Wine Thucydides: "the peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine." (52-53) Wine is used to examine early Greek and Roman economies and society. It was initially associated with social class, an exotic and scarce commodity because it was expensive to transport without breakage. Wine conveyed power, prestige, and privilege. The masses drank beer. Wine came to embody Greek culture and became more widely available. It was used not only in the Symposium, the Greek drinking parties, but also medicinally to clean wounds and as a safer drink than water. Roman farmers, under the influence of Greek culture, adapted their agricultural practices to take up viticulture, growing grapes instead of grain which they imported instead from colonies in North Africa. Where wine came from became a symbol of social differentiation and a form of conspicuous consumption. After the fall of the Roman Empire, wine continued to be associated with Christianity and the Mediterranean. The patterns persist today—wine is consumed in greater quantities in southern Europe, beer in northern Europe. Wine is consumed with food while beer is usually not. Wine, following Greek ideals, is usually drunk in moderation; beer is often not. Geography, naturally, plays a role in this. The Islamic prohibition against drinking focused on wine (Wine and games of chance are abominations devised by Satan, wrote Mohammad) because wine represented the Mediterranean world which Muslims resented. Human Geography Connections: distinct regional patterns of diet, energy use, and emergence of agrarian technologies; explanations for the location of agricultural activities; geographies of interdependence in the global economy; major agricultural production regions; diffusion; ways culture shapes human-environment relationships.
Wine Thucydides: "the peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine." (52-53) Wine is used to examine early Greek and Roman economies and society. It was initially associated with social class, an exotic and scarce commodity because it was expensive to transport without breakage. Wine conveyed power, prestige, and privilege. The masses drank beer. Wine came to embody Greek culture and became more widely available. It was used not only in the Symposium, the Greek drinking parties, but also medicinally to clean wounds and as a safer drink than water. Roman farmers, under the influence of Greek culture, adapted their agricultural practices to take up viticulture, growing grapes instead of grain which they imported instead from colonies in North Africa. Where wine came from became a symbol of social differentiation and a form of conspicuous consumption. After the fall of the Roman Empire, wine continued to be associated with Christianity and the Mediterranean. The patterns persist today—wine is consumed in greater quantities in southern Europe, beer in northern Europe. Wine is consumed with food while beer is usually not. Wine, following Greek ideals, is usually drunk in moderation; beer is often not. Geography, naturally, plays a role in this. The Islamic prohibition against drinking focused on wine (Wine and games of chance are abominations devised by Satan, wrote Mohammad) because wine represented the Mediterranean world which Muslims resented. Human Geography Connections: distinct regional patterns of diet, energy use, and emergence of agrarian technologies; explanations for the location of agricultural activities; geographies of interdependence in the global economy; major agricultural production regions; diffusion; ways culture shapes human-environment relationships.
6%20drinks%20readings.docx