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The drink of the High Gods - who agrees?

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No worries, Miriam. Its an interesting question.

The research I've done in the Bible shows that mead (or honey wine) is mentioned in a few places.

I think that a study of the area at the time of Jesus could give a pretty good insight into what beverages might have been at the Last Supper, or what might have been turned from water. Plus, some delving into Jewish traditions of alcohol at the time.

Miriam, do you have any good suggestions/ideas/research on the drinking of habits of turn-of-the-Millenium Jewish people?

Vicky
 
Now I'm confused (no it doesn't take much), Miriam is taking the "blame" for opening this thread. The first post that I saw was Thurisaz. Am I missing part of the thread?
Jon
 
Nope, you didn't miss anything. It was Miriam that asked how many non-Xtian folks were here, and that was what she was talking about.

But, it was an interesting question, and no blame to be assessed (penetrating look at Miriam and a grin).

Vicky
 
(Patting down my hair, which stood on end at Vicky's penetrating look :o )

Vicky, I've been thinking about your question, and it seems to me that the source for research into the drinking habits of the ancients in Israel is the Talmud. Here is a comprehensive definition of the Talmud:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud

You will see that it is a vast work which requires a good grasp of Hebrew to study, even with the linear translations available. I doubt that even so dedicated and curious a scholar as Dan would have time to pursue the question throughout the pages of the Talmud.

But. My husband's good friend is a rabbi and a winemaker, and I will ask him to sit down with me once or twice, to go over the sources and and explain to me, in a way I can understand, what people were drinking back in 200 CE. I can assure you that people did drink wine then; mead I'm not so sure about. However, honey was known and appreciated, and where there's honey, mead has to follow...Anyway, I'll do my best to gather some information over the next couple of weeks, and when I have something presentable, I'll do a little article on the subject. Bli neder, meaning "not promising" - but I'm intrigued enough myself to put some energy into the project.

Miriam
 
LOL..

Fantastic! If you can find out enough to write an article, and you have the time, just shoot it over and I'll put it on the front page and in the history section....
 
I'm a Shamanists, and have been in recovery from a Cathlic upbringing for 34 years.

The core philosophies of Shamanism,

Everything that is, is of the Spirit. Having the same source, everything is connected. When we harm the earth, the sky or any living thing, we harm Ourselves both physically and spiritually. The laws are simple. Love the Spirit, Love everything of the spirit, cause no harm.

I like to think... "My Dogma got run over by my Karma"

Dmntd
 
My apologies, Got Mead Web Wench, if i got off topic. I thought that I was on topic for this thread. However, Mead is here and tastes great, and I agree with Thurisaz, it is the drink of the gods, and God himself, I believe enjoys a good mead now and then. ;D
 
No, you weren't off topic. You made an interesting observation, and it looks like at least one of us is going to delve into beverages in Jewish tradition/culture during the time that Jesus is said to have lived.

No worries.

Oh, and please call me Vicky. GotmeadWebwench is such a *mouthful*....LOL
 
"GotmeadWebwench is such a *mouthful"

Really..? Ok now were off topic. Slaps mind back into it's gutter where it normally dwells.
LoL
Tarot
 
In the oldest known versions of the Wedding story, the word used is actually the word for "Strong Drink", it was later changed to "Wine" but you have to remember the cultural preferences of the people doing the changing hundreds of years later in a totally different part of the world. At the time of Jesus, by far the most common "Strong Drink" was beer. Grain was plentiful and therefore much cheaper to come by, and in addition we have records of Egypt exporting large quantities of beer to Judea during this period. In general the only ones during Jesus’ time that drank wine regularly were those that were either Roman, or closely aligned with the Romans.


Cheers
Jay
 
Don't mean to come across as argumentive, but I have to respectfully disagree with "strong drink" v/s "wine" in the story of the wedding at Cana. I still have my Greek New Testament resources from my days long ago as a ministerial student and took a browse to see what was there.

A really helpful text is the Greek New Testament put out by the United Bible Societies. It not only gives the reading of the text in koine Greek, it lists varient readings in the footnotes with the manuscript sources, allowing the reader to back check the main text. I took a look at the wedding story as listed in John 2:1-12 and saw that there were no varient readings listed at all for the Greek word 'onos' (i.e., wine). I also checked "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament," a more detailed exposition, and again there were no varient readings for 'onos.'

Is it possible that your reference drew from a Latin translation that had used an Anglo-Saxon text as the source? That might account for the use of "strong drink" in the text rather than the original Greek text referring to wine.
 
This is getting *really* interesting! I'm following this closely.

I'm also thinking about moving this to history of mead.......because it seems to be moving in that direction.
 
Vicky - GM Webmistress said:
This is getting *really* interesting! I'm following this closely.

I'm also thinking about moving this to history of mead.......because it seems to be moving in that direction.
Click to expand...

Yay!!! Mom-wench says we're behaving better so we can go back to history of mead. ;D ;D ;D

Oh -- that was the "Did Jesus Drink Mead" thread that got moved. :-[ Well, we're still working on behaving better, aren't we? ::)
 
LOL....in the Hive, pretty much anything goes unless it:

1. Bashes someone elses beliefs
2. Flames

Beyond that......have at.
 
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