Assyria Research Paper

People used wine to show that they are successful and have a higher social status ranking than others, leaving the ones who weren't wealthy and unsuccessful without wine. This began the first socially/economically divided empires. It was used in religious ceremonies, and used medicinally to heal wounds.

Wine was originally very scarce and exotic, meaning the only people to really drink it were very powerful, prestigious, and privileged people. It was mainly drunk during public meetings and debates, or symposia’s, to express one’s self much more freely. While beer was known to have medicinal benefits, wine was known to clean wounds.

As a result of the Neolithic Revolution, ‘the ability to store grain began to encourage people to stay in one place” (18) , causing there to be a food surplus. Years later, this surplus of food in societies like Ancient Egypt, expanded to the point that beer had become such a commodity, even “ workers who built the pyramids were paid in beer” (37). Mesopotamia also adopted beer as a form of currency “ taxes in the form of grain and other goods were presented at the temple and were redistributed to fund public works” (33) . Beer even helped develop one of the first forms of writing called cuneiform in which “ Sumerian wage lists and tax receipts” were documented (30). This showed that beer had evolved from just being staple foodstuffs. It had become a way of a convenient form of payment. Wine, unlike beer was expensive in the beginning therefore, it was more valuable than beer. Wine production eventually increased and so did long-distance trade. Maritime trade had increased to the point that it was cheaper to transport over long distance. This meant that there were fewer borders to cross, which resulted in “ fewer taxes and tolls there were to pay” (42). This resulted in Roman wine makers “ shipping their own wine” (58) after dominating Greek wine trade. Wine’s importance in Greek islands was clear by “ the appearance of wine-related imagery on Greek coins” (45) Wine had become so accessible that even the lower class drank

Over the summer I read Tom Standage’s nonfiction novel, A History of the World in Six Glasses. Standage analyzed and depicted the tremendous impact these fluids had on the development of our present day society. The discovery of beer caused a change in the lifestyle of mankind as hunter gatherers settled down in larger villages and began farming wheat and barley. Starting in 10,000 BCE, beer was an everyday staple in Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. It was safer to drink than water and soon became a form of payment. Beer was even used in religious ceremonies, fertility rites and funerals by the Sumerians and Egyptians. The next drink discussed by the author, wine, was a symbol of sophistication and was directly

Beginning as an exotic foreign drink in Mesopotamia that few could afford, wine rose in popularity over time and became the main beverage of Greece and Rome. In Mesopotamia wine was restricted to an elite group of people who were able to afford it. As time went on wine slowly became more accessible to people of lower classes. Standage explains it as “ As the volumes grew and prices fell, wine became more accessible to a broader segment of society” (Standage 49). The vine rapidly took hold throughout Greece and the Greek began to produce wine on a large scale. This is what lead to the immense cultivation of grapevines and olives over grain farming. Drinking wine was viewed as more civilized than the consumption of beer by the Greeks and the

The Romans viewed wine as a mark of sophistication and pleasure in contrast to the Greeks view of it was intelligence.

Standage began the chapter by explaining how the Romans converted to Greek culture by sacking the famed Greek city of Syracuse, and how the wine craze moved to Rome and throughout the empire. Standage transitioned to how wine came from the vineyard to the table and described the different classes of wine from Falernian to lora. While explaining this, Standage also described how your socioeconomic status affected which class of wine one would drink. This makes sense, but it was fairly strict especially in public settings (e.g. the convivium). Shifting to a lighter topic, the author presented the importance of wine in the beginnings of western medicine and indicated that the wine culture couldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for the Christian Church

The Romans drank a lot of wine but not straight or quickly. “Diluting wine and drinking with restraint were ordinary courtesy. The purpose of a dinner party was relaxed

To start off, ingredients differ from each beverage and they give a specialty to each drink. Wine and Beer have a lot of common qualities in terms of their ingredients and how they are made. For example, Standage states, “Beer on the other hand, could be made from cereal crops, which were abundant and could be

In both Mesopotamia and Egypt, the growth of civilization was aided by a simple liquid, beer. Everyone drank beer, even children, for many different reasons. Both the Egyptians and Mesopotamians were on a strict grain diet since grains could of be turned easily into both liquid and solid foods, they were “edible money”. Beer was everything to these societies people, if you didn’t have beer with your meal it would be considered an incomplete meal. It was considered an ancient drink that was given from the Gods so it was used in religious practices as well as a social drink. Egyptians and Mesopotamians had different thoughts as to how it was used for social purposes, Egyptians used beer in everyday life, for getting drunk and to have a good time, while the Sumerians only used it for celebrations, feasts or formal visits from the king, not just to go out and have fun and drink. Since beer was healthy to drink they would make cures from it

a.Around 870 BCE, a grand party was thrown to display the wealth of a king, Ashurnasirpal, for a new capital in Nimrud in the Mesopotamia region. During this time, the king showed off exactly just how rich the new empire was by making available 10,000 jars of beer, and 10,000 skins of wine, and at that time wine was 10 times as expensive as beer. Not only was skins imported, but some were made from his own vines, thus starting the craze of wine in that area.

He starts off in at the beginning of time in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Standage discusses one of the first world-known beverages; beer. He begins talking about the collection of cereal grains, farming, migration, and the civilizations that were first created next to rivers in these areas. Standage explains, “In both cultures, beer was a staple foodstuff without which no meal was complete. It was consumed by everyone, rich and poor, men and women, adults and children, from the top of the social pyramid to the bottom. It was truly the defining drink of these first great civilizations" (30). It was use in social situations, as a form of currency, religious offering, and it was soon discovered that it was safer to drink than water, which was often contaminated. He explains the social and religious situations that Beer was used here during the earliest of times. Next, Standage discusses the discovery of wine through Roman and Greek culture. At first, wine went hand-in-hand with social class because of how expensive and difficult to find it was. While the commoners drank beer, the wealthy and in-charge drank wine to prove their power. It was consumed in Greek

Wine was consumed to show power, it was done at parties and high class arrangements. Most people drank beer, but wine showed a sense of authority, as it was much harder to get than beer.

What great trios do you remember? Some of you guys may say The Three Musketeers, or perhaps The Three Blind Mice. But I remember three of the most remarkable biblical world powers, also these three contributed to each other’s rise, and downfall. They were also known as the rulers of the Hebrews. These were 3 of the “7 kings”. I believe they fit together because they prove how historically and prophetically accurate the Bible is.

Wine is not just a celebrated drink but it holds a seasoned place in the history of liquor. Like everything in a human life has certain code of rules or etiquettes, wine also has one. I think one should really know about wine etiquettes before feeling its flawless experience. Precisely, there are wine fanatics, those principal aficionados of superior wine, and there are wine lovers, or those who just value wine. The previous have a propensity to be sterner in their conduct and in how they serve and taste.