Hecataeus and the Origin of Wine

Abstract

Fragment 15 of Hecataeus’ Genealogies describes the origins of wine through a dog’s birth of the root of the grapevine. Scholars have interpreted this as Hecataeus’ toleration of the supernatural or as a case of rationalizing generatio in utero heterogeneo. This article reinterprets the role of the dog’s relationship to wine and argues that Hecataeus is exploiting a linguistic ambiguity to critique a traditional narrative on a celestial dog’s activity on the vintage.