaster of which the wine press was made. The Phoenicians mixed recycled ceramic fragments with lime to produce plaster at this site. This made it possible to construct better and more stable structures as this lime-based plaster mixed with ceramics (i.e., Roman opus signinum or in modern Italian, cocciopesto) was water-resistant and hardwearing.
Tell el-Burak, the wine press: left) plan of the plastered structure, right) view from the south-west (courtesy of the Tell el-Burak Archaeological Project).
The Phoenicians have been traditionally credited with introducing the grape in the western Mediterranean as a result of their mobility, trade and the foundation of new settlements as early as the second half/late 9th century BCE. However, current archaeo-botanical data show that grapes were already known before the arrival of the Phoenicians in Sardinia. Based on the available archaeological evidence, it seems reasonable to assume that the Phoenicians may have improved viticulture and fostered a social consumption of wine in the west by bringing and further developing building technology, marketing strategies and tools (e.g., the amphorae), and drinking practices from the Levant, which vaunted a long tradition of making, trading and consuming wine.
In the context of Phoenician mobility and migration, wine may have been instrumental in establishing and maintaining new relations with the local communities through feasting activities. These kind of ceremonies may also have been a way to show and share how wine was consumed in the eastern Mediterranean, eventually determining the adoption and adaptation of these practices by the local communities. This would explain the distribution of specific metal and pottery shapes as part of the drinking sets (e.g., tripod mortars, bowls), which may have had an impact on gestures and symbolism. In promoting wine as an essential commodity for elites, the Phoenicians favoured external demand for the product and a network for its distribution.
This tradition in winemaking continued and was later enhanced in various regions of the western Mediterranean. Carthage, particularly, became an agricultural power to the point that its husbandry knowledge/skills – known especially through the account of the Carthaginian agronomist Magon (ca. 3rd-early 2nd centuries BCE) – were praised even by Greco-Roman sources.
Adriano Orsingher is a Beatriu de Pinós Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Departament d’Humanitats at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Jens Kamlah is the Director of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
Hélène Sader is Professor of Archaeology at the American University of Beirut.
Aaron Schmitt is a Heisenberg Fellow at the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology at Freiburg University.
Silvia Amicone is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Competence Center Archaeometry – Baden-Wuerttemberg at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
Christoph Berthold is the Director of the Competence Center Archaeometry – Baden-Wuerttemberg at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.
Further Reading
Ballard, R. D., Stager, L. E., Master, D., Yoerger, D., Mindell, D., Whitcomb, L. L., Singh, H. und Piechota, D. 2002. Iron Age shipwrecks in deep water off Ashkelon, Israel. American Journal of Archaeology 106: 151–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/4126241
Botto, M. 2013. The Phoenicians and the spread of wine in the central West Mediterranean, in S. Celestino Pérez & J. Blánquez Pérez (ed.) Patrimonio cultural de la vid y el vino: conferencia internacional: 103–131. Madrid: UAM Ediciones.
Greene, J.A. 1996. The beginnings of grape cultivation and wine production in Phoenician/Punic North Africa, in P.E. McGovern, S.J. Fleming, and S.H. Katz (ed.), The origins and ancient history of wine, 321–332. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach.
Orendi, A. & K. Deckers. 2018. Agricultural resources on the coastal plain of Sidon during the Late Iron Age: archaeobotanical investigations at Phoenician Tell el-Burak, Lebanon, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 27: 717–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-0667-x
Orsingher, A., Amicone, S., Kamlah, J., Sader, H. and Berthold, C. 2020. Phoenician lime for Phoenician wine: Iron Age plaster from a wine press at Tell el-Burak, Lebanon, Antiquity 377. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.4
Schmitt, A., K. Badreshany, E. Tachatou & H. Sader. 2019. Insights into the economic organization of the Phoenician homeland: a multi-disciplinary investigation of the later Iron Age II and Persian period Phoenician amphorae from Tell el-Burak. Levant 50: 52–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2018. 1547004
How to cite this article:
Orsingher, A., Kamlah, J., Sader, H., Schmitt, A., Amicone, S., and C. Berthold. 2021. “Making, Trading and Consuming Phoenician Wine.” The Ancient Near East Today 9.9. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/phoenician-wine-economy/.
Want to learn more?
Maritime Viewscapes and the Material Religion of Levantine Seafarers
Dig Deeper: Revisiting the Excavations of a Glass Workshop at Jalame el-Asafna
Post a comment