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Monday, 09 August 2004 08:30 |
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The history of beer is closely intertwined with the history of humanity itself. Proof exists that the brewing tradition began some 6000 years ago. During this era some of the earliest concepts of brewing were discovered. When the Sumerians, the oldest known civilization on earth, noticed the fermentation process act upon an abandoned bowl of bread dough, they repeated the process to understand it and soon began "brewing." They had discovered a true drink of the gods. They offered it to their gods as sacrifice; they gave it to their kings to drink; and all of this is inscribed in cuneiform tablets. Around 3000 BC one of the world's greatest works of literature was written: The Epic of Gilgamesch. Written therein, bread and beer played a large role in the development of the tribes of the time into "cultivated people" - who we know now as the Sumerians. The tribal man Enkidu wants to measure his power with the demigod sovereign Gilgamesch and becomes after the enjoyment of bread and beer equal to a human being. 2000 BC was the downfall of the Sumerian empire, and the birth of the Babylonian empire. They built upon the culture of the Sumerians and took over, among other things, the art of brewing beer. The Babylonians brewed around 20 different beer styles and exported beer as far away as 1000 kilometer (621 miles) distant Egypt. Their king Hammurabi (1728-1686 BC) had even then ordered the chiseling of strong beer regulations - among other laws - in Doric columns. The "Codex Hammurabi" is the oldest set of known laws in the world. The people were given their daily ration of beer according to their social standing: Workers two liters per day, officials three, managers and highpriests five! The oldest evidence that beer was brewed in Germany comes from around 800 BC beer amphorae from what is known as the Hallsstattzeit found near Kulmbach. By the second century after Christ, beer was already being traded commercially. This was verified by a beer publisher's tablet that was found near Trier. As to the Egyptians, beer to the Germans was not just for sacrifice to the gods: That is why, for example, Finnish verses of Kalewala 400 verses are dedicated to the production of beer - while the creation of the world only gets 200!
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