biblical beer

Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?By Michael M. HomanSidebar: Drink Like the Ancients

Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NYIt is clear from countless ancient texts and paintings (such as this one of an old man drinking beer through along straw from Egypt, c. 1350 B.C.E.) that beer was a common—and even celebrated—part of everydaylife in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. But what about Israel? Despite its apparent absence from the Bible inmost modern translations, author Michael Homan argues that the ancient Israelites also produced and drankbeer, much like their Near Eastern neighbors.Ancient Israelites, with the possible exception of a few teetotaling Nazirites and their moms, proudly drankbeer—and lots of it. Men, women and even children of all social classes drank it. Its consumption in ancientIsrael was encouraged, sanctioned and intimately linked with their religion. Even Yahweh, according to theHebrew Bible, consumed at least half a hin of beer (approximately 2 liters, or a six-pack) per day throughthe cultic ritual of libation, and he drank even more on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:7–10). People who weresad were advised to drink beer to temporarily erase their troubles (Proverbs 31:6). Yet the Biblical authorsalso called for moderation. Several passages condemn those who consumed too much beer (Isaiah 5:11,28:7; Proverbs 20:1, 31:4). The absence of beer defines a melancholy situation, according to Isaiah 24:9.Beer was a staple in the Israelite diet, just as it was throughout the ancient Near East. Yet a search of mostEnglish translations of the Bible will produce few, if any, occurrences of the word “beer.” Ancient Israel’saffinity for beer has largely been ignored. I believe this is for three reasons: (1) confusion about the meaningof the Hebrew word shekhar ( 2שכר), ( ) a general snobbery in academia causing scholars to scorn beerdrinking while celebrating wine culture, and (3) the unique challenges archaeologists have faced in finding(or identifying) beer remains in the Israelite material record.In ancient Near Eastern cultures, beer was in many ways a super-food. By producing and drinking beer, onecould dramatically multiply the calories in harvested grains while consuming needed vitamins; the alcoholwas also effective at killing bacteria found in tainted water supplies. Given the difficulty of producing foodin the ancient world, beer gave you a lot of nutritional bang for your buck.

Humans have been making beer for at least 5,000 years, and most likely much longer.1 Some anthropologistshave argued that it was a thirst for beer, rather than a hunger for bread, that led to the Neolithic Revolution(c. 9500–8000 B.C.E.), during which humans gradually abandoned a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in favor of

Print Page | Biblical Archaeology Review http://www.bib-arch.org/print.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=5...

1 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

sedentary farming.2 Beer eventually became a defining characteristic of human culture, much like wearingclothes. Thus in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, when the wild man Enkidu becomes civilized andenters the world of humans, drinking beer is one of the defining moments:Enkidu does not know of eating food; of beer [šikaram] to drink he has not been taught. The prostituteopened her mouth. She said to Enkidu, “Eat the food Enkidu, [it is] the luster of life. Drink the beer as isdone in this land.” Enkidu ate the food until he was sated; of the beer he drank seven cups. His soul becamefree and cheerful, his heart rejoiced, his face glowed. He rubbed ... his hairy body. He anointed himself with

oil. He became human.3

Nobody disputes the importance of beer in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, where it was the national drink.

Beer was used to pay laborers and the fathers of brides.4 It was used medicinally for stomach ailments,

coughs, constipation; one ancient Egyptian prescription calls for a beer enema.5 Hammurabi’s Law Code

regulates the price and strength of beer.6 Many ancient temples had their own brewers. One text from Mari

indicates the possible use of beer to induce a prophetic state.7 There is little doubt that these references areto beer. So there has been much academic attention given to beer in Mesopotamia and Egypt.Two big reasons for the emphasis on beer (compared to wine) in these cultures are climate and agriculture.Grains such as barley can be easily grown throughout the Fertile Crescent, but grapes are harder to produceand can be grown only in certain regions. Due to the type of soils and weather in Egypt and Mesopotamia, itwas difficult to grow grapes. They still drank wine, to be sure, but wines in Egypt and Mesopotamia wereoften imported from areas such as Palestine, Phoenicia and Greece, where grapes grew more easily. Yeteven in the wine-producing regions of Canaan, Greece and Rome, the ancient people also produced and

drank beer.8

istockphoto.com/©Mlenny Photograhy/Alexander HafemannOne of the most popular grains for producing beer, barley was plentiful in ancient Israel. It is listed amongthe seven species of plants with which the Holy Land was blessed (Deuteronomy 8:8). It was so commonthat it cost half as much as wheat (2 Kings 7:1, 16, 18). Author Michael Homan planted a barley crop at theAlbright Institute in Jerusalem to experiment with ancient beer-making techniques.Barley, one of the more popular grains for making beer in the ancient world, was (and is) the mainingredient. The Hebrew Bible records barley as one of the most abundant and important crops of ancient

Israel. It is one of the seven species of plants with which the Promised Land is blessed (Deuteronomy 8:8).9

In fact, it was so common that its price was approximately half that of wheat (2 Kings 7:1, 16, 18; cf.

Revelation 6:6).10 There is no doubt that ancient Israel, like its neighbors, planted, harvested and consumedmass quantities of barley.


2 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

The process for making beer was different in the ancient world from that used today, and it didn’t includethe addition of hops or carbonation. Beer was often produced by creating a bread or cake made from maltedbarley or wheat. The bread was then placed in water, forming a sweet liquid known as a wort. In a few days,after adding yeast, the carbohydrates would be converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide, which would causethe liquid to bubble, indicating fermentation. Thus the wait from the time it was produced until the time itwas consumed would have been only a few days. Moreover, beer did not keep well, so it was made forimmediate consumption.

© DEA Picture Library/Art Resource, NYLike an illustrated cookbook, this painted relief from the Saqqara tomb of a 5th Dynasty Egyptian officialnamed Ti (c. 2480–2350 B.C.E.) lays out the step-by-step process for making beer. The complete wallpicture (not shown here) depicts workers collecting, crushing and grinding grain, heating the pottery,pouring the dough into the pottery vessel (shown in the lower panel above) and removing the baked loaves(upper panel), adding the loaves to a concoction of other ingredients and filtering it, and then pouring theliquid into jars and sealing them to ferment before being consumed. Unlike today’s beer, ancient beer didnot include hops or carbonation.The word from the Hebrew Bible that I translate as “beer” is shekhar (שכר). I believe this is the best

translation, based on linguistic and archaeological sources.11 I am certainly not the only scholar to adopt this

translation. Others include Richard E. Friedman,12 Magen Broshi,13 Robert G. Boling,14 Johann Döller15

and Werner Dommershausen.16 The most frequent translation of shekhar in English Bibles, however, is“strong drink.” The Jewish Publication Society translation uses ten different English terms for this singleHebrew word: “liquor,” “other liquor,” “drink,” “strong drink,” “any strong drink,” “other strong drink,”“other intoxicant,” “any other intoxicant,” “fermented drink” [with footnote “i.e., wine”], and “drunkards

[for drinkers of shekhar].”17

When used as a noun, the word shekhar appears 20 times in the Hebrew Bible. In all but one of these(Numbers 28:7), it stands in parallel to “wine.” Thus, it is similar to wine in that it is fermented and iscapable of causing drunkenness, but it is also distinct from wine.It is hardly surprising that “wine” stands parallel to shekhar in the Hebrew Bible; this is the case in manyextra-Biblical texts too. For example, in the Enuma Elish (the Babylonian creation story) the gods drink

“wine” and “beer” in the same sitting.18 In a neo-Assyrian winery at Calah, 11 tablets were found that

documented the distribution of “wine” and “beer.”19 At Ashkelon, a late-seventh-century B.C.E. ostracon

records measures of “red wine” and shekhar.20 Aramaic and Egyptian records keep track of quantities of

wine and beer.21 So the parallel usage of “wine” and shekhar [=“beer”] in the Hebrew Bible fits well in thisliterary context.


3 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

Nimatallah/Art Resource, NYBAKING BREAD OR BREWING BEER? Because beer making closely resembles and involves breadmaking, and even uses many of the same tools, it is often difficult to distinguish the two in thearchaeological record. Both took place in the domestic sphere and were closely associated with women.These women were not only in charge of production but often ran taverns where the beer was served. Thispainted wood model from Egypt (2565–2420 B.C.E.) depicts a woman filtering barley bread to make beer.One key to understanding shekhar as “beer” is its etymology. The Hebrew word shekhar is clearly derived

from Akkadian šikaru (Sumerian KAŠ), which means “barley beer.”22 The term šikaru references beer at allof the major Akkadian archival centers, including Alalakh, Amarna, Ebla, Emar, Karana, Mari, Nineveh,

Nippur, Nuzi and Ras Shamra.23

The importance of beer in the ancient Near East can be seen by the fact that, in time, the word for beercame to designate the state of drunkenness. The word for beer became synonymous with inebriation in

Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic and Arabic. Similarly in the Egyptian language, “beer” (�nqt) was used for

general drunkenness. And in the Bible, shekhar is often a verb that means “to get drunk” (e.g., Genesis 9:21;Isaiah 29:9), a parallel linguistic usage that furthers the case for shekhar as “beer.” (This parallel usage hasalso survived in modern Hebrew: A drunk is a shekhor (שכור), and shekhar (שכר) means beer, although beeris also commonly called simply beera.)

Some have argued that shekhar is actually a fermented wine made from dates rather than barley beer.a 24

This argument stems primarily from the belief that certain sandy regions in Israel, including Ashkelon andJericho, were better suited for date production than for barley. Yet barley remains have been found at bothsites, and one need not travel far from such sites to find soil well suited to barley production.

Others have argued for a grape-based shekhar.25 The primary reason for the idea that shekhar isgrape-based stems from the law of the Nazarite:“He shall separate from wine and shekhar, he shall not drink wine vinegar and shekhar vinegar; and he shallnot drink all grape juice and he shall not eat grapes, fresh nor dried. All the days of his separation; from allthat is made from the grapevine of wine he shall not eat, from seeds to skins.”(Numbers 6:3–4)“She will not eat from all that comes from the vine of wine and she shall not drink wine and shekhar.”(Judges 13:14)Because the authors of Numbers and Judges elaborate on grapes and their products, some have contendedthat shekhar must be grape-based. Yet nowhere does the text state that shekhar is produced from grapes.The issue here is that the Nazirite and a woman pregnant with a child destined to be a Nazirite (such asSamson and his mother) must not come in contact with alcoholic beverages. The Biblical texts elaborate on


4 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

grapes because a single grape contains the ingredients necessary to ferment and produce alcohol: sugars,liquid and even yeast. Barley, however, cannot ferment on its own and therefore no elaboration is necessary

in the Biblical text as to shekhar.26

© Erich LessingUnlike other commercial products, the patron deity of beer was female. Among her other names, theEgyptian goddess Hathor was known as the “Lady of Drunkenness” (depicted above on a statue fromMegiddo).Ancient alcoholic beverages don’t always fit into neat, distinct categories. Chemical evidence of ancient

alcoholic drinks show that they were often mixed concoctions.27 It would be rare to find products composed

solely of barley, wheat, dates or grapes.28 Dates (where and when available) were perhaps the most frequent

additive to beer.29 But beers were often sweetened also with grapes, sycamore, figs, honey (fruit and bee)

and spices.30 As a general rule, ancient alcoholic drinks are identified by the type of primary sugars used inthe fermentation—fruits for wine, cereals for beer.

Photo by M. Homan/Courtesy of the Zeitah Excavations/R.E. Tappy, DirectorDespite the difficulty of finding archaeological evidence for beer—due to its similarity to bread making andits relatively short shelf life—some discoveries clearly point to the presence of beer making in ancientIsrael. Special ceramic jars with donut-shaped stoppers (such as those shown here from Tel Zayit) havebeen excavated at numerous sites in the Levant.There is no doubt that ancient Israel loved wine and prized it highly. Wine is more difficult to produce thanbeer because, unlike growing cereals, which ripen in a few months, viniculture requires permanent fields and

social complexity.31 Over the past 100 years, however, many scholars have inferred that beer drinking is

uncivilized—even loutish and uncouth.32 Some scholars have gone so far as to translate classic ancientAkkadian texts that clearly reference beer (šikaru) with the terms “wine” or “strong drink,” apparently toavoid degrading the esteemed imbibers. This has led many Bible scholars actively to distance Biblical heroes


5 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

from a beer-drinking world, much like some Christians prefer to believe that Jesus drank unfermented grape

juice despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.b William Foxwell Albright called the Philistines

“carousers” because of their alcohol-orientated ceramic assemblage.33 This bad reputation for beer isunfounded in antiquity, and there is even good news lately for modern beer drinkers. The recent revolutionof microbreweries, many of which produce brews that rival wine in complexity, means that beer drinkersneed no longer feel inferior to wine connoisseurs.

Photo by Ilan Sztulman/Used with permission of Jane CahillTo manufacture beer, malted barley cakes were put in jars with water and the donut stoppers were thenattached to the mouth of the jar with clay. The small holes in the center were covered with cloth to keepout impurities while allowing gas to escape during the fermentation process. An example of this is shown insitu above. The carbonized remains of crushed wheat were found in this tenth-century B.C.E. jar from Tellel-Hammah.Archaeological evidence of beer making is often hard to come by because most of the tools used in beerproduction—such as mortars, querns and winnowing baskets—are often linked to bread making, and the

possible connection to beer is sometimes overlooked.34 Indeed the production of bread and beer wereintimately linked. The artistic record from ancient Egypt clearly depicts women producing beer at the sametime as they made bread. In the ancient world, beer was typically produced by women, most often in

domestic contexts.35 Several ancient texts illustrate the connection between women and beer. In the Epic ofGilgamesh, it was the female prostitute Shamhat who first gives Enkidu beer. Then the tavern keeper Siduriprovides Gilgamesh with beer and some advice. Women ran taverns in the ancient world, and these placeswere associated with music, celebration and, at times, prostitution. The Mesopotamian fertility goddessIshtar, or Inanna in Sumerian, had close associations with beer. In one poem the goddess’s genitals were

described as being as “sweet” as “beer.”36 Several other female deities were connected with beerproduction, including the Egyptian goddess Hathor, who was sometimes known as the “Lady of

Drunkenness.”37 In Mesopotamia, where the vast majority of deities associated with trades were male,Ninkasi, the goddess of beer, was female.


6 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, NYSHARING A MALT. The impression on this Babylonian cylinder seal from Ur (c. 2600 B.C.E.) pictures abeer-drinking scene reminiscent of a 1950s soda fountain. The two men use long straws to enjoy beer fromthe same vessel. Egyptian hieroglyphs also depict people drinking with straws. The ends of the straws wereinserted in metal strainer tips inside the beer jar. This would filter out the grains, fruits and other additives inthe beer.Iron Age sites in Israel have recently produced numerous remains, such as beer jugs and bottles, straw-tipstrainers and donut-shaped fermentation stoppers, all of which provide evidence of Israelite beer drinking.Fermentation stoppers were used during the production process to seal the opening of the beer-makingvessel from impurities, while allowing the resulting gas to escape through the small, cloth-stuffed hole.The ceramic vessel commonly known as a beer jug, or, more properly, a side-spouted sieve jug, wasdesigned for personal use. Whereas jugs meant for pouring had the spout at 180 degrees from the handle,these “beer jugs” placed the handle 90 degrees to the right of the spout. Thus the consumer would place the

spout in his or her mouth while holding the jug with the right hand and then imbibe.38 The ceramic form isvery widespread and was used to consume all sorts of alcoholic beverages. Similar vessels found in the

Gordion tombs contained residues of a mixture of beer, wine and mead.39 The beer was sometimes alsodrunk from a communal vessel by several drinkers with straws. We have depictions from Egyptian tombs

and Mesopotamian seals demonstrating this technique.40 Like today, drinking beer was often a socialactivity.

© Erich LessingAnother common method for imbibing was the so-called “beer jug,” or side-spouted sieve jug (shown here).Instead of a handle opposite the spout for easy pouring, the handles on these jugs are at 90 degrees from the


7 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

perforated spout, so the consumer could conveniently drink the strained beer straight from the jug.The final piece of evidence demonstrating that ancient Israelites drank beer invokes chemical analysis.

Traces of beer are more difficult to detect chemically than wine, however.41 Because beer was made forimmediate consumption, it stayed in jars for a significantly shorter time than wine, which was aged inceramic vessels to improve the taste. Civilizations typically traded dried cereals and jars of wine rather thanjars of beer.With all that we now know about beer and its important role in the life of the ancient Israelites, I’d like tooffer a new interpretation of a famous passage in Ecclesiastes that advises the reader to:Throw your bread upon the face of the water, because in many days you will acquire it. Give a serving toseven and also eight, because you do not know what evil will be upon the land.(Ecclesiastes 11:1–2)

I believe this is a reference to the cakes of bread used in ancient beer production, as noted earlier.42 Castyour bread upon the water and it will return as beer. Much like the phrase carpe diem, the author advisesmaking beer and drinking it with friends, because you don’t know what evil might be coming.

Drink Like the AncientsSidebar to: Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?

istockphoto.com/©LjupcoIf you are interested in brewing a beer similar to those that were consumed in the ancient Near East, theprocess is relatively simple. You’ll need a one-gallon milk container (thoroughly cleaned), and from ahomebrew supplier you’ll need one package of dry yeast, one pound of malted barley, and a fermentationstopper, which will allow the carbon dioxide to escape but prevent bacteria from entering the beer.Mix 4/5 of a gallon of water with the malt, and bring it to a boil. This is called wort. If you would like toflavor the beer with dates, raisins or other ingredients, add these to the wort while it is boiling. After boilingfor 30 minutes, remove the wort from the heat, and when the liquid has cooled down to room temperature,pour it into the gallon container, add the yeast, and secure it with the fermentation stopper. The next dayyou’ll notice the wort bubbling, and in 3–5 days the beer is ready for consumption. The mixture is sweet,and you’ll notice immediately the absence of hops and carbonation.Footnotes:a. See Lawrence E. Stager, “The Fury of Babylon: Ashkelon and the Archaeology of Destruction,” BAR22:01.b. See Michael M. Homan and Mark Gstohl, “Jesus the Teetotaler? How Dr. Welch Put the Lord on theWagon,” Bible Review 18:02.Endnotes:


8 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

1. Solomon H. Katz and Mary M. Voigt, “Bread and Beer: The Early Use of Cereals in the Human Diet,”Expedition 28:2 (1986), pp. 23–24.2. Katz and Voigt, “Bread and Beer.”3. Old Babylonian version, 2.3.6–25 (my translation).4. D. Samuel, “Bread Making and Social Interactions at the Amarna Workmen’s Village, Egypt,” WorldArchaeology 31 (1999), pp. 121–144.5. Michael M. Homan, “Beer and Its Drinkers: An Ancient Near Eastern Love Story,” Near EasternArchaeology 67 (2004), p. 85.6. Lines 108–109.7. H.B. Huffmon writes, “One Mari text detailing the cult of Ishtar mentions that a muhhû ‘is not [...] tobecome ecstatic’ and hints at a connection of the muhhû with water-downed beer” in “Prophecy,” AnchorBible Dictionary, vol. 5, p. 479.8. Homan, “Beer and Its Drinkers,” pp. 85–86.9. Michael M. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” in Richard Elliott Friedman andWilliam H.C. Propp, eds., Le David Maskil: A Birthday Tribute for David Noel Freedman (Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns, 2004), pp. 25–38.10. See Philip Mayerson, “Grain Prices in Late Antiquity and the Nature of the Evidence,” in Ziony Zevit,Seymour Gitin and Michael Sokoloff, eds., Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, andSemitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995), pp. 443–449.11. “Ale” is actually more accurate, as “beer” typically refers to a beverage made from malted grainsflavored with hops and carbonated. Like ale, ancient beer had no carbonation, though ancient beer was notflavored with hops as beer and ale are. Due to the malt, ancient beer was sweet and flavored with a varietyof fruits and spices.12. Richard E. Friedman, Commentary on the Torah (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), p. 523.13. Magen Broshi, “Wine in Ancient Palestine,” Israel Museum Journal 3 (1984), p. 35.14. Robert G. Boling, Judges, Anchor Bible 6A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975), pp. 219–220.15. Johann Döller, “Der Wein in Bibel und Talmud,” Biblica 4 (1923), p. 299.16. Werner Dommershausen, “Nyy” Theologisches Worterbuch zum Alten Testament 3, pp. 614–620.17. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” p. 26.18. Enuma Elish III.134–136. Note also the frequent depictions of gods with both grapes and cereals, seeCharles Seltman, Wine in the Ancient World (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957), pp. 27–31, 156.19. J.V. Kinnier Wilson, The Nimrud Wine Lists (London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1972), p.81.20. Note that Lawrence E. Stager believes here that shekar refers to date-wine. See below.21. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” p. 30.22. Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Š/2, pp. 420–428; Wolfram von Soden, Akkadisches Handworterbuch, pp.1232–1233.23. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” p. 29.24. See, for example, Magen Broshi, “Date Beer and Date Wine in Antiquity,” Palestine ExplorationQuarterly 139 (2007), pp. 55–59. See also Lawrence E. Stager, “The Impact of the Sea Peoples in Canaan[1185–1050 B.C.E.], in Thomas E. Levy, ed., Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land (New York: Factson File, 1995), p. 345. See Carey Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000), For further information, see Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,”pp. 28–30.25. Baruch A. Levine, Numbers 1–20, Anchor Bible 4A (New York: Doubleday, 1963), pp. 219–220;Robert P. Teachout, “The Use of Wine in the Old Testament” (Ph.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary,1979), pp. 135, 225, 245–247; Menahem Haran, “Myksn (Libations),” Encyclopaedia Biblica (1968), vol.5, pp. 883–886; Berton Roueché, “Alcohol, I—The Christian Diversion,” New Yorker (January 9, 1960), p.42.26. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” pp. 33–35.27. Patrick E. McGovern et al., “A Funerary Feast Fit for King Midas,” Nature 402 (1999) pp. 863–864;


9 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

John Fleischman, “Midas’ Feast,” Discover vol. 21, no. 11, pp. 70–75; Stephanie Pain, “Grog of theGreeks,” New Scientist, vol. 164, no. 2214, pp. 54–57.28. Mary Ann Murray, “Viticulture and Wine Production,” in Paul T. Nicholson and Ian Shaw, eds., AncientEgyptian Materials and Technology (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000), p. 592.29. See Marten Stol, “Beer in Neo-Babylonian Times,” in Friedman and Propp, Le David Maskil, pp.155–183. See also Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” p. 31, especially note 31.30. Homan, “Beer, Barley, and שכר in the Hebrew Bible,” p. 32.31. Lawrence Stager, “The Firstfruits of Civilization,” in Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages (1985), p.177.32. See Homan, “Beer and Its Drinkers,” pp. 84–86.33. William Foxwell Albright, Archaeology of Palestine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1949), p.115.34. Jennie R. Ebeling and Michael M. Homan, “Brewing Beer as Women’s Technology in Ancient Israel,”in Beth Alpert Nakhai, ed., The World of Women in the Ancient and Classical Near East (Newcastle:Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008), pp. 45–62.35. Ebeling and Homan, “Brewing Beer as Women’s Technology in Ancient Israel.”36. B. Alster, “Sumerian Love Songs” Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 79 (1985), pp.127–159.37. Ebeling and Homan, “Brewing Beer as Women’s Technology in Ancient Israel.”38. One Greek poet noted that Phrygians drinking beer through such a tube resembled the act of fellatio(Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 10.447).39. Patrick E. McGovern, Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture (Princeton: PrincetonUniv. Press, 2003), pp. 279–298.40. Ebeling and Homan, “Brewing Beer as Women’s Technology in Ancient Israel.”41. McGovern, Ancient Wine, p. 265 ff.42. Michael M. Homan, “Beer Production by Throwing Bread into Water: A New Interpretation of QOH. XI1–2, ” Vetus Testamentum 52, no. 2 (2002), pp. 275–278.Reference for this article:Homan, Michael M.. “Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Sep/Oct 2010.http://www.bib-arch.org/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=5&ArticleID=4&UserID=0(accessed 10/4/2010)


10 of 10 10/4/2010 9:26 AM

biblical beer

Documents