page_title: Palestinian wine
section_title: Roman and Byzantine period
hierarchical_section_title: Palestinian wine / Roman and Byzantine period
caption_attribution_description: English: Palestinean amphorae in Bodrum Castle (Turkey)
context_page_description: Palestinian wine has been in production since ancient times. In the region of Palestine, the use of wine was not only an important factor in religious ritual, but also a necessity for social interaction, general dietary consumption and medicinal purposes. During the Byzantine period, large-scale production led to international commerce in the commodity, and Palestinian wine was exported around the Mediterranean region. Production by Christians diminished with the Islamic conquest in the 7th century and was temporarily revived with the settlement of Frankish Christians under the Crusades in the 1100s. Jews continued to cultivate vineyards in the late 15th century into the Ottoman period. The first modern wineries were established by German settlers at Sarona in 1874/5 and by Jews at Rishon LeZion in 1882.
context_section_description: Vines were among the three major crops cultivated in Roman and Byzantine Palestine and there are numerous remains of ancient winery installations. Wine was produced throughout the region, from the fertile plains in the north, to the arid areas of the Negev. In Akhziv, an enormous press with the capacity for 59,000 litres was dated to the 4th century. Archaeology suggests that there was a substantial increase in production in the early Byzantine period and most the large-scale presses date to this era. The rabbis of the Talmudic era devoted much attention to wine production and commerce and instituted many laws religious pertaining to it. Although the Talmud states that "the wine of Tyre was cheaper than Palestinian wine," nowhere does it mention that wine was ever exported abroad. Various other sources from the Byzantine period reveal that this indeed occurred. Around the mid-fourth century, the anonymous writer of Expositio totius mundi et gentium states: "Ashkelon and Gaza…export the best wine to all Syria and Egypt." Transport jars or amphorae have been found in large quantities at various Mediterranean sites, at harbours and as parts of shipwrecked cargos off the shores of Cyprus, Greece and Asia Minor. Significant international trade in Palestinian wine started in the early 5th century, and lasted another 250 years. The deposits of Palestinian amphorae in foreign regions is substantial. They show that Palestinian wines were exported as far as Spain, Gaul and even Wales. In this period, they accounted for 45% of amphorae found in Carthage, 20% at 6th-century Argos and Marseille and 16% at Naples in the 7th century. It is assumed that the Palestinian Bag Jar, one of the most common forms of pottery to be found in the southern Levant, carried white Palestinian wine when exported. John the Almsgiver (7th-cent.) is said to have admired the aromatic bouquet of the expensive Palestinian wine he was offered in Alexandria. Coming from the land of the Bible, Palestinian wine appealed to Christian priests for use during the Eucharist.
caption: Roman-era Palestinian amphorae, Bodrum Castle, Turkey
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