History of the World in 6 Glasses
“History of the World in 6 Glasses”
By Tom Standage
Chapter 2: Civilized Beer
1. The “Land between 2 rivers” is the Tigris and Euphrates rivers located in Mesopotamia (in the Fertile Crescent). “The World’s first cities arose in Mesopotamia, ‘the land between the streams,’ the name given to the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers… (24, Standage)”, which meant that around this area most of the people were hardworking. The problem about these two rivers though is that they had unexpected flooding and there was little rain. This is why at the time, goods, instead of being offerings to gods were, “compulsory taxes that were consumed by the temple bureaucracy or traded for other goods and services (40, Standage).” This only arose though because of the unpredictable weather and nature of the Mesopotamian environment.
2. Mesopotamia and Egypt had many differences,, but they were both similar in one thing, “Both cultures were made possible by an agricultural surplus, in particular an access of grain (25, Standage).” It funded many a vast amount of public works/constructions to be possible such as canals, temples and pyramids and also freed a small elite of administrators and craftsmen from the need to produce their own food. Grain was the main national diet in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, refereed to as “edible money” because it was consumed in both liquid and solid form.
3. “… Grain was the basis of the national diet in both Egypt and Mesopotamia (26, Standage)”, it was consumed as not only beer, but bread too. Many people supplemented themselves with bread, beer, dates and onions (sometimes with meat and of course additional vegetables); Dates provided vitamin A, beer provided vitamin B and everything else added up to 3,5000 to 4,000 calories. They both had different ways of seeing how beer should actually be used sometimes but they both used it in the same way most of the time, for pleasure and to satisfy.
4. Gilgamesh was a Sumerian kind who ruled
By Tom Standage
Chapter 2: Civilized Beer
1. The “Land between 2 rivers” is the Tigris and Euphrates rivers located in Mesopotamia (in the Fertile Crescent). “The World’s first cities arose in Mesopotamia, ‘the land between the streams,’ the name given to the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers… (24, Standage)”, which meant that around this area most of the people were hardworking. The problem about these two rivers though is that they had unexpected flooding and there was little rain. This is why at the time, goods, instead of being offerings to gods were, “compulsory taxes that were consumed by the temple bureaucracy or traded for other goods and services (40, Standage).” This only arose though because of the unpredictable weather and nature of the Mesopotamian environment.
2. Mesopotamia and Egypt had many differences,, but they were both similar in one thing, “Both cultures were made possible by an agricultural surplus, in particular an access of grain (25, Standage).” It funded many a vast amount of public works/constructions to be possible such as canals, temples and pyramids and also freed a small elite of administrators and craftsmen from the need to produce their own food. Grain was the main national diet in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, refereed to as “edible money” because it was consumed in both liquid and solid form.
3. “… Grain was the basis of the national diet in both Egypt and Mesopotamia (26, Standage)”, it was consumed as not only beer, but bread too. Many people supplemented themselves with bread, beer, dates and onions (sometimes with meat and of course additional vegetables); Dates provided vitamin A, beer provided vitamin B and everything else added up to 3,5000 to 4,000 calories. They both had different ways of seeing how beer should actually be used sometimes but they both used it in the same way most of the time, for pleasure and to satisfy.
4. Gilgamesh was a Sumerian kind who ruled