Endnote 10 – Jesus’ Triumphal March to Crucifixion

Pliny describes myrrhed wine as the finest (Naturalis Historia 14.92). Sour wine or vinegar, as in Mark 15:36, was understood to deaden pain (Pliny, Naturalis Historia 23.24–27), but while the ancients often describe the sedative effect of myrrh alone or in combination with other ingredients, none ascribe such an effect for myrrhed wine. Wine mixed with myrrh was an expensive delicacy that probably was not understood to deaden pain.