BeerLane
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Beer-Brewing Women, Soused Workers Built Pyramids: Lewis Lapham 2009-11-20 05:01:00.0 GMT
Interview by Lewis Lapham
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer, according to the ancient Egyptians, and on that basis it was a happy society.
Bare-breasted women engaged in sudsy brewing work adorn tomb paintings and clay models from the dynastic period. To slake his thirst, each laborer on the pyramids got a daily beer allotment of 1 1/3 gallons. Everyone partied at the annual celebration of the Drunkenness of Hathor, goddess of fertility, motherhood and the Milky Way.
As a luxury associated with the divine, wine was the royals drink of choice. King Tutankhamen was buried with 26 ample jars, including a nice red aged by chief vintner Khaa, and a sweet white from the Estate of Aton.
Human beings have been consuming alcohol for millennia, with the earliest evidence appearing around 8000 B.C., and it has been both praised as a sacred intoxicant and condemned as a satanic drink.
I spoke with Iain Gately, author of Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol (Gotham Books), on the following topics:
1. Status Drinking
2. Inspired by Wine
3. Christian Sacrament
4. Distilled Spirits
5. Imbibing Too Deeply
Beer-Brewing Women, Soused Workers Built Pyramids: Lewis Lapham 2009-11-20 05:01:00.0 GMT
Interview by Lewis Lapham
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer, according to the ancient Egyptians, and on that basis it was a happy society.
Bare-breasted women engaged in sudsy brewing work adorn tomb paintings and clay models from the dynastic period. To slake his thirst, each laborer on the pyramids got a daily beer allotment of 1 1/3 gallons. Everyone partied at the annual celebration of the Drunkenness of Hathor, goddess of fertility, motherhood and the Milky Way.
As a luxury associated with the divine, wine was the royals drink of choice. King Tutankhamen was buried with 26 ample jars, including a nice red aged by chief vintner Khaa, and a sweet white from the Estate of Aton.
Human beings have been consuming alcohol for millennia, with the earliest evidence appearing around 8000 B.C., and it has been both praised as a sacred intoxicant and condemned as a satanic drink.
I spoke with Iain Gately, author of Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol (Gotham Books), on the following topics:
1. Status Drinking
2. Inspired by Wine
3. Christian Sacrament
4. Distilled Spirits
5. Imbibing Too Deeply
