Danijel Dzino Sabaiarius: Beer, wine and Ammianus Marcellinus In 365 CE the rebellion of the usurper Procopius was raging in Asia Minor, endangering the position of the newly proclaimed emperors Valentinian I and his brother and co-ruler of the East, Valens. 1 Valentinian let his younger brother deal with this rebellion on his own, being already militarily engaged on the northern frontiers. Valens was distracted by simultaneous problems arising on the lower Danube and the eastern border and thus faced initial troubles in dealing with the rebellion.2 In late 365 Valens was besieging Chalcedon, an important stronghold of the usurper. 3 It was a military stand-off; despite many attempts, imperial troops could not take the city by assault, and there was no time for a long siege as the attackers lacked provisions, and rebels could not get out and break the siege.4 Nothing really important for history and the historian seems to be there in that particular moment. However, one of the insults shouted by Procopius' supporters from the walls of Chalcedon was so strikingly significant that the source of historian Ammianus Marcellinus, most certainly one of the eyewitnesses, remembered it well. 5 Ammianus, never being really fond of Valens and Valentinian, 6 singled this insult out and preserved it for posterity. The choir of Cf. R. Till, "Die Kaiserproklamation des Usurpators Procopius", Jahrbuch far friinkische Landesforschung 34/35 (1974/75), 75-83; R.C. Blockley, Ammianus Marce//inus: A study of his historiography and political thought (Collection Latomus 141) (Brussels 1975), 55-62; N.J.E. Austin, Ammianus on Warfare (Collection Latomus 165) (Brussels 1979), 88-92; J. Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (London 1988), 191-197, for a different aspect of the rebellion. 2 The sources: Amm. Marc. 26.6-10; Zos. 4.5-8; Socr., Hist. eccl. 4.3-8. Cf. Amm. 26.6.4-5; 8.2; 31.1.4; Socr., Hist. eccl. 4.8. 4 Valens adopted a vigorous but unsuccessful strategy in 365, trying to take Constantinople and extinguish the rebellion as soon as possible (Austin, Ammianus on Warfare, 89). He was almost captured by the rebels after retreating from the siege ofChalcedon (Amm. 26.8.2-3). 5 Cf. E.A. Thompson, The Historical Work of Ammianus Marcellinus (Gronningen 1969), 20- 42, esp. 39, on the oral sources of Ammianus Marcellinus. N.J.E. Austin, "A Usurper's Claim to Legitimacy: Procopius in AD 365/6", Rivista storica dell 'antichita 2 ( 1972), 182, argues that the source was favourable towards Procopius. 6 These were largely unsupported allegations by Ammianus, as the brothers did not show more (or less) capability for ruling the empire, nor were they more or less cruel than other rulers (A. Alfoldy, A Conflict of Ideas in the Late Roman Empire: The clash between the senate and Valentinian I, trans. H. Mattingly [Oxford 1952], 3-4, 118 n. 1; Blockley, Ammianus, 46 ff). Ammianus merely reflected a variety of contemporary opinions, cf. M. Humphries, "Nee metu nee adulandi foeditate constricta: the image of Valentinian I from Symmachus to Ammianus", Feast, Fast or Famine. Food and Drink in Byzantium, ed. W. Mayer and S. Trzcionka, Byzantina Australiensia 15 (Brisbane 2005), 57-68. 58 Danijel Dzino defenders repeatedly ridiculed the emperor, calling him 'sabaiarius' .7 Sabaia was, as Ammianus described it, a liquor made from barley or some other grain, usually drunk by the poor in Illyricum; therefore it was a kind of barley beer. 8 Thus sabaiarius meant nothing more than a 'beer-man', or rather a 'beer drinker'. 9 The emperor was of Illyrian origin; his father was born in Cibalae (modern day Vinkovci) in Pannonia. '°From Ammianus' account we also know that Valens was a pot-bellied fellow, 11 perhaps because of his love for sabaia. This insult from the rebels most certainly made him angry for a while, as he could not do anything about it; it was some time at least before he got his revenge, demolishing the walls of Chalcedon in order to construct baths in Constantinople. 12 This paper will try to see why sabaiarius was such a derogatory expression and analyse what Ammianus perhaps wanted to say with that label, besides the obvious insult of Val ens as a drunkard and barbarian. 13 In order to understand the immense complexity hidden behind that word, it is necessary to look into the beer geography of ancient continental Europe, the different drinking cultures of Mediterranean and continental Europe, and Graeco-Roman contempt for beer drinkers, returning finally to the Pannonian emperors of late antiquity and the episode described. What are the other references to sabaia and beer drinking in Illyricum? St Jerome, born and raised in Stridon, in the hinterland of Tarsatica, 14 mentioned that a drink named sabaium was made by the native population in Pannonia and Dalmatia, and he described it as a kind of zythos (beer brewed in Egypt). 15 Cassius in J.W. Drijvers and D. Hunt (eds), The Late Roman World and its Historian (London and New York 1999), 117-126. Cf. n. 60 below. 7 Amm. 26.8.2: " ... cuius e muris probra in eum iaciebantur, et irrisive compellebatur ut Sabaiarius." 8 Ancient beer was a malt liquor close to ale. Cf. R.C. Engs, "Do Traditional Western European Practices Have Origins in Antiquity?", Addiction Research 2(3) (1995), 236 n. 5. 9 As it seems, sabaia I sabaium was a native word from Illyricum, (indoeuropean *sab- = liquid) (H. Krahe, Die Sprache der Jllyrier [Wiesbaden 1955], 38, §29), and sabaiarius could also be a word for a beer-brewer ( as in cervesia-cervesarius CIL 13.10012. 7), A. Meier, Die srache der a/ten Jllyrier I (Vienna 1957), 287-288. 1 Amm. 30.7.2; Alfoldy, A Conflict of Ideas, 9. 11 Amm. 31.14.7: " ... exstanteque mediocriter ventre". 12 Socr., Hist. eccl. 4.8; Amm. 31.1.4. Cf. Amm. 26.10.6-14; Zos. 4.8.4-5; Eunapius, FHG 4.35 (= R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire 2 [Liverpool 1983], 50 [6.34.9]) on the ferocity of Valens' revenge against the supporters of Procopius. 13 "L'injure etait done double elle faisait apparaitre Valens comme un buveur et comme un barbare", in M.A. Marie (ed.), Ammien Marcelin: Histoire, vol. 5 (Paris 1984), 244 n. 107. 14 The hinterland of the modem city of Rijeka. See M. Suic, "Hieronimus Stridonian - Citizen ofTarsatica", Rad JAZU (The Works of Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts) 426/24 (1986), 213-278, who provides the best modem location for the otherwise unknown Stridon, located laconically by Jerome, De vir. Ill. 135, on "Dalmatiae quondam Pannoniaeque confinium". 15 Jerome, Comm. in lsai. 7.19: " ... gentili barbaroque sermone appellatur sabaium". Jerome was not of native origin, nor did he speak the language(s) of the native population in Illyricum (Suic, "Hieronimus", 268-270). A. Valino, "La cervesa en las fuentes romanas: base textual y .