SC - Non-member submission from Margaret

[Michael F. Gunter]

Found this on the clarinet bboards.  Thought this group might be
interested

toodles, margaret

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Approved: editor at clarinet.com
From: C-ap at clari.net (AP / KATHERINE ROTH, Associated Press Writer)
Newsgroups:
clari.living.arts,clari.living.history,clari.news.alcohol+drugs,clari.loc

al.new_york.nyc
Subject: 5,000 Years of Drinking in Exhibit


        NEW YORK (AP) -- It's a show for those who take drinking very
seriously.
        Thousands of years ago, those in the Near East and Mediterranean

enjoyed dozens of types of beer and wine, and not just red, white
and rose. There were smoked wines and raisin wines, cooked wines
and wines flavored with salt, herbs or honey. And drink was stored,
transported and drunk from a myriad of containers.
        ``People really enjoyed it. They had fun,'' said Michal
Dayagi-Mendels, an expert in Israelite and Persian archaeology at
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem who curated ``Drink and Be Merry:
Wine and Beer in Ancient Times.'' The show is at The Jewish Museum
here from Sunday through Nov. 5.
        The trade of drink, curators say, had a role in virtually
everything.
        King Herod the Great, who built the ancient Jewish Temple, was a

famous imbiber who offered his guests fine wine imported from
Italy, Dayagi-Mendels said, gesturing toward huge pottery wine
vats.
        There are also wine jar fragments found in Herod's winter palace

in Masada.
        Another surprise is a section of scroll found in Qumran, home of

the Essene sect who many scholars believe produced the Dead Sea
Scrolls, a compendium of early Jewish thought and philosophy.
        Although the Essenes were understood to have been among the most

sober of ascetics, the scroll mentions their celebrating a
``Festival of the New Wine'' and is accompanied by a set of pottery
drinking bowls.
        The oldest object in the show is an Egyptian filter for sifting
the chaff from beer. It dates from the 10th to 9th century B.C.,
the curator said. There are also strainers and perforated straws.
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        On the Net: http://www.thejewish museum.org