Editing Muscat (grape) (section)

== History ==
[[File:Tomb of Nakht (13).jpg|left|thumb|While there are theories that the origin of the Muscat family date back to ancient antiquity, there is no solid historical evidence that Muscat grapevines were among the grape varieties cultivated by civilizations such as the ancient Egyptians ''(papyrus image from the 15th-century BC tomb of [[Nakht]])''.]]
Theories about the origins of Muscat grapes date ancestors of the varieties back to the [[ancient Egyptians]] and [[Persian people|Persians]] of early antiquity ({{circa|3000}}–1000 BC) while some [[ampelographers]], such as [[Pierre Galet]], believe that the family of Muscat varieties were [[propagated (wine)|propagated]] during the period of [[classical antiquity]] ({{circa|800 BC}} to 600 AD) by the [[Greeks (wine)|Greeks]] and [[Romans (wine)|Romans]]. However, while domestic wine production had a long [[history (wine)|history]] in ancient Egypt and Persia and classical writers such as [[Columella]] and [[Pliny the Elder]] did describe very "muscat-like" grape varieties such as ''Anathelicon Moschaton'' and ''Apianae'' that were very sweet and attractive to bees ([[Latin]] ''apis''), there is no solid historical evidence that these early wine grapes were members of the Muscat family.<ref name="Wine Grapes">J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz: ''Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours'', pp. 678–696. Allen Lane 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-846-14446-2}}.</ref>

The first documented mention of grapes called "muscat" was in the works of the English [[Franciscan]] scholar [[Bartholomeus Anglicus]] who wrote of wine made from Muscat grapes in his work ''De proprietatibus rerum'' written between 1230 and 1240 while Anglicus was studying in what is now modern [[Saxony]] in Germany. Anglicus' Latin work was translated into [[French (language)|French]] in 1372 with the wine being described by Anglicus as ''"vin extrait de raisins muscats"''.<ref name="Wine Grapes" />