Mesopotamia Wine: Civilization Of Wine Through The Ages

5. Wine drinking predominates in the South of Europe. In the north of Europe beyond the reach of roman rule. Today, the worlds leading producers of wine are France, Italy, and Spain. Beer is drank in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Britain, and Ireland.(pg.89)

Some thought it was super natural, others thought it was only for gods. Around 3150 BCE one of the earliest Egyptian Kings was buried with seven hundred jars of wine. Keep in mind that these jars had to transported, and it wasn’t cheap! On the other hand around 825 BCE, the Assyrians had wine drinking established to a formal social ritual. In Greece it was drunk at many formal drinking parties and believed that, “To rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease.” (Page 53) Wine obviously contained alcohol, so many judged others by how they conducted themselves after drinking it. The Greeks always mixed their wine with water, opposed to the Scythians and Thracians who never mixed their wine with water. Wine as well had its own game! The name of the game was kottabos. It was played in certain rooms involving flicking the last drop of wine on targets. Now a days, it seems crazy, but back then it was considered to help with concentration. This section was filled with so many wonderful quotes from poets and philosophers that stuck in my head through-out the reading of this book. A Greek poet by the name of Aeschylus said, “Bronze is the mirror of the outward form; wine is the mirror of the mind.” (Page 56) Another quote comes from a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes, “Wine reveals what is hidden,” (Page 62) Wine can still today “reveal what is hidden” that brings us to modern day

Wine has also impacted the world in many ways. If wine hadn 't been invented or discovered we would not have vineyard farming today. Wine was a very popular drink during the Roman and Grecian era. In fact wine was the main drink. Greek and Roman men would have get togethers called symposia. The sophisticated, formal, and intellectual atmosphere of the symposion reminded the Greeks of how civilized they were. It reminded that they weren 't just there to drink wine, they were there to discuss many things as well. Wine

Wine has been a part of Western history since the Neolithic Period (8,500-4,000 B.C.), when cultures first started to develop permanent communities, and stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers (U. Penn, 2000). One of the earliest written records of the consumption of wine is recorded in the Bible and the impact of wine on Mediterranean cultures became more pronounced over the years as the geopolitical situation stabilized in the region under the Roman Empire. Roman Imperialism helped to spread the production of wine across most of the countries in the Empire, which included most of North Africa and Southern Europe (Britannica, 2000). During that same era, wine became ingrained in the Christian faith and is still used in Christian mass today. The close tie between wine and the Christian faith aided to the spread of wine production and wine consumption across Europe

I chose the Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley. These two civilizations are two of the most favorable ancient civilizations. Although these civilizations are similar in many ways, the small, but impacting differences it what makes these two civilizations stand out the most. The Nile River Valley was located in northern Africa in a country called Egypt. Mesopotamia was located in modern day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Kuwait, and parts of Turkey. The origin of Mesopotamia comes from the meaning “between two rivers.” The land is between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Defining moments for human civilization began within these two.

1. Wine was more of a classy drink, drank by the wealthy in ancient Greece and Rome. Those who drank wine were commonly wealthier and higher in class than those who

People went from foraging and hunting while living in villages, to agriculture which lead to the surplus of grain which lead to beer. Having the surplus of grain allowed for some people to specialize in other professions because not everyone was needed to produce food. Having multiple professions contributes to the development of cities. One of the developed professions was priest who collected goods in the form of taxation. Cities began to grow as priest accumulated power. Priest used taxed as a tool to expand villages into towns which got expanded into cities.

Is it strange that cereal grains go from bland to exciting and favorable to use in everyday life by one invention: beer. The cereal grains was turned not boring by adding only two things: water and time. The Egyptians' love for beer faltered since they made at least seventeen types of beer. Neither did the Mesopotamians' excitement, since they made over twenty types of beer. Also in Mesopotamia, they had government storehouses that hold beer-bread named bappir to keep for making beer or to use during food shortages. When people were passionate about something they dwell on it and that is what the Mesopotamians and Egyptians showed. The hype for beer did not end there since it became a symbol of friendship. The most important thing, that beer might have done to the Egyptians, Sumerians, Incas and China was to be used in religious offerings like funerals since it was a gift from gods. In my opinion, beer most been good, since they considered highly to be given to their gods. Then, beer turned socially acceptable after all the Sumerians started making stories about people turning human when eating bread and drinking beer. That is when beer is started to be use in everyday life instead of once a while because beer became a part of their culture. The Mesopotamians invented writing for the purpose of collection and distribution of bread and beer. Which led to inequality because depending on their job, they get a specific amount of beer and bread as payment since it was currency. Beer was important on many levels. It was used for food, religious offerings, stories, and

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

As the embodiment of wine, Dionysus was a prevalent god in everyday Grecian life; it is evident through archaeological findings that wine and theatre has always been an important part of life in Greece. The Greeks knew the nutritional value of wine as it became a part of their daily regimen and also played a huge role in the evolution of the Ancient Grecian economy. Many festivities were held in honour of Dionysus, such as the celebration of wine known as “Anthestiria”

Religion was shaped by the consumption of beer and wine because drinking beer gave the euphoric feeling which led those who consumed it to believe it was magical, and a gift from God. The ancient Egyptians credited Osiris, the god of agriculture, for inadvertently discovering beer (19). Beer was so sacred to the Egyptians that they believed it was required to ensure a peaceful afterlife that even low level servants given rations of beer. Mesopotamians often drank beer communally be means of a straw and a large post of their sacrifice to the god of agriculture (39.) As a result of beer giving the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians something to believe in they were able to develop a structured society around those beliefs. As time progressed,

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

The geography of the Greek peninsula pose difficult challenges for its inhabitants due to its mountainous terrain and rocky soil which yielded only small harvests of grain, and the southern Balkan mountains which hindered travel and communication. Thus, early Greek society depended heavily on maritime trade and the integration of the Mediterranean Basin up until the construction of modern roads. Trade and commerce flourished resulting in population growth and more colonies. Although Greece produced only small harvests of grain, it was ideal for the production of olive oil and wine, which could be exchanged for grain and other items. This led to broader sense of Greek community throughout the Mediterranean world. Due to the sense of community

Beer and wine might have been one of the first drinks that caused humans to civilize and create a great community. In fact Tom Standage introduces us to this idea of these early drinks shaping human culture in his book A History of a World in Six Glasses. As Standage informs us about how beer was one of the causes in early settlement, and why farming was led to a great success because of the use of beer. Standage also mentions a start in traditions and a formation of government due to these drinks. Although beer being very important, Standage also introduces us to wine as a form of a class status that helped man distinguishing barbarism to a world of high standards and manners allowing for the community to become more cultured and

This case describes the global development of wine industry, and how new world wine players occupied the global market share from old world wine producer gradually. It is very interesting that author selected the Britain as the sample stage for the battle between the new world wine campaign and the traditional campaign.