For centuries, we believed that wine in Greek times was a privilege for wealthy people, the aristocracy of the time, but research from the University of Tübingen, Germany, has discovered that wine was drunk even in the ancient city of Troy. Evidence for this discovery was found thanks to an analysis of the depas amphikypellon, the characteristic clay goblet described by Homer (or someone on his behalf) in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The vessels examined date back to a period between 2500 and 2000 BC and were thought to be used for celebratory toasts, and this is true. But with this new research, we have discovered that when these very expensive vessels did not exist, the Trojans drank wine from ordinary glasses and did so daily.
Wine Was a Popular Drink Already 4000 Years Ago
My Science reports that for the first time ever, a team of researchers has found chemical evidence that wine was actually drunk in Troy, verifying a conjecture by Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the legendary fortress city in the 19th century. Researchers at the University of Tübingen discovered that not only members of the Trojan elite, but also ordinary people drank wine, shedding light on a great mystery in the history of gastronomy. Archaeologist Schliemann, who first demonstrated that Troy was not an invention but a real city that existed in antiquity, had hypothesized that these goblets filled with wine were used only during celebrations, as described in the Iliad. This is not the case: scholars examined common cups found in that area (now Turkey) and discovered that they contain traces of wine residue.
The study, published in the American Journal of Archaeology, revealed the presence of succinic and pyruvic acids inside the vessels, demonstrating the presence of fermented grape juice. "We are far from the ‘wine' as we know it today, but it is undoubtedly its ancestor, and this study demonstrates that wine was indeed drunk from depas goblets, and not simply grape juice," says Professor Maxime Rageot, one of the authors of the research.
Until now, we've been convinced that wine was an elitist drink in those times because it was the most expensive drink in the Bronze Age, and a depas goblet was the most precious vessel. It's no coincidence that we've always found them near temples or in royal palaces. All historians in recent years have therefore concluded that wine consumption occurred on special occasions in elite circles, and that the common people drank grape juice. This discovery sheds light on the lives of ordinary people during that mysterious historical period.
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