SC - Is drinking water "period"

[Decker, Terry D.]

Your goblet of water is probably not period, but I wouldn't want to bet on
it.  The Romans certainly used water and at least one archeologist has made
the case for lead poisoning weakening the Roman population due to the lead
pipes they used.  It was common practice to dilute wines with water and I
believe the practice continued into medieval times.

The Roman Legions commonly drank vinegar with water.  I learned about the
practice from a couple Spec Ops people who experimented with it in the
field.  They referred to it as the original electrolyte.

The idea that people didn't drink water because they knew it would make them
sick is just too simple.  Water born disease tends to strike large
populations living in small areas with inefficient removal of human and
animal waste, urban areas and military encampments being at the top of the
list.  Ground and surface water are naturally filtered to a certain extent
and if the well is properly positioned in relation to the privies,
contaminents flow away from the well.  (Surface water flows toward lakes and
streams, ground water flows away from lakes and streams.)  

Being unaware of microorganisms, does not rule out having the empiric
knowledge to reduce their effects.  Roman engineers tried to limit their
cities to 25,000 occupants because they could engineer sufficient water
supplies and waste removal for that number.  

Another consideration is that cisterns were used to collect rain water to
provide pure water for castles and towns.  If you weren't drinking it, you
really didn't need a cistern in most of Europe.

Considering that many people today prefer to drink coffee, tea, and soda
rather than water, I see no reason why a person in period would not have
drunk wine, beer or small beer for the same reasons and benefitted from the
additional nutritional value (a glass of beer roughly equates to the
nutritional value of a glass of milk).  From my manual labor days, I can
suggest that another reason people drank beer and wine is for the analgesic
effects.  Alcohol helps the body to relax and helps kill the pain of aching
muscles, serious considerations when you don't have Aleve in the medicine
cabinet. 

As for feasts, they were often about revelry and conspicuous consumption.
Good vintages are more worthy of note than water.

Bear  



> The following was posted to the Meridian List.  I contacted 
> the person who 
> wrote it (we then had a nice discussion about the knowledge 
> of germs, etc., 
> in "period") and asked if they minded if I cross-posted it.  (see 2nd 
> paragraph). Since we often discuss recipes for "documented" 
> drinks at feasts 
> - I pose the question: Is my goblet full of water "period"??
> 
> Rayne   
> 
> Original Post: Actually, people in period did NOT drink 
> water.  They didn't 
> have our
> facilities for cleaning and sanitizing the water, so drinking 
> water would be
> a pretty good way to catch a pretty nasty disease.  
> Fermenting or brewing it
> basically takes care of these problems, or so I understand, 
> so that is why
> ale and wine were staple drinks.
> 
> Reply to my comments and request to cross-post:  I have no 
> problem if you 
> cross-post it, although I admit that I haven't researched the topic 
> extensively.  Even if they didn't know that there were germs 
> or viruses, or 
> bacteria, or whatever in the water, you would think that they 
> would realize 
> that if they drank the water, they would get sick.
> But then, they also had a lot more instances of food 
> poisoning and such, so
> maybe it was just a common place occurrence that they didn't 
> attribute it to
> the water at all.  Also, they may not have believed in 
> 'bugs', but they DID
> believe in foul 'humours' in the air and water, that made people sick.