Passum
Encyclopedia
Passum was a raisin wine (wine from semi-dried grape
s) apparently developed in ancient Carthage
and transmitted from there to Italy
, where it was popular in the Roman Empire
. The earliest surviving instruction constitutes the only known Carthaginian recipe. It is a fragment from the Punic
farming manual by Mago (agricultural writer)
in its Latin translation by Decimus Junius Silanus (2nd century BC). It survives because it was summarised by Columella
(1st century AD):
Later, less detailed, instructions are found in other Latin and Greek
sources.
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s) apparently developed in ancient Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
and transmitted from there to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where it was popular in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The earliest surviving instruction constitutes the only known Carthaginian recipe. It is a fragment from the Punic
Punic language
The Punic language or Carthagian language is an extinct Semitic language formerly spoken in the Mediterranean region of North Africa and several Mediterranean islands, by people of the Punic culture.- Description :...
farming manual by Mago (agricultural writer)
Mago (agricultural writer)
Mago was a Carthaginian writer, author of an agricultural manual in Punic which was a record of the farming knowledge of Carthage. The Punic text has been lost, but some fragments of Greek and Latin translations survive....
in its Latin translation by Decimus Junius Silanus (2nd century BC). It survives because it was summarised by Columella
Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella is the most important writer on agriculture of the Roman empire. Little is known of his life. He was probably born in Gades , possibly of Roman parents. After a career in the army , he took up farming...
(1st century AD):
Mago
Later, less detailed, instructions are found in other Latin and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
sources.
See also
- Passito, the modern Italian wine made in this fashion. A notable passito comes from PantelleriaPantelleriaPantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
, an island in the Sicily Channel not far from the site of Carthage.