Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-03-17
ANCIENT BREWING.
Ancestors Of the TeutonS Taught Il TO
The Egyptians.
DEER A VERY OLD DRINK.
Made in Remotcst Days Just A. IL
Is At Prcsent-Furthermo IL h"a
Just the Same Encct-interesh"S
Historical Facts.

II is interesting 10 learn from an arti-
Gle I'm the Scottish Review on the haoits
Of the ancient Egyptians that there was
! "a good deal OF human nature In 'he
apparenty melancholy jewellers on mo
sacred Nile. whom 1t Is too much ths
fashion TO Judge from their angular scuip'
ture and architecture. They were lar
from always carrying wooden images Oh
dead bodies around the dining-room lot
the enlvenment Of the general conversa-
ton. nor was their main occupation the
embalmlng Of cats.
On the contrary, they were people
much given TO the enjoyment or mes
pleasures. Among other things, they
were ardent worshippers OF Gamorinus' II
the fact may be expressed in so anachro-
nistlc n term. They were beer-drinKers 10
an exceedingly large extent-a trait per-
haps not suspected by many who are IN
clined to look upon an eastern nation as
naturally belonging to the region OF Bac'
chus, or Dionysos.
Sir Gardner wilkinson found malt at
Gus liquors was certainly not a character
istic of the ancient Egyptians. In thelr
alehouses, II seems. there was generally
such riotousness that women who han
compromised themselves were sentenced
10 keeping an inn Of that kind. This wa,
thought sufficient punishment for ladies'
Of delicacy and refinement The 'reform'
atory" TO which they were thus sent was,
IL must be owned. Of peculiar KIND.
on the other hand, it sounds rather
comic 10 read the rules Of n secret socie-
~ Of Egyptian priests, that those inl-
tiated into II were henceforth not allow
cd. at their meals, TO drink any wine,
but were TO use only beer. No doubt.
some sanitary notion, from local point
OF view-whether right or wrong-was at
the bottom OF this prescription. Simila>
notions can be detected in the dietary
laws Of many founders Of reiigious creeds.
DRANK a BARLEY BREW.
Archalochos says Of the Phrygians. one
Of the chief Thrakian tribes. and of others
Of that race, that they drank a barley
brew called "brutOn." The word is not
Greek Being a Thrakian expression for
beer" the explanation has been started
as an obvious one that 1t means brew,
in German "brau," or, TO use Il participle,
gebrautes
The blood relationship Of the Thrakians
with the Teutonic stock-hence with Ger
mans, Scandinavians, Englishmen, and
Lowland Scots-has been recognized by
many Of the foremost scholars Of vari-
Gus cOntres. BY the ancients the Thra-
kans are described as fair or reddish,
golden-haired. blue-eyed. most martial.
yet at the same time addicted to philo-
sophical speculation. though fierce in war
and ready to quarrel; much given to
gymnastics. and. withal, musical ana
poetical easily indulGing In banter ana
joking, and rather Bacchanalian. These
are traits which the various Germanic
nations have much in common.
Now, 1t was, in all probability, through
the Thrakians. kinsmen Of the Teutonic
race, that the Egyptians. who came much
into contact with them, both hostile and
otherwise, learned the art Of brewing
and acquired the taste for ale. which they
used to so very large an extent.
Both In Europe and Asia the Thraluans
lived under many tribal names In the
Nile country they were apparently the
earliest inhabitants. so far as history can
be clearly traced. At all events. this was
the opinion of the Egyptian priests-in
other words. Of the learned clasS-at the
time of Herodotus. or the wide distribu-
ton Of the Thrakian stock. the Father
Of History AYERS that they are the
largest of all races, except the population
Of India; and If they were under one
ruler, or were acting together. they
would, IN my opinion, be invincible. and
by far the most powerful OF all nations"
This vast race was. of old, famed. on
both sides of the Hellespoat, as brewers
and consumers Of beer.
When Xenophon was entertained at the
famous banquet Of Seuthes. on the Thra-
khan ChersOnese. near the Dardaneiles.
all the table manners and customs he OBJ
served had the dearest Teutonic mark.
Even the separate tables for each person
were there. which Tacitus reports were
in use among the Germans of his time.
The peculiar way Of drinking together,
and a kind of "nall-proof," by standing
up and tossing OFF the whole contents Of
the horn and then splitting the last drops.
are strangely suggestive of customs, still
prevalent in Germany to-day.
ALWAYS THE SAME.
A smile Involuntary steals over the
reader of old classical lore when he finds
Dioskorides. a Greek doctor from Kilikia.
describing so very correctly the injurious
result Of the too frequent use Of beer,
both on the constitution In general and as
regards that special after-effect Of intOXi-
cation, which in German IS called katzen-
TANNER.
Going from east 10 west, beer is found
also among the Gauls and the Iberans in
Spain.
Thrakiars, as we'll as their more or less
close kinsmen, the Skyths, whose ma
jorty at least had a racial affinity with
the former, often waged war with the
Egyptians. At the same time. in true Teu-
eo1tc, lansqucnet manner. TnrakiEns
served as mercenaries in the Egyptian
armies. In the same way the Thrakians.
THOUGH ut taFiFh -a.t-l
also became much intermiXed with them.
In fact, wherever one looks, he finds that
astly-eXtending Thraliian race all over
the East-in Europe, In Asia, as well as
in Africa. Even so far back as the time
Of the Trojan war, there existed. II
S,rabO can be trusted village in Egypt,
called Troy. 1t was. be says. an ancient
settlement of the captive Trojans who
had accompanied Menelaus and settled
there.
Now, It does not stand TO reason that a
people so given 10 their own natural baye-
rage as the Thrakians were must have
continued its use In the Nile country. and
that the very words for that brew should
have got from the Thrakian language both
into the Egyptian and Hellenic tongue?
But if the REPRESENTATIONS were the
earlier inhabitants Of Egypt, it would GER
tainly not be difficult to account for beer
antiquity without our ken.
BEGAN THE FIRST CANAL.
PsammitIch, or PsamatiH, was himself
not an Egyptian of pure stock. He was
OF half Lyban-that is. probably, semi
Thrakian-origin His face is Of an AIyan,
or even distinctly Germanic type, espe-
cially in the nose, while his son NekO
looks like true Egyptian. Psammt!ch.
after having been eXiled, returned 10 the
throne by the Military aid OF Ionian
Greeks and karian Thralians. II was his
son NekO who began the first canal be-
tween the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea, contrary TO the wish of the priests.
who stopped the work by means OF an
oracle, 10 the effect that he was work
ing for a barbarian"-that is. facilitating
the conquest by foreign race Neko
also brought about the first circumnayl-
cation OF Africa by Carthaginians.
The Oldest Egyptian statues have pro-
noVrced Aryan type, and the probability,
amounting TO a tolerable certainty. IS,
that in earliest Egypt there was ruling
caste Of Aryan, Thrakian, connection.