Still, wine was the drink of the wealthy, or at least of those, as we should call them, “well to do.” They had a beer, which Diodorus calls _zythum_,[3] and which, he says, was scarcely inferior to the juice of the grape. This beer was made from barley, and, hops being unknown, it was flavoured with lupins and other vegetable substances. This old beer was called _hega_, and can be traced back as far as the 4th dynasty. Then they also had Palm wine, and another wine called _baga_, supposed to be made from dates or figs; and they also made wines from pomegranates and other fruits, and from herbs, such as rue, hellebore, absinthe, etc., which probably answered the purpose of our modern “bitters.” [Illustration] The Assyrians, who rank next in antiquity to the Egyptians, were no shunners of wine; they could drink sociably, and hob-nob together, as we see by the accompanying illustration. Their wine cups were, in keeping with all the dress and furniture of the royal palaces, exceedingly ornate; and it is curious to note the comparative barbarism of the wine skin, and the nervous beauty of the wine cups being filled by the effeminate eunuch. The numerous bas-reliefs which, happily, have been rescued, to our great edification, afford many examples of wine cups of very great beauty of form. The inscriptions give us a list of many wines, and among them was the wine of Helbon, which was grown near Damascus, at a village now called Halbûn. It is alluded to in Ezekiel xxvii. 18: “Damascus was thy merchant, by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.” Wm. St. Chad Boscawen, Esq., the eminent Assyriologist, has kindly favoured us with the following illustration and note on the subject of Assyrian wines:— [Illustration] “This list of wines is found engraved upon a terra-cotta tablet from the palace of Assur-ba-ni-pal, the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, and evidently represents the wines supplied to the royal table. It reads: Col. I. Wine of the Land of Izalli. Wine, the Drink of the King (_Daniel_ i. 5). Wine of the Nazahrie. Wine of Ra-h-ū (_Shepherds’ Wine_). Wine of Khabaru. Col. II. Wine of Khilbunn or Helbon. Wine of Arnabani (_North Syria_). Wine of Sibzu (_Sweet Wine_). Wine of Sa-ta-ba-bi-ru-ri (_which I think means Wines which from the Vineyard come not_). Wine of Kharrubi (_Wine of the Carrob or Locust bean_).”