Bolton AES Lecture - Wine in Ancient Egypt
17th June 2026 - 7.30 pm
Speaker:
Prof Joann Fletcher - Dept. of Archaeology, University of York
Professor Jo Fletcher was back in Greater Manchester again in June to present the Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society’s final lecture of the season. Professor Fletcher also presented the 2026 Lotus Chalice Award, on behalf of the Society.
Once again, this year Jo wrote a lecture which related to Bolton’s Lotus Chalice (likely to have been used as a drinking vessel) and told us all about wine in Ancient Egypt, where it came from and where it was used.
Northern Egypt was an early adopter of wine, importing it from the Levant, around 3,600 years ago (though they had been drinking it in the Levant for 400 years before that!). Wine was used for drinking, of course, but also in food (e.g. figs soaked in wine) and as ritual libations. Around 3,000 years ago Egypt also started to import the vines and skills needed to set up their own vineyards and domestic production began (the tomb of Khaemouaset, 18th Dynasty).
Wine products were often included in the possessions placed into tombs for the afterlife and these vessels were often left behind by tomb robbers who were, presumably, after the highest value goods. Therefore, many wine vessels have been found intact and it is analysis of these vessels that has given us many clues into ancient Egyptian wine. For instance, traces of pine resin have been found in chemical analysis. This could suggest that they added resin to wine to flavour it, like retsina. Or maybe the resin was used to seal the wine vessels against oxygen ingress. Grape skins, yeast and traces of figs have also been found by analysis of these ancient wine vessels.
Jo gave us examples of where wine was likely to have been used ritually, for libations. For example to gods like Sekhmet, also known as Hathor) and she had recreated a monumental wine offering in her BBC programme “Egypts Lost Queen” in 2020 (BBC Two – Egypt’s Lost Queens).
And it was good to learn that wine was, of course, drunk for pleasure. This perhaps reached its peak in the Ptolomaic dynasty (Alexander the Great, the founder of this dynasty, modelled himself on Dionysos). Wine had been imported from Greece for some time by then, Greek traders had settled in Naukratis, expanding the Egyptian wine industry and making it available to all as a drink. One event was said to have had stores of 30,000 gallons of wine for the party.
Joann ended with Queen Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolomaic dynasty and the last pharaoh of Egypt. She famously made history’s most famous cocktail when she drank a huge pearl, dissolved in wine. It was also said that, the night before she and Mark Anthony killed themselves, a ghostly procession left Alexandria, led by Dionysos: a wine-based omen of her death and the end of a historic period that had featured wine so prominently.
We will look forward to seeing Joann, back in Greater Manchester again, at some point in the future. In the meantime, she has curated the exhibition, running at Barnsley Museum until February 2027: Cleopatra and the Queens of Egypt.
About the speaker
Professor Fletcher is an expert in the subject of body adornment in the ancient world: in particular, the use of wigs, perfumes, tattoos, cosmetics and amulets. Her research involves the study of human remains, not just from Egypt but from ancient cultures around the world.
Joann is a valued friend of the Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society and has given us lots of support over the years.
Interested in coming along to a lecture?
See the current year’s lecture programme here:
Or find out more about membership of Bolton’s Archaeology and Egyptology Society here:
