name given by the ancients to a sort of malt liquor or ale. It was made of barley, and was drunk by the people of many nations instead of wine, according to Dioscorides's account: he accuses it of causing pains in the head, generating bad juices, and disordering the nervous system. He also says, that in the western part of Iberia, and in Britain, such a sort of liquor was in his time prepared from wheat instead of barley. See Ale.