NEW YORK (AP) — It's a show for those who take drinking very seriously.
NEW YORK (AP) — It's a show for those who take drinking very seriously.
Thousands of years ago, those in the Near East and Mediterranean enjoyed dozens of types of beer and wine, and not just red, white and rose. There were smoked wines and raisin wines, cooked wines and wines flavored with salt, herbs or honey. And drink was stored, transported and drunk from a myriad of containers.
"People really enjoyed it. They had fun," said Michal Dayagi-Mendels, an expert in Israelite and Persian archaeology at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem who curated "Drink and Be Merry: Wine and Beer in Ancient Times." The show is at The Jewish Museum here from Sunday through November 5.
The trade of drink, curators say, had a role in virtually everything.
King Herod the Great, who built the ancient Jewish Temple, was a famous imbiber who offered his guests fine wine imported from Italy, Dayagi-Mendels said, gesturing toward huge pottery wine vats.
There are also wine jar fragments found in Herod's winter palace in Masada.
Another surprise is a section of scroll found in Qumran, home of the Essene sect who many scholars believe produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, a compendium of early Jewish thought and philosophy.
Although the Essenes were understood to have been among the most sober of ascetics, the scroll mentions their celebrating a "Festival of the New Wine" and is accompanied by a set of pottery drinking bowls.
The oldest object in the show is an Egyptian filter for sifting the chaff from beer. It dates from the 10th to 9th century B.C., the curator said. There are also strainers and perforated straws.
