Who else but Goethe could have uttered such a meaningful sentence... However, history proves him right, for after all we know, wine as a cultural asset is probably already a good 7000 years old. Only a few days ago, a 2700-year-old large-scale wine-making plant was found in Iraq; so wine has been around forever, so to speak.
In Egypt, grapes do not grow in unlimited quantities due to the climate, so wine production was probably mainly limited to the Nile delta. We already know various designations of origin for wine from tombs of the 5th Dynasty, such as "wine from Pelusium" and "wine from Buto". Just as today, designations of origin seem to have been a sign of quality. Those who liked it more exotic could also enjoy imported wine from Syria from the New Kingdom onwards.
The essence of the production process is probably hardly any different from that of today. From some depictions we know the pressing of the grapes with the feet in a vat, sometimes even accompanied with music. Later, the juice was strained through a cloth and left to ferment. Greek historians reported that Egyptian wine was very sweet and tasty.
Wine was probably not considered to have any medicinal effect on its own, but it was used by the Egyptians in the same way as it was still used in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century CE: liquid medicines were in many cases made on the basis of wine (the German Pharmacopoeia of 1900 favoured "Xereswein", i.e. sherry). Many Egyptian prescriptions with wine are found in the area of stomach and intestinal diseases, but there are also external medicines based on wine that were intended for the legs against swellings. The thought of rubbing alcohol almost suggests itself...
We know nothing about the actual alcohol content of Egyptian wine, but it was apparently sufficiently high to cause alcohol-specific intoxication symptoms. Wine consumption at banquets or religious festivals seems to have gotten out of hand on a fairly regular basis, as there are illustrations from numerous tombs where guests apparently enjoyed themselves too much...
Banquet-scene from the tomb of Neferhotep, TT49, Thebes-West
about 1300 BCE
from: Davies, 1933 (see below)
Thus the writer Ani also warned in his teaching against overindulgence in alcohol:
"Don't indulge in drinking beer, lest you utter evil speech and don't know what you are saying. If you fall and hurt your body, none holds out a hand to you. Your companions in the drinking stand up, saying: "Out with the drunk!" If one comes to seek you and talk with you, one finds you lying on the ground as if you were a little child."
So wine was not the only alcoholic beverage of the ancient Egyptians. Beer brewing has a similarly long tradition, as it was a basic food in Ancient Egypt together with bread. It was obtained in the course of bread making and certainly served to obtain a more hygienic drink than Nile water would have been.
As part of the celebrations surrounding the Bavarian Purity Law for beer, the State Museum of Egyptian Art (SMAEK) in Munich held an experimental archaeological beer brewing event in 2016, based on the Egyptian model. A drink with an alcohol content of just over 1% was finally obtained; however, as was heard from participants, it was a questionable experience in terms of taste. There is little you can do against a good bavarian wheat beer...
Anyone who wants to take a look at the Munich project will find it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LHOyxfJP1pE
Literature
- W.J. Darby, P. Ghalioungui, L. Grivetti, Food: The Gift of Osiris, Vol.2, London 1976.
- N. de Garis Davies, The Tomb of Nefer-Hotep at Thebes, Vol.I, New York 1933, pl.XVIII.
Cover Picture
Ceiling of the tomb of Sennefer, mayor of Thebes, decorated with vines, TT96, from: Sen-nefer. Die Grabkammer des Bürgermeisters von Theben. Exhibition in the Römisch-Germanischen Museum Cologne, 1986.
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