The Ales of Gilgamesh

If there is one thing that people around the world can all agree on, it’s that we all love to eat, drink and be merry. Whether you get to work on a Hummer (if you do, shame on you), on a bike or a camel – we all love to sit down to a well cooked meal after a hard, or lazy day of work. Human beings have been cooking food and experimenting with food for millennia, although the exact date and sophistication of palate are still not agreed upon. Nevertheless, since the dawn of civilization, humans have taken their food and drink seriously because if you do it three times a day, you might as well enjoy it. Just like taking a piss in your diaper, delicious food and drink is just as enjoyable as the first time – trust me on this because I still occasionally partake in the former.

Food has played an important role in every culture since the dawn of civilization, including the ancient Sumerians. Mostly known for their contributions towards the first written documents that we have found and their well known creation myth “Gilgamesh”, the Sumerians were also renowned for their ale producing abilities. In ancient Sumer, even the most lowly temple servants were given a hefty ration of two pints per day. It may not sound like a lot, but considering that they were able to achieve brews that had 12% alcohol by volume, two pints are easily enough to put one in what some may call an “altered” state of mind. Another term for this feeling is “blissfully inebriated” and apparently it’s been a rather common state of being for humans for quite some time.

The Sumerians enjoyed their ale so much that they actually managed to garner themselves as the first civilization to have denizens who were known by outsiders as, “no good drunkards”. Well, I might be embellishing slightly but nomadic traders who came into the great city of Sumer oftentimes remarked on the jovial, slightly aggressive and always entertaining state of the drunks who wandered the city at all hours of the day.

Ale was so important in Sumer, especially during the hot summers, that they dedicated 40% of their grain harvest towards the production of this wonderful fermented drink (Tannahill, Food in History). By my accounts, this is perfectly reasonable because the bread they ate surely didn’t give them the same buzz as a nice, warm pint of grainy brew.

Although our knowledge of this once vast civilization is limited, one thing is for sure – if I were alive during the age of Gilgamesh I would definitely take my buddies to Sumer to show them the best parties this side of Nile.