Episode 49: Civilization's Frothy Foundation in Ancient Mesopotamia

Unlock the secrets of a 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem and discover how it's not just a tribute to the goddess Ninkasi, but also a recipe for the beer that coursed through ancient Mesopotamia's veins. With my cohost, Phoenix, we celebrate the professional brewmasters of yore, whose precise record-keeping on clay tablets offers us a glimpse into a society where beer was more than a frothy beverage—it was a cornerstone of civilization, a currency, and a staple of sustenance. 

As we clink our glasses filled with the past, join us in a lighthearted yet enlightening exploration of what Sumerian "Yelp reviews" might have entailed and how today's craft beer critiques echo the accountability of ancient beer transactions. We raise our cups not only to the grand empires and epic battles but to the vibrant day-to-day life that these historical artifacts represent. Toast with us to the tales that bubbled up from history's frothy depths and stay curious for more journeys into the lesser-known stories of our past.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Smart.
Please Like and Subscribe ifyou want more videos.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome back, dear listeners, to another exciting
episode of Smartikas TalesHistory.
I'm your host, smartikas, withmy cohost, pheonix, hello.
Today we're going to dive deepinto the fascinating world of
ancient Mesopotamia and one ofits most unexpected historical
treasures, the Sumerian BeerTablets.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yes, but first have a sip of beer.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, so I, I, I got beer.
Um, this was kind of lastminute again.
Well, like I think we decidedwe had, we already had the story
written, but what we were goingto do was kind of last minute.
I mean, I it was kind of I feellike it was kind of obvious
that we're doing a beer tablet.
Well, yeah, you shoulddefinitely have a beer.
Um Phoenix is gluten free.
Um it may, because she's you'reallergic to it, right?

(01:27):
So?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I am.
It makes me sick.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
So I miss it so much.
You can get gluten free beer,but we didn't think about it in
time.
It's hard to get, I guess, so Iwouldn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I've never tried the only place I could actually find
it cause the the liquor storehere in town.
Neither one of them.
Cause if there's two of them inour little tiny town, neither
one of them has gluten.
Uh, has a yeah, gluten freebeer.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
I'm assuming there's probably different brands.
What, what kind do you prefer?

Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know, I've never had gluten free beer, oh you've
never had it in general.
No.
But I asked and they were likeno, we don't have anything like
that.
So I went online and the onlyplace I could find it was
freaking Amazon and you had toorder a lot.
And I was like no, no, thankyou.
What if it's terrible?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Um.
So I have probably my favoritebeer um angry orchard hard cider
.
A lot of people don't likeciders.
A lot of people crap all overthem.
I like cider beer.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I like cider.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
My dad would call it a girly beer because it's
flavored.
He's like, oh, that's a winecooler, that's what he would
call it.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
I still like it.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, I still like right.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
I, I don't know.
I've never judged any, but anyman for ever ordering a
Cosmopolitan because they'regood, so I'm not going to judge
someone for drinking a flavoredbeer Anyhow, so enjoy your
fruity beer.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, thanks, don't worry about it.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Sorry, I didn't think about it Now, when you think of
ancient history, what comes tomind?
Perhaps?
Grand empires, epic battles ortowering monuments.
But how about beer?
Yes, you heard it right Beer.
Beer holds a special place inthe annals of history, and the
Sumerian beer tablets are awindow into a world where beer

(03:25):
was not just a beverage butcurrency and sustenance.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Our story begins in the cradle of civilization,
Ancient Mesopotamia, roughly4,000 years ago.
Imagine a bustling city in whatis now southern Iraq, where the
Tigris and Euphrates riversnourished the land and gave rise
to one of the world's earliesturban societies, the Sumerians.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
The Sumerians were a people who celebrated the art of
brewing beer.
It wasn't just a drink for them, it was an essential part of
daily life, so much so that theyeven had a goddess dedicated to
beer, and her name was Ninkasi.
She was also the goddess offertility and harvest, this very
same goddess who has a 3,900year old poem about her that

(04:05):
just so happens to be anotherrecorded recipe.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
For the Sumerians, brewing beer was a profession
and Sumerian brewers took itseriously.
They had intricate recipes,fermentation techniques and even
a system for recording anddistributing their precious
brews.
These recordings, however, werenot always consistent from
decade to decade or year to year.
In fact, they were oftendifferent depending on which

(04:28):
bureaucrat wrote them up, whichkind of makes me flee to say
that it's very similar than howwe do things today with how many
, like IPA beers, for instance,all kinds of you know everybody
makes their beer differently.
There's no set.
You know, this is how you makeit and that's it.
Yeah, it's not strict.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
These clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform script
also provide us with afascinating glimpse into the
Sumerian beer trade.
They functioned as ancientreceipts for beer transactions.
Each tablet is like a windowinto a bygone era, showing us
how beer was brewed, distributedand consumed in Sumerian
society.
These receipts not only detailthe amount of beer exchanged but
also the names of thoseinvolved, ensuring

(05:13):
accountability in thetransaction, which leads me to
think it was a learned lesson ofsomeone was screwing around,
messed up the beer, and they'relike oh no, it wasn't me, it was
Sven.
Oh yeah.
And they're like oh Sven, howdare you?
And he's like I didn't eventouch it, I wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
I don't even know how to make beer.
I'm a carpenter.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah, scholars have translated these tablets and it
is astonishing to see themeticulous nature of Sumerian
record keeping.
They even accounted fordifferent qualities and types of
beer, much like we have variouscraft beers today.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
And ratings and reviews.
Obviously, yeah, yeah.
So you know your Yelp reviewisn't as new as you think it is.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I was just going to say I wonder what the Yelp
reviews were back then.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh gosh, this tastes like Donkey P.
Don't touch it.
He's still just.
He's still putting it out there, but no one's drinking it Bob.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
how do you know what Donkey P tastes like?

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Don't you worry about it.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Mind your business, stay in your lane.
Oh, my gosh, oh.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Just like the first person I've ever been in milk
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Well, the calf does, and I think it'll be fine.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, milk wasn't invented, but you discovered it.
Right.
How's milk, or goat milk oranything whatever?

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Right.
As mentioned previously, whatmakes these tablets truly
special is that beer was notjust a drink for the Sumerians.
It was also a form of paymentfor laborers, a medium of
exchange and an integral part ofreligious rituals.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Imagine a world where your daily wage could be paid
in pints of beer.
It's a far cry from today'sdigital transactings, but I
digress.
The Sumerian beer tablets alsoreveal the importance of women
in the brewing industry.
Women were often the primarybrewers and vendors of beer, and
these tablets showcase theirprominent role in ancient

(07:25):
society.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
These tablets also remind us that history isn't
just about kings and wars.
It's about the everyday livesof ordinary people.
It's about the foods they ate,the drinks they savored and the
culture they'd created,especially around something so
simple and ordinary as afermented cereal beverage.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
As we raise a glass to the Sumerian beer tablets,
let's remember that even themost mundane artifacts can hold
the secrets of a vibrant andcomplex civilization.
That's all for today's episodeof Smarticus Tells History.
I hope that you have found thestory of the Sumerian beer
tablet as fascinating as we did.
Join us next time as we exploreanother hidden gem from the

(08:05):
annals of history.
Until then, stay curious, myfriends, and don't forget to
like and subscribe.