Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-19
BOTTLES OF ANGIENTS
MOST OF THEM MADE FROM
SKINS OF ANIMALS.
Wines still Conveyed In Some Euro
pean Countries In Goat or
Pig Skins.

From Ridley's Wine and Spirit Trade Circular
The most ancient receptacles Of wine were
formed of animal hides These must be al
most as old as wine itself, for there GER
tainly would have been very little use In
expressing the Juice OF the grape and al
! lowing it to ferment unless there had been
vessels of some sort to contain 1t. Even II
stored in underground cisterns. as is still
done in southern Europe, bottles would be
required for carrying the liquid on Journeys
or even for consuming 1t at home. FIRE.
quent mention Is made of such bottles IN
ancient literature. At a feast in the Had
the servants are described as bearing wine
upon their shoulders In bottle OF goat
| skin from which the goblets OF the guests
were filled.
Throughout the interior of Spain wine Is
still conveyed from place to place in bot
ties made Of goat or pig skin identical in
every respect with the description given by
Herodotus 1t will doubtless be remember
ed that in the venta on the Sierra Moreno
Don Quixote's room was hung round with
these cueros, and that the doughty knight,
mistaking them for the myrmidons OF a
wicked enchanter, valfantly attacked them
with his sword until the room was inch
deep in red wine flowing from the gashes
made IN the skins.
Skin Bottles.
Ia OIluSdl anu NITeeCe THESE SIKH OASS
are also used for the conveyance of wine.
as they are much more portable than any
other sort of vessel. especially in a noun
famous district. where they have to be
borne by mules. These leathern bottles
have peculiar interest, for in make and
material they connect the viniculture or to-
day with its origin in the unknown past
They are survivals which have fioated down
to the n I'm cfad n
centuries Of age.
leathern bottle capable of holding an
armed man would seem to us too unwieldy
for practical purposes; but there Is evi-
dence that many Of those used by the Ro-
mans were of still greater dimensions
Among the ruins of the ancient city OF
PompeH a mural picture has been discover
ed representing an enormous skin bag on a
wine cart which is being borne along by a
machine shaped like boat. Two men were
drawing the wine off into amphorae. In
order to gain popularity Roman politician
would occasionally dole out wine wholesale
to the clients whose favor he courted, and
this picture probably portrays the convey
ance on which the wine skin was borne
through the streets and the men engaged
in circulating 1t.
The coronation ceremony of Ptolemy
Philadelphus excelled in pomp and pagan
try every procession recorded in history,
not even excepting the triumphant progress
with which Alexander the Great celebrated
his escape from the deserts of Gedrosa
Perhaps the object of Philadephus was so
to dazzle his subjects that they should for
get the domestic crimes with which he In
augurated his ascent to the throne. The
cost of the procession Is estimated at over
half million of our money. 1t lasted the
whole day. being opend by the figure of the
morning star and closed with that of Hes
perus. Eighty thousand troops, cavalry
and infantry. clad in gorgeous uniforms,
marched past. Although the festival was
held In winter. owing to the delicious Egyp-
tan climate abundance of fresh grapes
were provided on one of the great vehicles
OF the procession and a vintage scene faith
fully represented. To the sound of flute
and song. sixty satyrs. under the superln-
tendence of Silenus, bearing his symbolic
cantharus, trod out the grapes and flooded
the streets with foaming must.
"Cask" Of Leopard Hides.
Perhaps not the least appreciated part
Of the show was a car, 81 feet long by Il
broad. bearing gigantic utter made or
leopard hides and containing 1900 am
phorae of wine. AS the Greek amphorae is
equivalent to eight imperial gallons the
liquid contained in the utter would have
equaled the enormous quantity Of 24.OOO
gallons The sides must have been strength
ened with some material stronger than
leather to enable the skins to resist the
pressure of such weight of liquid. AS
the car moved along in the stately process
sion the wine was allowed slowly to flow
from 1t, so that the thirsty multitude could
fill their drinking vessels as 1t passed
The scholastic Latin term for w1neskin
Is utter, but the colloquial word used was
butts. and thus a small skin was the dim
!nutive buticula. From this buticula Is de-
rived our word bottle" and, with slight
linguistic modification. the same word has
been adopted in all modern languages
Although skins were never used for wine
In England, even when grape juice was fer
mented here, the leather bottle or black
jack was one of our earliest drinking ves-
sells. 1t is celebrated in many old English
ballads and is not an uncommon alehouse
emblem at the present day. Some OF these
leather bottles were silver lined and were
ornamented with silver bells. "to ring peais
of drunkenness" Becker says in hts
English Villanies Seven Times Pressed to
Death" When so ornamented they are
called "syngle boyes."
Shaped Like a Boot
Many of those in ordinary use were
made in the shape of a boot, which occa-
stoned the French prisoners to report on
their return to France that 1.-The English
men used to drink out of their bootes."
They evidently took the fancy. however. of
some of the French nobility, for In the ex-
penses Of John, King of France, when pris-
oner in England after the battle of Poic-
tiers. there is the following entry: pour
deux bouteilles de CUR achetees Londres
pour Monseigneur PHILIPPE, 9s 3d." no in
considerable price in those days, A. u.
1359-60.
AS the arts improved leather bottles were
supplemented. but not displaced, by YES
sells of clay, great care being taken in the
construction to avoid sandy earth or any
substance likely to be porous. These. like
the hides. partly to prevent the liquor from
exuding were all coated on the inside with
pitch. but principally an antiseptic to
keep the wine sound These vessels were
called amphorae and doubtless originally
held the standard gage of eight gallons. but
as their use became limited to, cellar stor-
age their size gradually increased, until
they attained frequently the capacity Of
100 gallons and upward.
The smaller amDhorae were made on the
potter's wheel, but the larger in molds sunk
in pits. where they were baked over fur
naces. In many of the modern bodegas in
Valdepenas wine Is still stored in similar
eartkenware vessels. narrow at the base
and widening upward. with arms or ears
on either side at the top, and every one