Feb 20 2010
The first mentions about wine
Today we will tell you about the first mentions about wine in our history, you will read about different myths and legends, full of true and imaginary facts. But who will tell you directly how it was? We can only guess how it was indeed and admire this awesome drink.
Wine in ancient times…
Due to ancient Persian mythology wine was invented by a female. Legend says that she had a terrible headache and nothing could help her to cure of it, but once she drank a drink from a jar. Then she woke up at night and was very astonished to feel that her headache was over. That drink was a fermented grapes juice.
Lately wine was famous as a drink of all gods, no matter, they were of Greek, Sumerian or Egyptian origin. Due to the fact that the first gods of wine were women this drink became to be associated with fertility. Ancient people often used wine in their religious rituals. Egyptian people pictured wine on their papyri.
Such a noble Greek poet as Homer said about wine: “the wine – dark sea” The deal is in the fact that sea was accounted to be the most powerful force in Greece, because with the help of it they organized their transport and communication.
Wine in Bible…
In the Bible you can find a lot about wine. The first mention about wine is counted to be in the nine chapter of Genesis. There we discover a story about Noah’s vineyard and how “he drank of the wine and was drunken”. While reading The Book of Proverbs you will find such wine sayings as “Wine is a mocker”, “Look not upon the wine when it is red”, “Wine is as good as a life to a man” and others.
Wine in poetry…
Early mentions about wine we can find in the pamphlet of Hans Sachs that was written in 1553. In short this pamphlet tells us about “the four wondrous properties of wine and their effects”.
Lots of mentions about wine we will find in works of William Shakespeare. First two references to wine we can discover in “The first folio of Shakespeare” that was published in 1968.
Classic verse about wine you can detect in Omar Khayyam works, he is the author of such words as “….a flask of wine, a book of verse – and thou…”
In 1960 in books of Richard Ames we have a chance to detect several books with satiric poems about wine.
Quotes about Wine…
There are a lot of quotes on this topic, among them you can discover such a wine quote by Dr. Wida as “Wine, when taken without excess, is a tonic for the muscles and a stimulant for the mind”.
One of the most famous quotes about wine was written by Dr. Johnson in Latin language, it sounds like “in vino veritas”, which is translated into English like “in wine is truth”.
On playing cards of various age we can also find a lot of pictures connected with wine, at this time it was very popular to picture different Bacchus views, because he is counted to be the god of winemaking.
