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györgy spiró
Sanhedrin as it was called in
Judaea, the council which met
at irregular intervals to decide
on the affairs of the various
congregations, as it had an
interest in seeing that one
and all purchased the produce
of the official Transtiberian
Jewish slaughtermen, and
should only drink wine that
was sold by the powerful
Jewish wine victualers of
Rome. It was possible to make
an even bigger profit on wine
than onmeat because drinking
wine was compulsory on feast
days; wine victualers also sold
the two-handled flasks, fired
from white clay and freed of
impurities, from which the
wine was supposed to be
drunk. Romans, both Jews
and non-Jews alike, drank
a lot of wine because wine
did not loosen the bowels,
whereas water often did.
Somehow, the same victualers
who shipped pure olive oil
from Palestine to the Roman
communities, as the use of
Italian oil was judged a capital
offense, upheld time and time
again by the leadership of
the congregations, given that
substantial numbers of wine
and oil importers were to be
found among the elders of
this collective leadership.
Uri self-righteously consumed
a good deal less of the
ration than he was entitled
by its regulators, so that he
too, along with his father,
could consider himself a
breadwinner. On the days his
ration was be handed to him,
the whole family would be
with him, which is to say his
father,mother, and twosisters;
together they would all carry
their allotment back home.
The wealthier among them
would go with a handcart;
they rest would take sacks
and wicker baskets, because
a handcart was too expensive.