Grape Wine, God, and the Silk Road
The story of the grape wine across the Silk Road is an example of both convergence (the occurrence of similar phenomena in different places) and diffusion (the spread of a phenomenon from one place to another). The tale of Gilgamesh, which its earliest known poems date to the beginning of the second millennium BCE, portrays the ritual of drinking beer and red wine in Mesopotamia. The Wildman Enkidu joins humankind through lots of beer which Shamhat utilizes to lure him.
Alcoholic drinks in ancient Chinawere made from around 4000 BCE. Jiu – (酒) in Chinese –, which is the Chinese word for allalcoholic beverages, was critical in ritual sacrifices to ancestors and alsoserved to bring the living together.
However, grape wine– vitis vinifera – was not ubiquitous at first. Its universality across Eurasia was the product of the Silk Road diffusion. DNA research indicates that viniculture began in western Eurasia – in Caucasus during the Neolithic Period – and moved eastward. Discovered Neolithic sites in Azerbaijan and Dagestan reveal the evidence that grape was first domesticated in that region. From there, wine production became fully established throughout Mesopotamia and Mediterranean. Herodotus in the fifth century BCE tells us:
"They (Persians) are very fond of wine, and no one is allowed to vomit or urinate in the presence of another person. If an important decision is to be made, they discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision tor reconsideration when they are sober. If they still approve it, it is adopted; if not, it is abandoned. Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober, is reconsidered afterwards when they are drunk".
North India and Central Asia learned wine culture from Persians. The carved marks of some shrines and monasteries suggest that the Buddhist monks were making wine and also recognize the numinous aspect of wine to enhance worshipper’s connection to God.
But perhaps the most powerful role of the grape wine in the theater of the Silk Road can be attributed to both Arabic and Persian literature. In Sufism the amorous and ecstasy imbued by wine is equated with longing for Union with God.
Consider the thirteenth-century poet Ibn Farid:
In memory of the beloved ,,,,We drank a wine;
We were drunk with it ,,,, Before creation of the vine
The full moon its glass, the wine,,,, a sun circled by a crescent;
When it is mixed,,,, How many stars appear!
And of course an allegorical romance by Hafiz:
O Beloved, upon this river of wine, launch our boat-shaped cup,
And into this river throw those weeping with envy, too.
Wine bringer, throw a cask of wine into my boat,
For without that–for forty days and nights on the open sea–
I will die of thirst.
I am lost in this city and can no longer find the Winehouse door.
Please help me to find that street again where Love resides.
Bring me a cup of wine that is dark red and smells like musk.
Don’t bring me that expensive brand that tastes like money
and smells like lust.
Even though I am drunk and worthless, be kind to me,
And on this dark heart shine the light of Your smile.
If it’s sun at midnight that you desire, throw the veil from
The face of the rose, and you will have all the light you need.
If I die, don’t let them bury me in a dusty grave;
Take my corpse to the Winehouse and throw me into a cask of wine!
Hafiz, if you have had enough of this world and all its violence,
Then take up the cup, and from the inside let this liquid love make peace.
References and read more links:
The Silk Road , James A. Millward
Herodotus on Drinking Wine in the Achaemenid World: Greek and Persian Perceptions - Touraj Daryaee
Hafiz – The River of Wine , Scott Horton
Written by : Shahab Shafe
