Tag Archives: wine

Wine and Roman Poets

By Visnja Bojovic, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom When we think of wine in the ancient world, the first thing that comes to mind is the Romans and their luxurious banquets. We know that wine was an important part of the Roman culture; there were even precise rules for the way and quantity in which it

Written on January 4, 2022 at 8:05 pm, by Sean Kelly

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Categories: Literature, Poets

Tags: Alcohol, Bacchus, Horace, Poetry, Propertius, Roman culture, Tibullus, wine

The Art of Slander: How to Create a Masterpiece, Troll Your Enemies, and Win Bigly: Part 1 of 2

Written by Michael Fontaine, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Ever seen this picture? Titled The Calumny of Apelles, it’s in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Take a look, and use the labels I’ve added to figure out what’s going on. Painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1495, there’s a little-known essay about it that is one of

Written on May 19, 2021 at 6:03 am, by KristinD

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Categories: Art

Tags: Apelles, Art History, Lucian, Obsopoeus, Ovid, renaissance, Slander, wine

A Short History of Wine

Written by Lydia Serrant, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom What is believed to be the first winery in the world was recently found in a cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia, and dates back to around 6100 BC. It currently holds the title as the oldest-known winery (also, fun fact, it is home of the world’s oldest

Written on October 21, 2020 at 10:14 am, by KristinD

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Categories: Culture

Tags: Ancient Greek history, Ancient Greek Wine, Ancient Rome, Dionysus, History, wine

Wine as pharmakon: Persian drinking in the Histories

Written by Ronan McLaverty-Head, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Herodotus tells us that the Persians were “very partial to wine,” something he illustrates with the following anecdote: “If an important decision is to be made, they [the Persians] discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the

Written on October 7, 2020 at 1:54 pm, by KristinD

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Categories: Symposium

Tags: Ancient greek, Herodotus, Persia, wine

Alcoholism in the Greco-Roman World

By Dale Vernor, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom Binge drinking is nothing new. Gilgamesh, the semi-mythic Mesopotamian king who lived around 2,800 BC, is reported to have promised his workers “(a river of) ale, beer, and wine”,… which doesn’t exactly suggest moderation. Indeed, most practices, beliefs, and attitudes linked to alcohol use date back to the

Written on October 17, 2018 at 4:12 am, by plato

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Categories: Traditions

Tags: Alcoholism, Alexander the Great, Ancient Greek drinking, Roman drinking, Symposium, wine

Ancient Drunks and Winos

By Ben Potter “Quick, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever”. In one witty aside the Athenian comedian, Aristophanes, has embodied the modern feeling towards the Greeks and the grape. To us, it seems like a beautiful partnership that helped build the foundations of our

Written on February 5, 2015 at 6:04 pm, by plato

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Categories: Traditions

Tags: Alcibiades, Alcohol, Ancient Greece, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Satyricon, wine

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