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36
DRINKS.
.
to
those
of
the
murex.
Stolberg
{Travels^
ix.
280)
says
he
saw
in
a
collection
at
Catania
a
little
blue
vase,
believed
to
be
a
vas
murrhinum.
The
modern
jars
in
any
of the
wine
districts
of
Italy,
such
as
Asti
Montepulciano
or
Montefiascone,
thin
earthen
two-handled
vessels
holding
some
twenty
quarts,
are
almost
identical
with
the
ancient
amphorcB,
Suetonius
speaks
of
a
candidate
for
the
quaestorship
who
drank
the
contents
of
a
whole
amphora
at
a
dinner
given
by
Tiberius.
This
amphora
was
probably
of
a
smaller
size.
Wooden
vessels
for
wine
seem
to
have
been
unfamiliar
to
the
Greeks
and
Romans
;
they,
however,
occasionally
em-
ployed
glass..
Bottles,
vases,
and
cups
of
that
material,
which
may
be
seen
often
enough
now
in
collections
of
antiquities;
show
the
great
taste
which
in
these
and
in
other
matters
they
possessed.
A
few
of
these
are
given
to
illustrate
our
text.
Skins
of
animals,
ren-
dered
impervious
by
oil
or
resinous
gums,
were
probably
the
most
ancient
receptacles
for
wine
after
it
was
taken
from
the
vat.
To
these there
are
fre-
quent
allusions
in
Homer
and
Isaiah.
Vessels
of
clay,
with
a
coating
of
pitch,
were
introduced
subsequently.