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Hesiod

The Greek poet and historian Hesiodos (~750-680 BC) lived as a shepherd and farmer. Along with Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey", his works are the main source of Greek mythology as well as about the everyday life of his time. He is considered the founder of the didactic epic (teaching poem), He is considered one of the first authors to describe viticulture and agriculture in prose rather than in the lyrical form that was common at the time. In his main work, "Theogony", he explains in 1,022 verses the creation of the world and the origin of the Greek gods. In the peasant epic "Works and Days", he sings of the hard life of the mountain farmers in 828 verses. He advises the winegrowers: "Be sparing around the middle of the barrel, but at the opening and at the end drink as much as you like, it is not worth saving the lees".

Hesiod - Gemälde, Auszug aus Theogonie und Mosaik

He enthuses about a wine from the ancient city of Byblos in what is now Lebanon: "I love the shady rock and the biblin wine, a bit of cheese and goat's milk and some meat". He tells of a sweet wine from the island of Cyprus, made from sweet, sun-dried grapes. This was the "Mana", the forerunner of today's Commandaria. He writes about the ideal time to harvest and make the wine as follows: "When Orion and the Star of the Dog (Sirius) move to the centre of the firmament, cut off the grapes and place them in the sun (to dry) for ten days and nights. Then store them in the shade for another five days and fill them into jars on the sixth day. Then they become wine as a gift from (the wine god) Dionysus". The picture on the left, created by Gustave Moreau in 1891, shows Hesiod with a muse, the middle picture an excerpt from the "Theogony" and the picture on the right a detail of the Monnus mosaic from the 3rd or 4th century.

Picture left: by Gustave Moreau - Unknown, Public domain, Link
Picture middle: by Hesiod - 2d copy, Public domain, Link

Image right: by TimeTravelRome - 20210705_113435, CC BY 2.0, Link

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Dominik Trick

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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg

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