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Between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, some humans
discontinued their nomadic hunting and gathering and settled down to farm.
Grain was the first domesticated crop that started that farming process.
The
oldest proven records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and refer to the
Sumerians. Sumeria lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers including Southern Mesopotamia and the ancient cities of Babylon and Ur. It is said that the Sumerians discovered
the fermentation process by chance. No one knows today exactly how this
occurred, but it could be that a piece of bread or grain became wet and a
short time later, it began to ferment and a
inebriating pulp resulted. A seal around 4,000 years old is a Sumerian
"Hymn to Ninkasi", the goddess of
brewing. This "hymn" is also a recipe for making beer. A
description of the making of beer on this ancient engraving in the Sumerian
language is the earliest account of what is easily recognized as barley,
followed by a pictograph of bread being baked, crumbled into water to form a
mash, and then made into a drink that is recorded as having made people feel
"exhilarated, wonderful and blissful." It could be that baked bread
was a convenient method of storing and transporting a resource for making
beer. The Sumerians were able to repeat this process and are
assumed to be he first civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a
"divine drink" which certainly was a gift from the gods.
From the
Gilgamesh Epic, written in the 3rd millennium B.C., we learn that not only
bread but also beer was very important. This epic is recognized as one of the
first great works of world literature. Ancient oral sagas from the beginning
of human history were recorded in writing for the first time. The Gilgamesh
Epic describes the evolution from primitive man to "cultured man".
"Enkidu, a shaggy,
unkempt, almost bestial primitive man, who ate grass and could milk wild
animals, wanted to test his strength against Gilgamesh, the demigod-like
sovereign. Taking no chances, Gilgamesh sent a (prostitute) to Enkidu to learn of his strengths and weaknesses. Enkidu enjoyed a week with her, during which she taught
him of civilization. Enkidu knew not what bread was nor how one ate it. He had also not
learned to drink beer. The (prostitute) opened her mouth and spoke to Enkidu: 'Eat the bread now, O Enkidu,
as it belongs to life. Drink also beer, as it is the custom of the land.' Enkidu drank seven cups of beer and his heart soared. In
this condition he washed himself and became a human being. "
The
Babylonians became the rulers of Mesopotamia after the Sumerian empire collapsed during the
2nd millennium bc. Their culture was derived
from that of the Sumerians, and as a consequence of this, they also mastered
the art of brewing beer. Today we know that the Babylonians new how to brew
20 different types of beer.
In
ancient times beer was cloudy and unfiltered. The "drinking straws"
were used to avoid getting the brewing residue, which was very bitter, in the
mouth. Beer from Babylon was exported and distributed as far away as Egypt. Hammurabi, an
important Babylonian King, decreed the oldest known collection of laws. One
of these laws established a daily beer ration. This ration was dependent on
the social standing of the individual, a normal worker received 2 liters,
civil servants 3 liters, administrators and high priests 5 liters per day. In
these ancient times beer was often not sold, but used as barter.
The
Egyptians carried on the tradition of beer brewing. They also used unbaked
bread dough for making beer and added dates to the brew to improve the taste.
The importance of beer brewing in ancient Egypt can be seen from the fact that the scribes
created an extra hieroglyph for "brewer".
Although
beer as we know it had its origins in Mesopotamia, fermented beverages of some sort or another were
produced in various forms around the world. For example, Chang is a Tibetan
beer and Chicha is a corn beer and kumis is a drink
produced from fermented camel milk. The word beer comes from the Latin word bibere, meaning "to drink", and the Spanish
word cerveza originates from the Greek goddess of
agriculture, Ceres.
After Egypt was succeeded by the Greeks and Romans, beer
continued to be brewed. Plinius reported of the
popularity of beer in the Mediterranean area before wine took hold. In Rome, wine became ambrosia from the god Bacchus. Beer
was only brewed in the outer areas of the Roman Empire where wine was difficult to obtain. For the
Romans beer was considered a barbarian drink. The oldest proof that beer was
brewed on German soil, comes from around 800 B.C. in the early Hallstatt Period, where beer amphora found near the
present day city of Kulmbach have been dated back to this time. As Tacitus, who first wrote about the ancient Germans or Teutons, put it like
this: "To drink, the Teutons have a horrible
brew fermented from barley or wheat, a brew which has only a very far removed
similarity to wine". Beer of that era could not be stored, was
cloudy and produced almost no foam. Early civilizations found the
mood-altering properties of beer supernatural, and intoxication was
considered divine. Beer, it was thought, must contain a spirit or god, since
drinking the liquid so possessed the spirit of the drinker. The ancient
Germans regarded beer not only a sacrifice to the gods but they,
as in Egypt, also brewed beer for their own enjoyment. For
example, in the Finnish poetic saga Kalewala, 400 verses
are devoted to beer but only 200 were needed for the creation of the earth.
According to the Edda, the great Nordic epic, wine
was reserved for the gods, beer belonged to mortals
and mead to inhabitants of the realm of the dead.
Beer
brewing played an important role in daily lives. Beer was clearly so desired
that it led nomadic groups into village life. Beer was considered a valuable
(potable) foodstuff and workers were often
paid with jugs of beer.
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