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Homer

The legendary Greek poet (Old Greek Hómēros; New Greek Ómiros) was born around 850 BC, probably in Smyrna (Asia Minor). He is considered one of the earliest witnesses of Greek wine culture. Homer is said to have roamed the countryside as a blind, travelling singer. He died on the Aegean island of Chios (Khios), which was considered the "Bordeaux of Greek wine". In his two famous works, the Iliad (Trojan War) and the Odyssey (Odysseus' Voyages and Homecoming), wine plays an important role as the "house drink" of his epic heroes, and he repeatedly describes the "wine-coloured sea". He names Thrace (at that time the entire Balkan peninsula) and the island of Limnos as the source of wine for the siege army before Troy. He praises the wine from Ismaros (probably identical with the ancient port city of Maroneia) as "sweet and unadulterated - a drink of the gods". The Greek hero Odysseus received the intoxicating red wine there from the Thracian priest-king Maron, with which he got the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemus drunk and then blinded him.

Homer und Beginn der Odyssee

Homer also mentions various wine-making techniques of ancient Greece, such as sulphurisation, the flavouring (seasoning) of wine, and the extraction of wine from dried grapes. The god Hephaistos, who lived on the island of Limnos, forged new weapons for the hero Achilles, including "the most glorious of shields". On it was depicted, among other things, a vineyard of gold with vines on silver poles and a joyful grape harvest. Homer describes this in the 18th canto of the Iliad as follows: Further, the god formed a grape-studded vineyard splendid with gold, and dark hung the fruit on the vines. And so it stood round about adorned with poles of silver. A ditch of steel flowed to the side, and a fence of tin was drawn around it; only one path led over it, which the bearers entered at the time of the autumn harvest. Young, lovely girls together with cheerful boys carried the sweet harvest of grapes in woven baskets. Another quotation from him regarding the enjoyment of wine is: ' Wine renews the strength of weary men'.

Images: By User:Bibi Saint-Pol, own work, public domain, link

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