Join Emily, Meredith, and Frank as they discuss the role of beer in ancient Mesopotamia, including its origins as a woman-dominated industry, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Code of Hammurabi.
Links and Additional Content:
Beer in the Ancient World via the Ancient History Encyclopedia, including this section from the Code of Hammurabi quoted in this episode:
108 If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.
109 If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
110 If a “sister of a god” open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.
Bust of Hammurabi, via Wikimedia Commons user Mbmrock
Sumerian tablet created during the 45th year of the reign of Shulgi, the King of Ur, in 2050 BC. It is a dated and signed receipt written by a scribe called Ur-Amma for the delivery of beer, by a brewer named Alulu. The text translates as “Ur-Amma acknowledges receiving from his brewer, Alulu, 5 sila (about 4 1/2 liters) of the ‘best’ beer.” Public Domain
Annual balance sheet of a State-owned farm, drawn-up by the scribe responsible for artisans: detailed account of raw materials and workdays. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Shamhat from the Epic of Gilgamesh introducing Enkidu to beer. Public Doman.
This small 11 x 9.5 x 3 cm clay tablet is a survived fragment of tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It narrates how Gilgamesh and Enkidu entered the Cedar Forest and killed Humbaba and his seven sons. From modern-day Babel Governorate. Old-Babylonian period, 2003-1595 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan. Image via Wikimedia Commons user Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP, [Creative Commons 3.0 licence]
Enkidu conquering the lion : From the palace of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin (now Khorsabad, near Mossul), 713-706 BC. CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
![This small 11 x 9.5 x 3 cm clay tablet is a survived fragment of tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. It narrates how Gilgamesh and Enkidu entered the Cedar Forest and killed Humbaba and his seven sons. From modern-day Babel Governorate. Old-Babylonian period, 2003-1595 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan. Image via Wikimedia Commons user Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP, [Creative Commons 3.0 licence]](http://hiddenhistoryofbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Tablet_V_of_the_Epic_of_Gligamesh._Newly_discovered._The_Sulaymaniyah_Museum_Iraq.-150x150.jpg)
![Enkidu conquering the lion : From the palace of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin (now Khorsabad, near Mossul), 713-706 BC. CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://hiddenhistoryofbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/512px-Enkidu-150x150.jpg)