The unknown Aigosthenitis wine of Megara
«Passum is sweeter to drink than Aigosthenitis and Cretan wine.» POLYBIUS A recent column made extensive reference to the historian Polybius (204-122 BC), showing that a drink made from raisins and known to the Romans as passum tasted like wines from Aigosthena and Crete. It concluded that mercenaries, the Ptolemies’ naval port, and sailors all helped spread the fame of Cretan wine, long before it was sent abroad in amphoras to be sold. Today’s piece deals with the Aigosthenitis sweet wine. What was this wine, for which there is no literary or archaeological evidence? It came from Aigosthena, a Megarian city, situated in an inlet of the Alkyonis sea, the ruins of which are to be found by Porto Germeno bay. According to Pausanias in «Attica» (44-45), «The highland area of Megara abuts on Boeotia. Within this area is the city Palai of Megara, and another, Aigosthena.» About 15 kilometers (almost ten miles) separate Alepohori from Porto Germeno, as the two small harbors in the Corinthian Gulf where these two Megarian cities were located are known today. Megara also had two important ports: Nisaia to the east, near present-day Pachi, and Payes to the west. According to Strabo in «Geographica» (8.334), the two ports were at the opposite ends of the shortest direct route linking the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs, which was about 120 stades or about 20 kilometers (12 miles) long. Nowadays the Pachi-Alepohori road is 23 kilometers long. In wineskins Aigosthena, a Megarian township was linked to Payes via Psatha by a rough mountain road, says N. Papahatzis in «Pausanius’ ‘Attica,’» (Pub. Ekdotiki Athinon, 1974). So Aigosthenitis wine was carried to the two ports and the hinterland in wineskins made of perishable material that has disappeared without a trace, as in the case of Phliasios wine, the forerunner of today’s Nemea wines. Even in the first half of the 20th century, wine from Megara was taken down to the port of Pachi in wineskins. Just as Phliasios wine became known to Greeks from everywhere who attended the festivities for the Nemean games, where local wine was available in abundance, so Aigosthenitis wine owed its fame to the Melampodion, the renowned sanctuary of Melampoda, in whose honor the people of Aigosthena arranged sacrifices and an annual feast, according to Pausanius, as well as games, as the epigraphical evidence shows. If that sanctuary were not there, Pausanius would not have made the effort of going as far as Aigosthena, and if the wine was not well known, Polybius would not have mentioned it. I have no doubt that Polybius compared two wines with the Roman passum, aware that Aigosthenitis was well known in mainland Greece (Megaris, Attica, the Peloponnese and Boeotia), and Cretan wine in the whole Greek world. This testimony of his brought to light this interesting but unknown wine, for which there is no literary or archaeological evidence, even of organized trade by sea. Now, thanks to his evidence, we know not only its place of origin and the name by which the wine was known in antiquity, but also the production method, which was none other than Hesiod’s method of using grapes half-dried in the sun, and even its characteristic features. It was a very sweet wine, like the Byblos wine Hesiod drank at Askra, Boeotia; like a heavy Vinsanto from Santorini, made to the recipe described by Georgios Venetsanos in a new book now in press. The natural factor Polybius’ account also provides more information indirectly: During the second century BC, no other wine from the area now known as Attica, Boeotia and the Peloponnese was as sweet – or at least as well known – as Aigosthenitis, so as to be compared with passum wine. So the soil and climate conditions in the area where this well-known wine was produced must have been especially favorable for over-ripening and sun-drying grapes. I visited Aigosthena 30 years ago, going down from Villia to Porto Germeno, and I still remember how impressed I was by the difference in the landscape as we drew nearer the sea: The volcanic soil, the heat – since we were surrounded by mountains – and the invigorating sea breeze. Now that Polybius has taken me back mentally to Aigosthena, I realize that the area was an isolated vine-growing islet, at the southern foot of Kithairon, and suited to the production of very sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes. Though the names of the sea and islets opposite Aigosthena – Alkyonis, or Halcyon Sea, Alkyonides Isles or Good Isles – are connected with one of the myths about the Halcyon, they are also indicative of the particularly mild climate in the area that gave birth to Aigosthenitis wine. Myths and sacred events The name of its place of origin, Aigosthena, and the sanctuary of Melampoda, a Dionysian form, lead us to Attic and Boeotian myths of Dionysus Melan-aegida, or Dionysus of the Black Aegis, and the Tristirika, the mysterious maenad rites held chiefly on Kithairon. A site of Dionysian myths and sacred events is connected with the wine revealed to us by Polybius, demonstrating yet again that the fame of a wine is inextricably intertwined with the history of its place of origin. Foretaste of a symposium This is a foretaste of a speech I will make at symposium, «Megaris: Its Viticultural History,» on May 18 at Ktima Evharis, Mourtiza, Megara. Scientists from various disciplines will share their knowledge of vine-growing, wine production and the wine trade in the area from the classical and Byzantine periods, to the time of Turkish rule and up to the present day. The setting for the symposium will be charming, as Eva and Haris Antoniou have established their vineyard, winery and fine conference center on a site with a spectacular view. It was a vine-growing area in the past, as the many surviving wine presses bear witness.
