Celtiberian Beer

The "Recipe"

Citation: 

[5] “Paulus Orosius,” Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paulus-Orosius (accessed Apr. 12, 2024).

The Barbarian's Beverage [2] quotes Orosius, a roman author, with the recipe I used for the beer. The original passage in latin is below followed by the translation provided.

"ultime omnes duabus subito portis eruperunt, larga prius potione usi non vini, cuius

ferax is locus non est, sed suco tritici per artem confecto, quem sucum a calefaciendo caeliam

vocant. | suscitatur enim igne illa vis germinis madefactae frugis ac deinde siccatur et post

in farinam redacta molli suco admiscetur; quo fermentato sapor austeritatis et calor

ebrietatis adicitur. hac igitur potione post longam famem recalescentes bello sese obtulerunt" [2]

"In the end, they [that is, the Numantians] all rushed suddenly from their two

gates, having before made great use of a drink which was not wine (of which this

fertile land is deprived), but with the juice of wheat made through skill, which

juice they call caelia from being heated [calefacio]. In fact the potency of the grain

of the soaked cereal is activated by this fire and then it is dried, and after being

reduced to flour is mixed with soft juice. With this fermentation, a flavour of

harshness and heat of intoxication is conferred. Therefore, warming themselves up

again with this drink after a long famine, they presented themselves for war." [2]

Classical and Medieval Latin translations to English are more detective/guesswork than modern translations, as the Latin language changed drastically throughout the ages and had many local dialects. One of the most curious phrases in this translation is the Latin "molli suco" translated here as "soft juice". The term juice in latin, suco, is used for more than just the fruit juice in the modern context. In Latin it is more of the essence of a thing, for example in this same statement they refer to beer as "wheat juice". The Lewis & Short Latin dictionary gives the noun sucus (a juice, moisture, sap, liquor ). The term "molli", as mentioned in the same dictionary comes as a verb mollio (to make soft, make supple, soften) or as a adjective mollis (yielding, pliant, flexible, supple, soft, tender, delicate, gentle, mild, pleasant). From this you can see that "molli succo" could mean a variety of things, not just the soft in touch fruit juice the English translation would imply. The context of the paragraph gives very few clues to what this could mean and to the modern reader it is very much up to interpretation and guesswork.

The following is the passage on Orosius (the author of the "recipe"). I would like to note that he lived nearly 500 years after the fall of Numancia and therefore the recipe is suspect at best.

"Paulus Orosius (flourished 414–417, probably Braga, Spain) was a defender of early Christian orthodoxy, theologian, and author of the first world history by a Christian.

As a priest, Orosius went to Hippo about 414, where he met St. Augustine. In 415 Augustine sent him to Palestine, where he immediately opposed Pelagianism. At a synod summoned that July by Bishop John of Jerusalem, Orosius ineffectively accused Pelagius of heresy.

Early in 416 he returned to Augustine, who asked him to compose a historical apology of Christianity, Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII (Eng. trans. by I.W. Raymond, Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans). This book chronicles the history of the world from its creation through the founding and history of Rome up until AD 417. In it Orosius describes the catastrophes that befell mankind before Christianity, arguing against the contention that the calamities of the late Roman Empire were caused by its Christian conversion. Orosius’ book enjoyed great popularity in the early Middle Ages, but only its narrative covering the years after AD 378 has any value to modern scholars."

The Pottery

Citation: 

   [6] Burillo Mozota, Francisco and Alzola Romero, Aarón (2005). Food, drink and the Other in the Celtiberian city-state of Segeda I (Zaragoza, Spain). Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 20(2) pp. 69–81. 

    [7] Á. Sánchez-Climent, C. Sánchez-Jiménez, F. Poblete, and M. Cerdeño, “ARCHAEOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CERAMICS FROM TWO CELTIBERIAN HILLFORTS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS,” Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 237–253, 2018. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1165362

Wine and beer residue on ceramics and other evidence from Zaragoza

"One of the most notable finds since the start of the Segeda Project has been made in

space 5 of area 2. Area 2 is located on the eastern slope of the Hill of Mara. It comprises

two contiguous houses and an access zone that cover an earlier fortified house abandoned

in the fifth century BCE. The house of sector 1 in area 2 was a two-storey building with a

quadrangular plant measuring approximately 90 m2. Its interior is divided into 6 spaces,

separated by dividing walls made of mud and dry mud bricks. Space 5, measuring

approximately 20 m2, is the largest. It consists of a room with whitewashed clay walls and a

black socle bordering the jamb of the door that leads to space 4. A large structure made of

plaster has been discovered in one of the corners of the room. The structure measures two

metres long by a metre wide, has a drain opening and is similar in shape to a bathtub.

Residue analyses carried out by J. Juan-Tresserras and J. C. Matamala (in press) on

samples obtained from the drain opening of the structure have demonstrated the presence of

tartrates, which are associated with wine deposits. Further analyses have revealed charred

Vitis vinifera seeds and remains of grapevine leaves in stratigraphic layers of space 5.

Moreover, ceramic vessels with traces of resin (which was used in the preservation of wine)

have been retrieved in space 5. The structure has thus been identified as a winepress with a

2,000-litre capacity, exceeding by far the requirements of a domestic use and corroborating

the existence of a local wine industry in Segeda I.

From a classical perspective, beer was the barbarian drink par excellence. It was

regarded as a vulgar, non-sophisticated product, only consumed by those who could not

afford wine, could not grow vineyards in their lands or simply did not know any better.

According to Greek and Roman authors, when barbarians obtained wine they drank it in a

laughable and brutish manner, not as an element of social interaction. Strabo, in the

aforementioned Book III of his Geographia, where he referred to the Turdetanii as ‘almost

civilised people’ and praised the quality of their oil and wine, writes about the peoples of

the Hispanic hinterland (Astures, Cántabros and Vascones in this case) and affirms that

‘(…) these people know beer. They only drink wine in rare occasions, and the wine they

have they drink fast in feasts with their kin’. What is more, barbarians earned a reputation

for drinking the little wine they had pure, without mixing it with water. This was not only

socially unacceptable for Greeks and Romans (who drank their wine diluted and frequently

perfumed), but in fact degrading as well as a health threat, for it was thought that pure wine

led to insanity.

The presence of Vitis vinifera seeds on sites throughout different areas of the Iberian

Peninsula is not uncommon. In fact recent chloroplast DNA studies reveal that the

domestication of this plant appears to have originated from two foci in Europe: Greece and

the Iberian Peninsula (Arroyo-García et al. 2002: 1142). Charred Vitis vinifera seeds have

been found in the Celtiberian region on sites dating to the sixth century BCE, such as

Cabezo de la Cruz de la Muela (Zaragoza) (Burillo and Fanlo 1979). However, carpological

studies suggest that in many of these cases the grapes were being consumed as fruit and not

processed into wine. Moreover, the quantity and quality of other elements of evidence, such

as the presence of a Greek kylix cup and an oinochoe on the site of Cuarte de Huerva

(Zaragoza) suggest a minor use of wine in relation to the coastal areas.

In the Mid Ebro Valley, where Segeda is located, the first reliable indications of the

consumption of wine date to the period covered by the Pacts of Gracchus (179 to 153

BCE). However, it was only after the Roman invasion—and particularly during the

Imperial Period—that wine started penetrating the interior of Hispania as a relatively

common product. In this sense, Segeda’s local production and consumption of wine (in a

period of confrontations that eventually brought Rome against Segeda I itself with the start

of the Celtiberian Wars) takes on an interesting political and economic significance. Until

the discovery of the winepress in area 2, wine consumption in Segeda was thought to be

exclusively linked with Italic imports, which are evidenced by finds of fine ware and

amphorae fragments.

Contents analyses of microscopic remains and organic compounds carried out by J.

Juan-Tresserras and J.C. Matamala (in press) on various vessels of Segeda I have provided

interesting results regarding the consumption of drinks in the settlement. Vessel number

1327, for instance, is a handmade cup in which tartrates were identified. Tartrates were also

discovered in cup 1194—a Celtiberian wheel- made crater. On the other hand, traces of

oxalate—deposits associated with beer—were found in container number 4447, a handmade

cup. Although this cup’s form might be interpreted as a simple shape that could have

evolved from earlier indigenous models, the fact is that there is no known equivalent in the

indigenous archaeological record of earlier chronologies. The cup’s closest analogy is, we

believe, the Lamboglia 25 black gloss form, which, in a Roman context, would be

associated with the consumption of wine.

As well as the local pottery production, imported Italic forms associated with the

consumption of wine have been found in Segeda I. Examples of this are the amphora neck

retrieved from a water tank in area 2 (its typological categorisation lying between the last

Graeco-Italic productions of Sicily, Calabria and the later Dressel IA forms of the Italian

Tyrrenic coast) and fragments of black gloss bowls and cups that probably arrived into the

city through the same commercial routes as the amphorae containing the wine. Four

Campanian A fragments (two bases and two rims) belonging to a Lamboglia 31b type,

which is associated with the overseas export of wine from Campania to the western

territories, were retrieved in area 2. Thus, in conjunction with the production and

consumption of local wine (with its respective associated indigenous drinking ware), Italic

wine was imported, transported in Italic containers, consumed in Italic fine ware, and

perhaps even drunk in the Italic fashion.

What is more, several indigenous vessels retrieved in Segeda I are local adaptations

and imitations of the genuine Roman imports (particularly of black gloss fine ware). An

interesting example is a Celtiberian cup modelled after a Morel 68 black gloss form with

slightly simplified handles and a smaller size, as can be observed when compared to a

genuine Roman Morel 68 cup retrieved in area 4 of Segeda. The Celtiberian cup is

decorated with black wavy lines, which is a particularly common motif in the region, as

evidenced by the pottery of the site Alto Chacón (Atrián 1976), thus incorporating a local

element to a Mediterranean influence.

Hence, an examination of the archaeological record of Segeda I indicates that wine

and beer were far from mutually exclusive elements or opposite poles. In fact, there is no

evidence to suggest that they were even indicative of aspects such as ethnic identity, status

or social complexity in the settlement. Both drinks coexisted throughout different sectors of

the site (including areas inhabited by different ‘tribes ’, such as the Titthi and the Belli);

they are associated with a varied set of vessel forms—both locally made and imported—

and affected by an array of external influences and local traditions." [6]

Celtiberian Overview

Citation: 

    [1] F. B. Mozata, “Celtiberians: Problems and Debates,” e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, vol. 6, no. 8, 2005.

Available at: https://dc.uwm.edu/ekeltoi/vol6/iss1/8

     [3] “Numantia,” Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Numantia (accessed Apr. 12, 2024).

     [4] A. T.- Gesdinet, “Numancia: Visitar El Yacimiento: Hand mills,” NUMANCIA SORIA, https://numanciasoria.es/en/visitar-el-yacimiento/hand-mills (accessed Apr. 12, 2024).

"Numantia, a Celtiberian town (now Garray), near modern Soria in Spain on the upper Douro (Duero) River. Founded on the site of earlier settlements by Iberians who penetrated the Celtic highlands about 300 BC, it later formed the centre of Celtiberian resistance to Rome, withstanding repeated attacks by Cato the Censor (195 BC), Quintus Fulvius Nobilior (153), Marcus Claudius Marcellus (152), Quintus Pompeius (140), and Popillius Laenas (139–138). In 137 the Numantines not only defeated but captured the army of Gaius Hostilius Mancinus. The army was saved by the diplomacy of Tiberius Gracchus, but the treaty was rejected by the Roman Senate on the motion of Scipio Aemilianus. The Senate sent Mancinus back to Numantia, which refused to accept him, and the command was given to Scipio Aemilianus (Numantius). He blockaded the town in 133 by establishing six miles (10 km) of continuous ramparts around it. After an eight-month siege, Numantia was reduced by hunger, and the survivors capitulated, its destruction ending all serious resistance to Rome in Celtiberia. Numantia was later rebuilt by the emperor Augustus, but it had little importance. It was abandoned in the 4th century AD. " [3]

The Celtiberian farming focused on cereal grains (common and hard wheat, barley, oats and millet [1]) and acorns. The grinding of both was done with querns (earlier finds are saddle querns and later are rotary querns) [4]. Photos of the querns found at the Numancia site are shown below.

The Barbarian's Beverage: A History of Beer in Ancient Europe

Citation: 

[2] M. Nelson, BARBARIAN’S BEVERAGE : a History of Beer in Ancient Europe. 2005.