Canaan, or the Levant, comprises the coastal and inland areas of the eastern Mediterranean which played an important part in spreading viniculture. The pharaohs of Ancient egypt were struggling to maintain their control of this area during the 14th century bc, as we can read in the Amarna letters, an extensive correspondence between the pharaohs and the local puppet rulers and officials of Canaan. ‘See that much food and wine—everything in great quantities—is made available for the archers of the king,’ writes one Egyptian monarch. In the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, Canaan was described as having ‘more wine than water’.
