Mead of the Bell Beaker Culture (c. 2800–1800 BCE). The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the "Rigveda", one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BC. During the Golden Age of ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) discussed mead in his "Meteorologica" and elsewhere, while Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) called mead "militites" in his "Naturalis Historia" and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead. The Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in "De re rustica", about
Mead mead may be known by the style represented; for instance, a mead made with cinnamon and apples may be referred to as either a cinnamon "cyser" or an apple metheglin. A mead that also contains spices (such as cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg), or herbs (such as meadowsweet, hops, or even lavender or chamomile), is called a "metheglin" . A mead that contains fruit (such as raspberry, blackberry or strawberry) is called a "melomel", which was also used as a means of food preservation, keeping summer produce for the winter. A mead that is fermented with grape juice is called a