Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC

Subject: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Goose Gander
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 03:45 PM

Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Bee
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 05:07 PM

I'm betting about 7000 years ago an Egyptian trader with a baaad hangover coined the term 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: beardedbruce
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 05:13 PM

Anyone recall the thread about the prehistoric brewery found? Was it earlier than this?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 05:19 PM

Wine: helping ugly people get laid since 6500 BC Neil

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 02:08 AM

Errr... Sorry - but that's only nearly 6,500 year before present ... Say: circa 4,450 BC. (Hell ... the hangover should fading ... by now).

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 06:20 PM

It was a good year, I'm sure we still have a crate or two in the cellar...
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Scrump
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 09:44 AM

Hmm, I expect it will be well past its best by now. I'd advise drinking it before it gets any worse.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 07:38 PM

Awesome! PArty with G the D! Drink Like an Egyptian!:~D Irih Sergeant

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 08:52 PM

Fascinating book!

It covers the discovery, the history, and the social importance (and effects) of beer, wine, spirits (the hard stuff), coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. Each one of these beverages played a surprisingly important part in the social development (or sometimes the lack thereof) and economies of the times in which they became the prominent beverage.

For example, people had discovered that water was not particularly safe to drink (typhoid, various other water-born diseases, and they didn't know it could be rendered safe by boiling), so they drank beer or wine.

The first coffeehouse in Britain, called "The Angel," opened in 1652 in Oxford. Soon thereafter, coffeehouses began flourishing in London. They swiftly became gathering spots for artists, poets, and philosophers, along with their disciples and groupies. Since coffee at these establishments cost a penny a cup, coffeehouses became known as "penny universities." James Boswell and Samuel Johnson were two well-known coffeehouse habitués.

King Charles II considered coffeehouses to be hotbeds of discontent and a breeding ground for revolt, so in 1700 he banned them. This act nearly caused a revolt. The turmoil was so great that eleven days later he rescinded the ban.

But Charlie had reason to be nervous. Coffee was another beverage that was safe to drink—part of brewing coffee consisted of boiling the water. And it didn't contain alcohol, it contained caffeine. For the first time in centuries, there were lots of people who had formerly been wandering around with their eyelids at half-mast and bumping into things as their normal state of consciousness and now they were Awake and Alert!

With the advent of coffee, and later, tea, for the first time in history, lots of people were sober enough to take an interest in what was going on beyond their immediate (and formerly pretty hazy) range of view. Many started questioning a lot of things about the way societies were structured, and they began talking about things like the Rights of Man. [Okay, steady on, now!] Liberal thought was born. People discussed various ways in which society could be reorganized for the benefit of mankind as a whole, rather than for just the nobility and the aristocrats.

This soon led to things like the French Revolution and the American Revolution. Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Paine, and a lot of those old hippies used to hang out in Boston's coffee houses and discuss such things things.

A lot of this is in the book, but I also heard the author being interviewed on the radio. Fascinating stuff, history.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 10:26 AM

King Charles II considered coffeehouses to be hotbeds of discontent and a breeding ground for revolt, so in 1700 he banned them. This act nearly caused a revolt. The turmoil was so great that eleven days later he rescinded the ban.
.......................

either Charles II or 1700 must be a typo as Charles II died in 1685

sandra

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 01:05 PM

Right, Sandra! Thanks for catching that.

I see where I goofed. The first coffeehouse in London opened in 1652, and the next item in my original source states, "By 1700 there were nearly 2,000 coffee houses in London. King Charles II banned coffee houses because they were regarded as hotbeds of revolution; this nearly caused a revolution, so 11 days later, Charles rescinded the ban."

It doesn't say what year Charles II tried to close them down, but obviously it had to have been before 1685.

In the book I'm writing (about the folk scene in the Pacific Northwest during the Fifties and Sixties), I do a short bit on the history of coffeehouses. I cut-and-pasted what I posted above from what I had written for the book. I'm usually pretty good with English history and dates and such, but I missed that. Gotta go into my manuscript and correct it!!

Again, thanks for catching the boo-boo!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Folklore: Wine 6,500 BC
From: Goose Gander
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 02:07 PM

Thanks, I don't feel so bad about my goof now - though you were off only by a few years and I was off by a couple thousand!