The earliest surviving description of mead is possibly the soma mentioned in the hymns of the "Rigveda", one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BCE. 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 60 CE.