Posca: ‘Wine Of The People’ Was Popular In Ancient Rome And Greece

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - While pulque (“Drink of the Gods”) is Mexico’s oldest alcoholic beverage of the Maya, Aztecs, Huastec and other cultures in ancient Mesoamerica, posca was the ‘wine of the people’ in ancient Rome and Greece around the second century BC.

At first, posca (the Latin Potor (to drink) or from the Greek epoxos (very sharp), was a medical mixture prepared from sour wine or vinegar with water. Recent studies have shown that posca was actually quite healthy. It had health benefits because it contained vitamin C and its strong acidity easily killed all harmful bacteria. Added flavoring herbs and spices (especially coriander seeds), made posca taste much better.

In ancient Rome, drinking undiluted wine was considered barbaric. Wine concentrate (must) diluted
with water was drunk and posca - the ancient equivalent to cheap 3-2 beer of today - was a particularly common drink among the poorer classes of the society due to its low price and low alcohol content.

Soon the drink also gained popularity among the Roman soldiers and the slaves of ancient Rome.

The widespread use of posca, throughout the Roman period from the 300-200 BC and at the beginning of the Byzantine period, is attested by numerous references in ancient sources such as the natural histories of Pliny the Elder to the comedies of Plautus (second century BC). In the Byzantine army the drink was actually called the phouska.

See also:

Pulque: Ancient Drink Of The Gods Is Popular Again But It Has Odd Side-Effects

Scipio Africanus – Rome’s Greatest General Who Defeated Unbeatable Hannibal

Mead: Secret Drink Of The Vikings And Gods – Was It An Ancient Antibiotic?

Some of the higher ranks of the Romans drinking posca was Scipio Africanus, general and the greatest of the famous Roman family of the Scipios, aristocrats and militaries that commanded armies in the Empire, and Metellus, a prominent politician, who in this way wanted to express their solidarity with army soldiers.

As recorded by biographer, essayist, philosopher, Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD), yet another posca drinker was a Roman senator and historian, Cato the Elder (234–149 BC) and according to the Roman collection of biographies known as “Historia Augusta”, Hadrian (Roman emperor from 117 to 138) who "actually led a soldier’s life”, was also one of the posca drinkers when in military campaigns.

The same source records that by Hadrian’s time, sour wine was a standard part of the normal "camp fare" (cibus castrensis). Officially, a decree dated to 360 AD instructed that lower ranks of the Roman army should drink posca and wine on alternate days.

No exact recipe for the drink survived until today. However, the drink can be recreated according to this recipe:

Posca recipe
1.5 cups of red wine vinegar.
0.5 cups of honey.
1 tablespoon of crushed coriander seed.
4 cups of water.
Boil it so that the honey dissolves.
Let it cool down so that it reaches room temperature.
Filter the coriander seeds.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

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