Wine culture in Iran and neighbouring countries

Starting from important new archaeological findings and insights that have led to a rethinking of the history of viticulture in Iran and its wider Asian context, this volume explores various aspects of the cultural, social and political significance of grape wine in the Iranian cultural sphere. It assembles specialized studies and interpretative essays ranging from the question of the origins of viticulture and winemaking and the trade of wine between the Iranian plateau and China to viticulture and wine consumption in 20th-century Kafiristan, from the place of intoxicating beverages in hadith to the nature and function of wine in classical Persian poetry and Iranian architecture, from the ambiguities of alcohol in pre-modern Persia to the challenges of modernity and colonial encounters.

• Patrick E. McGovern: “Iranian Wine at the “Dawn of Viniculture”
• Peter Kupfer: “Rethinking the History of China’s Grape Wine Culture”
• Ulf Jäger: “Wine on the Northern Silk Road in Pre-Islamic Times”
• Max Klimburg: “Viticulture in Kafiristan”
• Stefanie Brinkmann: “Wine in adth – from Intoxication to Sobriety”
• Rudi Matthee: “The Ambiguities of Alcohol in Iranian History: Between Excess and Abstention”
• Willem Floor: “The Culture of Wine Drinking in Pre-Mongol Iran”
• Morris Rossabi: “Alcohol and the Mongols: Myth and Reality”
• Giorgio Rota: “Some Remarks on Wine Consumption as a Political Factor under the Safavids”
• Florian Schwarz: “Preliminary Notes on Viticulture and Winemaking in Colonial Central Asia”
• Bert G. Fragner: “Drinking Wine in Iran under the Reign of Aryamehr”
• Dariush Borbor: “The Influence of Wine Culture in Iranian Architecture and the Region”
• Mehr A. Newid: “Wenn die Liebe trunken macht – Bemerkungen zum Wein in der persischen Literatur”
• Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak: “Āb-e Ātaš Zāy (Fire Breeding Liquid)”