 Chian wine was exported in great quantities to Athens starting around the 5th century BC, as attested by the large number of Chian amphorae discovered in modern-day excavations there.It was later characterized by Plutarch and Athenaios as having been an expensive luxury good in classical Greece, though they may have exaggerated somewhat, as inscriptions on excavated amphorae seem to suggest a moderate price of two drachmas per chous versus about two to ten obols per chous for local wine.Athenaios also quotes Hermippus praising Chian wine's quality in the 5th century BC, and Strabo some centuries later considered wine from the Chian district of Ariusium to be the finest in Greece.