The finding of the history of wine that was already described in Homer’s Iliad: “He drank with certainty of the Depas Cups”

For the first time Chemical evidence has been found that wine was drank in Troywhich confirms the conjecture of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the legendary city of Fortaleza in the nineteenth century. In addition, researchers from the universities of Tubinga, Bonn and Jena discovered that not only the members of the Trojan elite, but also the common people, drank wine. His findings are published in the April Edition of the American Journal of Archaeology.

“Hefesto spoke, got up and passed a double glass to his beloved mother,” says the first book of the Iliadtelling how the god of fire, metallurgy and volcanoes encourage his mother. “While talking, the goddess of the white arms, Hera, smiled. He took her son’s glass. He served the drink, from right to left, for all other gods, drinking the sweet nectar of the bowl.”

| Source: Europa Press

This glass, a bow cup, is well known by archaeologists: it is a slender clay vessel, between 12 and 40 centimeters high, with two handles that narrow themselves to a pointed base. To date, only in Troy more than 100 glasses of this type have been found, which cover the period between 2500 and 2000 AC “Heinrich Schliemann already conjectured that The Depas Cup passed by hand in hand in the celebrations, as described in the Iliad“, says in a statement Dr. Stephan Blum, co -author of the study.

“The evidence of the presence of succinic and pyruvic acids was conclusive: they only occur during the fermentation of the grape must. Therefore, we can now affirm with certainty that the wine drank from the depas glasses, not only the grape must,” says Rageot.

The most expensive drink of the time

The wine was the most expensive drink in the Bronze Age, and the Depas Cup was the most precious container. Depas glasses have been found in temples and palaces complexes. Therefore, The scientists had deduced that wine consumption was given on special occasions in elite circles.

However, people in Troy’s lower classes also drank wine as a daily food and a luxury? “We have also chemically studied common glasses that were found in the outer settlement of Troy and, therefore, outside the citadel. These glasses also contained wine,” says Blum. “Therefore, it is evident that wine was also a daily drink for common people.”