For the first time, chemical evidence has been found that wine was drank in Troy. This confirms the conjecture of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the legendary city of Fortaleza in the 19th century. The Trojans drank wine in abundance.
Not only did the members of the Trojan elite, but also the common people. The findings are published in the April Edition of the American Journal of Archaeology.
Iliad and wine
“Hephaestus spoke, got up and passed a double glass to his beloved mother,” says the first book of the Iliad. He tells how the God of fire, metallurgy and volcanoes encourage his mother. «While talking, the goddess of white arms, Hera, smiled. He took his son’s cup. He served the drink, from right to left, for all other gods, drinking the sweet nectar of the bowl ».
This vessel, a Copa Depas (Depos Amphikypellon), is well known by archaeologists. It is a slender clay vessel, between 12 and 40 centimeters high. It has two handles that narrow up to a pointed base. To date, only in Troy more than 100 glasses of this type have been found. They cover the period between 2500 and 2000 AC are also dispersed by the Aegean, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, and their capacity ranges between 0.25 and 1 liter.
“It was speculated that this glass passed from hand to hand in the celebrations as the Iliad says.” Dr. Stephan Blum, Institute of Prehistory, of the University of Tubinga, states it in a statement.
It came for everyone
A sample of 2 grams of recovered glasses fragments grinded. «There is evidence of the presence of succinic and pyruvic acids. It is conclusive: they only occur during the fermentation of the grape must. The wine drank from the depas glasses, ”they say.
The Trojans drank wine, but all of them? The wine was the most expensive drink in the Bronze Age. But in Troy not only the elite drank. They found common glasses with the same vestiges of wine. It was a daily drink for common people. The excavations in Troy were directed by the University of Tubinga between 1987 and 2012. Currently, the results of the excavations are being evaluated and more analysis of the material findings are being carried out.
