Page 26 - All About History - Issue 186-19

BEER

Historical Treasures

MODEL BAKERY AND BREWERY

BEER PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH ANCIENT EGYPT, C. 1981 – 1975 BCE

or the ancient Egyptians, beer was an CLOSE
essential part of daily life and its principal CONNECTIONS THE DAILY GRIND
ingredients, wheat and barley, were the In ancient Egypt, the Hidden in the corner, there’s a male
Fmain food crops available. Beer was process of baking bread figure using a pestle to crush the grain
considered to be nutritious and generally safer and brewing beer were for the beer. This is then ground into
flour by the two women next to him,
to drink than water, and most people brewed closely linked because which is worked into lumps of dough
their own at home. This was a task originally they used similar by another man who also adds yeast.
ingredients. Numerous
undertaken by women, who were watched surviving wooden
over by the goddess of beer, Tenenet, who funerary models feature
ensured that they produced the best quality both a bakery and a
beer possible. However, there were also bigger brewery just like this one
– the brewery is located in
brewing operations outside of the home to the right chamber.
supply, for example, taverns or the homes of
the wealthy.
Beer was believed to be a gift from the gods GET
and temples usually brewed their own as an STOMPING
offering to their deities. Beer featured in almost The man largely
every major festival in ancient Egypt and the hidden by the
Tekh Festival, also known as ‘The Festival partial wall is
standing in a tall
of Drunkeness,’ was dedicated to Hathor, vat, treading the
the goddess of fertility and love. She was lumps of dough
considered to be the mistress of drunkenness with added water.
and the people would sing, dance and drink The liquid that
the night away to celebrate and honour her. this produced
was then poured
Nevertheless, beer was not just about getting into the four tall
drunk and having fun. The ancient Egyptians crocks to begin
used it as a medicine and archaeologists have the fermentation
discovered over 100 medicinal recipes that list process.
beer as an ingredient. There are also surviving
records to prove that beer was actually used
to pay workers in ancient Egypt, including
the labourers who built some of the country’s
greatest monuments. For example, those who
built the pyramids of Giza were given beer
rations three times a day, with each person
receiving a total of 1 ⅓ gallons of beer.
The beverage was also used as an offering for
the dead and it was one of the most common
grave goods to be placed in tombs. Wooden
funerary models inside the tombs ensured
that the deceased had everything they needed
once they were resurrected in the afterlife. LAST STEP
This particular model, dating to the Middle Once the
Kingdom, was discovered in a small hidden fermentation
process was
chamber in the passage leading to the tomb complete, the
of Mektre, the chancellor and high steward liquid was poured
during the successive reigns of Mentuhotep II, into the four round
Mentuhotep III and Amenemhat I. The model is jars located to the © Getty Images
currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum side, which are
covered here with
in New York City. black clay stoppers.

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