The course “La vida a las orillas del Nilo II – La intrahistoria y otras historias del Antiguo Egipto” ended on Thursday 22 October at Torrevieja’s Virgen del Carmen Cultural Centre with a session devoted to wine and beer.
Santiago Mallebrera, a specialist in Egyptian everyday history and the hieroglyphic language, delivered the sixth and final lecture in this Universidad Abierta para Mayores course.
The programme recorded average attendance of approximately 176 people per session in the cultural centre’s auditorium, according to the account released following the closing lecture.
Food and drink as a route into history
The talk explored the origins, production and uses of both drinks in pharaonic civilisation, connecting their preparation with aspects of everyday life, society and religion in ancient Egypt.
The section on beer examined its presence among different social groups, from workers and farmers to the royal family, and its use as part of workers’ wages.
The lecture described a production process using lightly baked loaves made from barley or sprouted wheat, which were broken up and mixed with water in jars to ferment naturally.
Pressing and filtering through cloth, alongside the use of ingredients such as dates, honey, figs or aromatic herbs, formed part of the explanation of these techniques.
Wine, storage and religious symbolism
The discussion of wine focused on its relationship with the nobility, priesthood, religious ceremonies and funerary offerings, contrasting this with the everyday role described for beer.
Mallebrera also covered vine cultivation, the treading of grapes and the extraction of liquid from the remaining grape skins using cloth sacks twisted with wooden rods.
Storage in earthenware amphorae and inscriptions recording information about the harvest, origin and production introduced the audience to practices for keeping and identifying wine in this historical setting.
The lecture also linked the drinks to figures in Egyptian mythology, including Osiris and Hathor, bringing the course to a close through a perspective combining food culture, everyday life and beliefs.
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