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Wine was a staple commodity in ancient Egypt. [10] It played an important role in ancient Egyptian ceremonial life. [10] A thriving royal winemaking industry was established in the Nile Delta following the introduction of grape cultivation from the Levant to Egypt c. 3000 BC.
It is considered an "ancient vine", and wine experts believe it is one of the oldest genetically unmodified vines still in existence. [1] The grape originated in North Africa, and the name is probably derived from its association with Ancient Egyptians who used the grape for wine making. It is also a table grape used for eating and raisins. [1]
The first written accounts of grapes and wine can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian text from the 3rd millennium BC. There are also numerous hieroglyphic references from ancient Egypt, according to which wine was reserved exclusively for priests, state functionaries and the pharaoh.
This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana).For a complete list of all grape species, including those unimportant to agriculture, see Vitis.
Ancient Egyptian pressing basin, in which grapes were probably trodden by human feet in the Marea region around present-day Lake Mariout. The exact origins of winemaking (and, thus, of pressing grapes) are not known, but most archaeologists believe that it originated somewhere in the Transcaucasia between the Black and Caspian Seas in the land that now includes the modern countries of Russia ...
[17] [33] Many of the grapes grown in modern Greece are grown there exclusively and are similar or identical to the varieties grown in ancient times. Indeed, the most popular modern Greek wine, a strongly aromatic white called retsina , is thought to be a carryover from the ancient practice of lining the wine jugs with tree resin, imparting a ...
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Cypriots, Phoenicians, and Romans growing purple grapes both for eating and wine production. [10] The growing of grapes would later spread to other regions in Europe, as well as North Africa, and eventually in North America.
In Egypt beer was a primary source of nutrition, and consumed daily. Beer was such an important part of the Egyptian diet that it was even used as currency. [4] Like most modern African beers, but unlike European beer, it was very cloudy with plenty of solids and highly nutritious, quite reminiscent of gruel. It was an important source of ...