The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said it is possibly the oldest high-capacity brewery in the world. His remains were discovered by Egyptian and American archaeologists in Abydos, more than 450 km south of Cairo.
22 thousand liters of beer
Abydos, one of the most important Egyptian archaeological sites, is the ruins of a city that played a very important state and religious role in Ancient Egypt. Many temples and a huge necropolis with tombs of the first pharaohs of the early dynasty period were discovered here. Among other things, Narmer, also called Menes, the founder of the first dynasty, ruled from 3150 to 3125 BC and was considered the ruler who united Upper and Lower Egypt. The discovered brewery probably dates back to his time, as Egyptologist Mostafa Vaziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, told the media on February 14, 2021.
The scientist accurately described the find: the brewery with a production capacity of 22.4 thousand liters was divided into eight parts, 20 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. Each contained about 40 earthenware vessels used to heat a mixture of grains and water to make beer.
The Ministry of Antiquities said that British archaeologists were the first to mention the existence of the brewery in the early 20th century, but were unable to locate it. Dr. Matthew Adams, one of the researchers who made the discovery, said that beer was probably used in the funeral rituals of the first kings of Egypt.
“Go in peace to Abydos!”
In the Egyptian religion, Abydos was the place where Isis buried the remains of Osiris. Therefore, the rulers very much desired a funeral in a holy place. As a place of worship, Abydos appears in the work of Boleslav Prus “Pharaoh” (published in 1897). It is there that the body of the fictional Ramses XII “pilgrims” says goodbye to the crowd, obeying the ritual formula “Go in peace to Abydos!”, Where “Abydos” means “Land of the dead.” The city is also visited by the son and heir of the deceased pharaoh – the fictional Ramses XIII, the main character of the novel. Prus writes:
“Fifteen miles upstream of the suite, the wild Arabian cliffs almost touch the Nile; while the Libyan mountains have moved so far from it that their valley is perhaps the widest in Egypt. At this point, next to each other, stood two venerable cities.: Tinis and Abydos, where Menes was born, the first pharaoh of Egypt, a hundred thousand years ago, the sacred body of the god Osiris, treacherously killed by his brother Typhon, was placed in the tomb.
Prus makes no mention of the great alcoholic beverage factory in Abydos, but equips his hero with a love for culinary simplicity, which is also characteristic of himself, in which the product of an ancient brewery was welcomed. Immediately after ascending the throne, Ramses XIII, looking at the luxuriously laid table of the ruler of Egypt, “demanded beer and soldier’s bread with garlic.” Earlier, when he was a prince, Thutmose criticized his reluctance to gourmet dishes: “he could not only drink, but even bathe in the best wine, while he prefers a meager soldier’s beer and dry pie grated with garlic. Where do these peasant tastes come from? I understand”.