The king of Samos – Agkaios

Learn more: Agkaios, the king of Samos and hero of the Argonauts, is considered the island’s first vine-growers. As mentioned by Aristotle, when Ancaeus returned from his adventure with the Argonauts to the island of Samos, he started vine-growing. As he forced his slaves to work very hard, an elderly slave that had had enough, cursed him to not live long enough to taste his first crop.

When the vintage was carried out and the first wine from Ancaeus’ vineyards had been made, he remembered the slave and wanted to mock him. He filled a cup with the first wine of Samos and sent the other slaves to fetch him.

Did you know that: “See”, he said, “your curse did not work. Here is the wine that will gladden my throat…”.

The slave answered with a phrase that is remembered to this day: “There is many a slip, between the cup and the lip” (namely, “it’s a long way between the cup and your lips”).

Myth would have it that Ancaeus never succeeded in drinking the wine he produced in his vineyard, because at that very moment he was informed by other slaves that a wild boar was destroying his vineyard. He tossed the cup with the wine and ran to the vineyard, where he was killed by the boar, true to the prophecy.

Dionysus and the Amazons

According to mythology, Dionysus, the god of the vines and wine, arrived at Samos in pursuit of the Amazons who had scorned his worship and had found refuge on the island. To defeat them, he asked for the help of the islanders, and in exchange he gave them the vine that produces White Muscat grapes and taught them how to make wine.

Point-based amphora

Learn more: An amphora from Samos where wine was stored. A pair of komasts (revellers) is depicted drinking wine and dancing in honour of the god Dionysus.

It dates back to the 6^th century B.C. and was discovered in Berezan, the oldest ancient Greek settlement in the northern Black Sea.

This amphora was used in wine transportation and trade over long distances. It is called point-based, because the bottom of the vessel has a pointed end, so that it could stand upright when embedded in the sand in the ship’s hold.

The transportation of point-based amphorae in antiquity was carried out by the Samos bireme, the Samaina, ships that have been proven to have transported wine from Samos to various ports of the known world at the time. The height of these amphorae ranged from 0.60-1 metre and their capacity was 20-40 litres.

Did you know that: Every wine producing region, and, therefore, Samos, too, selected a different shape for the vessels it used, as proof of their place of origin and guarantee of their contents. The special stamps provided information on the origin and date of “bottling”.

Stamped Samos amphorae handles were found and identified outside Samos (in the ancient city of Heraion), Memphis, Alexandria, Naucratis, Kos, Pella, and Salamis in Cyprus.