Des amphores rouges et des jarres vertes

Abstract

Abstract The prohibition of fermented beverages in Muslim societies was the result of an interpretative process that developed over time. The Qurʾān serves as a witness to the prohibition of wine (khamr), but is silent about other types of beverages. Documentary sources show that Egyptian authorities in the first century ah stimulated the production and drinking of fermented beverages by requisitioning wine for Arab-Muslim troops, who especially appreciated ṭilāʾ, the Arabic name for a cooked wine known in Greek as hepsēma. Under the influence of jurists (mainly from the Hijaz) who condemned the drinking of fermented beverages, the caliph ʿUmar ii b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz decreed, at the turn of the second century, the prohibition of ṭilāʾ and related drinks. Early debates over the lawfulness of fermented beverages discuss pitched and glazed jars whose impermeability permits fermentation. Based on a comparison between pre-canonical hadith collections and archaeological evidence, we identify the main Egyptian amphorae that were controversial. Whereas in the second/eighth century, legal debates focused primarily on pitched and glazed jars, the extension of the prohibition to all fermented beverages in the third/ninth century led to the rejection of all amphorae.