Hadrianic Amphorae (full article)
Here is my Jewish Link article for this week:
A Mishnah in Avodah Zarah 3:2 enumerates of gentile items origin whose prohibition encompasses all benefit: wine, vinegar derived from wine, Hadrianic earthenware (חֶרֶס הַדְרְיָינִי), and hides with a tear opposite the heart. The gemara on Avodah Zarah 32a considers this Hadrianic pottery, to explain its identity and thus why it may be forbidden in benefit.
Rav Yehuda, a second-generation Bablyonian Amora, quotes his teacher Shmuel, a first-generation Babylonian Amora, that this is earthenware of the Roman emperor Hadrian (הַדְרְיָינוּס). Third-generation Rav Dimi, who often carried ideas from the Land of Israel, especially from second-generation Rabbi Yochanan, came to Bavel and explained: There was an expanse of virgin soil, untilled by human hands. He tilled it and planted grapevines in it. They place wine from these grapes in white jugs which absorb the wine. They would break the jugs into shards and carry it with them as they traveled (דָרוּ). Wherever they stopped, they would soak (תָּרוּ, from שרו; Munich again has דָרוּ) the shards in water and drink it1. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, a first-generation Amora of the Land of Israel, said: our first (rate wine, or first produced wine) is like their third (rate, or third soaking).
The movement back and forth in time between Amoraim is slightly strange, but the discussion is organized topically. These Amoraim are all on the same page, but are providing different pieces of the puzzle. Alternatively, perhaps their statements operate independently, within different understandings of הַדְרְיָינִי.
Competing Etymologies
Shmuel’s explanation of חֶרֶס הַדְרְיָינִי as חֶרֶס שֶׁל הַדְרְיָינוּס קֵיסָר seems trivial at first glance. He changes הַדְרְיָינִי as adjective into הַדְרְיָינוּס as proper noun, though he also identifies him as the Caesar. However, that’s just according to the (Vilna, Venice, Pesaro) printed texts. In Bavli manuscripts, while the Mishnah as well as the Geonic piska quotation has approximately הַדְרְיָינִי, Shmuel identifies this as אַדְרִייָנוּס קֵיסָר. Indeed, Adrian is an alternate spelling for Hadrian. Note that the Mishnah in Talmud Yerushalmi has וְחֶרֶס אַדְרִייָנִי, and the Kaufmann Mishnah manuscript adds a nun to make it, as Andriani. Shmuel thus explains the adjective as referring to the Caesar, but it is a real peirush.
Other interpretations of חֶרֶס הַדְרְיָינִי seem possible. Should we separate הַדְרְ from יָינִי, so that it is portmanteau blending two words rather than a single adjective? If so, we could analyze יָינִי as referring to wine. Whether a portmanteau or adjective, we could analyze דר or הדר’s meaning.
For instance, in Sukkah 35a, in order to identify pri etz hadar as an etrog, Ben Azzai reads הדר as Greek hydra, meaning water. Consider that they steeped these vessels in water to produce wine, and you have hydra-wine pottery. (Furthermore, hydria is a form of Greek pottery up the Hellenistic period, so-named for holding water. These also held other liquids and were often decorated with Greek mythological stories.)
Also, within Rav Dimi, they travelled with them / דָרוּ and soaked them תָּרוּ. Take the initial heh as the definite article and you have travel-wine pottery / soak-wine pottery. Similarly, taking הדר as returning, and especially within Rambam’s reading (see footnote), this is wine which has returned to its form.
Additionally, a brayta appearing on the same daf discusses the status הַדַּרְדּוּרִין וְהָרוּקְבָּאוֹת, gentile-owned jugs and flagons with Jewish wine contained in them. Could דַּרְדּוּר or הַדַּרְדּוּר be an alternate form of חֶרֶס הַדְרְיָינִי? Rav Steinsaltz explains the word as a duplication of דור, since these were stored in rows, but he also notes that the Geonim explain it as a wooden barrel. Rashi explains it as הַדַּרְדּוּרִין as small vessels. Jastrow explains this as a large barrel carried on wheels. Regardless, this could mean wine-jug pottery or jug pottery.
While Rav Dimi implicitly makes Hadrian the one who tilled and planted in the virgin land, he never actually mentions Hadrian, and could channel a competing etymology. Conversely, Hadrian did go on extensive expeditions, which seems the impetus for making such travelling wine. Still, I don’t know that Shmuel had Rav Dimi’s statement in mind. We’ll discuss Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi below.
Vinum Hadrianum
As far as I can tell, while this Hadrianic soaking practice seems plausible, historians of ancient Rome have not discussed this practice. Similarly, I don’t know of other ancient labeling of specific pottery as Hadrianic in nature. It is true that pottery and amphora styles did vary across time, and modern scholars might discuss Hadrianic amphorae as those in the Hadrianic layer, but that’s not the same as contemporary naming. Regardless, I asked ChatGPT 4o to take a picture of a bust of Emperor Hadrian, turn it into a lifelike image of him holding Hadrianic amphorae.
Let’s put the Emperor aside, and consider Vinum Hadrianum, wine from Hadria, modern Atri. In ancient times, this was considered extremely good wine. Via Wikipedia: Pliny the Elder, and two two Greek Augustan poets, Antiphilos of Byzantium and Antipater of Thessaloniki, praised it. The Emperor Augustus described it as a good vintage, theThe Emperor Hadrian introduced it as medicated wine. Atri also produced amphorae, and their wine was stored in it. Archaeologists have discovered amphorae which contained the wine, with writing labeling it “Hatria”. This sounds like a great candidate for חֶרֶס הַדְרְיָינִי, where the etymology doesn’t stem from the Emperor Hadrian.
In the Roman Emperor Diocletian's Edict on maximum prices, it was listed as the most expensive wine, as Wine from Picenum. This is followed by wine from Tibur, then from Falernum. This is followed by “wine of the country” (perhaps not chamar medina), and then beer. Compare this Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi discussing the wonderful quality of their wine, that our first is like their third.
Finally, I don’t know if this is real or marketing fluff, but Vinum Hadrianum is the name of a modern winery founded in 2018 and located in Atri. On their website, they claim to make their wine in the same manner that such wine was produced in Roman times. They write, “Amphorae are a key element in the aging of some of our wines. Handcrafted by Castelli's master artisans, the amphorae we use for our wines faithfully reproduce those used over 2,000 years ago. Our choice is not accidental: the soils from which our grapes grow are rich in clay, the same material with which the amphorae are forged. This creates an unbreakable bond between soil and wine.”
This somewhat echoes Rav Dimi, who discussed the quality of the planted land. If such Hadrianic amphorae were used for aging wine, perhaps they absorbed the wine to a greater extent than amphorae used for storage and transport. If so, they could more readily impart the taste of forbidden wine into other wine placed into them, much as sherry casks pose a kashrut issue for whiskey later aged in those casks.
Note that Rambam in Peirush HaMishnayot either has a different girsa or interprets Rav Dimi differently. Rather than letting the vessels absorb the wine, they would mix the clay with wine instead of water and fashion vessels out of it. They wouldn’t bake the vessels, but bring them with them. When they wanted wine, they would soak a piece of those vessels in water.