Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths told by the ancient Greeks. These stories concern the origin and the nature of the world, the lives and activities of deities and mythological creatures, the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' own cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization, to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself; the Greek myths were propagated in an oral-poetic tradition most by Minoan and Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.
Aside from this narrative deposit in ancient Greek literature, pictorial representations of gods and mythic episodes featured prominently in ancient vase-paintings and the decoration of votive gifts and many other artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic and Hellenistic periods and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes. Greek mythology is known today from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. 900 BC to c. 800 BC onward. In fact and archaeological sources integrate, sometimes mutually supportive and sometimes in conflict.
Mythical narration plays an important role in nearly every genre of Greek literature. The only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus; this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens wrote on many of these topics, his writings may have formed the basis for the collection. Among the earliest literary sources are the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the "epic cycle", but these and lesser poems now are lost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the "Homeric Hymns" have no direct connection with Homer, they are choral hymns from the earlier part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiod, a possible contemporary with Homer, offers in his Theogony the fullest account of the earliest Greek myths, dealing with the creation of the world. Hesiod's Works and Days, a didactic poem about farming life includes the myths of Prometheus and the Five Ages.
The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, rendered yet more dangerous by its gods. Lyrical poets took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar and Simonides, bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, relate individual mythological incidents. Additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama; the tragic playwrights Aeschylus and Euripides took most of their plots from myths of the age of heroes and the Trojan War. Many of the great tragic stories took on their classic form in these tragedies; the comic playwright Aristophanes used myths, in The Birds and The Frogs. Historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, geographers Pausanias and Strabo, who traveled throughout the Greek world and noted the stories they heard, supplied numerous local myths and legends giving little-known alternative versions. Herodotus in particular, searched the various traditions presented him and found the historical or mythological roots in the confrontation between Greece and the East.
Herodotus attempted to reconcile the blending of differing cultural concepts. The poetry of the Hellenistic and Roman ages was composed as a literary rather than cultic exercise, it contains many important details that would otherwise be lost. This category includes the works of: The Roman poets Ovid, Valerius Flaccus and Virgil with Servius's commentary; the Greek poets of the Late Antique period: Nonnus, Antoninus Liberalis, Quintus Smyrnaeus. The Greek poets of the Hellenistic period: Apollonius of Rhodes, Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Parthenius. Prose writers from the same periods who make reference to myths includ
Midas
Midas is the name of at least three members of the royal house of Phrygia. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold; this came to be called the Midas touch. The Phrygian city Midaeum was named after this Midas, this is also the Midas that according to Pausanias founded Ancyra. According to Aristotle, legend held that Midas died of starvation as a result of his "vain prayer" for the gold touch; the legends told about this Midas and his father Gordias, credited with founding the Phrygian capital city Gordium and tying the Gordian Knot, indicate that they were believed to have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BC, well before the Trojan War. However, Homer does not mention Midas or Gordias, while instead mentioning two other Phrygian kings and Otreus. Another King Midas ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BC, up until the sacking of Gordium by the Cimmerians, when he is said to have committed suicide. Most historians believe this Midas is the same person as the Mita, called king of the Mushki in Assyrian texts, who warred with Assyria and its Anatolian provinces during the same period.
A third Midas is said by Herodotus to have been a member of the royal house of Phrygia and the grandfather of an Adrastus who fled Phrygia after accidentally killing his brother and took asylum in Lydia during the reign of Croesus. Phrygia was by that time a Lydian subject. Herodotus says that Croesus regarded the Phrygian royal house as "friends" but does not mention whether the Phrygian royal house still ruled as kings of Phrygia. There are many, contradictory, legends about the most ancient King Midas. In one, Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by King Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and, the goddess-mother of Midas himself; some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion. In Thracian Mygdonia, Herodotus referred to a wild rose garden at the foot of Mount Bermion as "the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance". Herodotus says elsewhere that Phrygians anciently lived in Europe where they were known as Bryges, the existence of the garden implies that Herodotus believed that Midas lived prior to a Phrygian migration to Anatolia.
According to some accounts, Midas had a son, the demonic reaper of men, but in some variations of the myth he instead had a daughter, Zoë or "life". According to other accounts he had a son Anchurus. Arrian gives an alternative story of the life of Midas. According to him, Midas was the son of Gordios, a poor peasant, a Telmissian maiden of the prophetic race; when Midas grew up to be a handsome and valiant man, the Phrygians were harassed by civil discord, consulting the oracle, they were told that a wagon would bring them a king, who would put an end to their discord. While they were still deliberating, Midas arrived with his father and mother, stopped near the assembly and all. They, comparing the oracular response with this occurrence, decided that this was the person whom the god told them the wagon would bring, they therefore appointed Midas king and he, putting an end to their discord, dedicated his father’s wagon in the citadel as a thank-offering to Zeus the king. In addition to this the following saying was current concerning the wagon, that whosoever could loosen the cord of the yoke of this wagon, was destined to gain the rule of Asia.
This someone was to be Alexander the Great. In other versions of the legend, it was Midas' father Gordias who arrived humbly in the cart and made the Gordian Knot. Herodotus said that a "Midas son of Gordias" made an offering to the Oracle of Delphi of a royal throne "from which he made judgments" that were "well worth seeing", that this Midas was the only foreigner to make an offering to Delphi before Gyges of Lydia; the historical Midas of the 8th century BC and Gyges are believed to have been contemporaries, so it seems most that Herodotus believed that the throne was donated by the earlier, legendary King Midas. However, some historians believe that this throne was donated by the historical King Midas. One day, as Ovid relates in Metamorphoses XI, Dionysus found that his old schoolmaster and foster father, the satyr Silenus, was missing; the old satyr had been drinking wine and wandered away drunk, to be found by some Phrygian peasants who carried him to their king, Midas. Midas recognized him and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus delighted Midas and his friends with stories and songs.
On the eleventh day, he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in Lydia. Dionysus offered Midas his choice. Midas asked. Midas rejoiced in his new power, he touched a stone. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he touched every rose in the rose garden, all became gold, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table. Upon discovering how the food and drink turned into gold in his hands, he regretted his wish and cursed it. Claudian states in his In Rufinum: "So Midas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold.
Rehoboam
Rehoboam was the fourth king of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon, a grandson of David. In the account of I Kings and II Chronicles, he was king of the United Monarchy of Israel, but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel, under the rule of Jeroboam, Rehoboam remained as king only of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. According to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, "Solomon's wisdom and power were not sufficient to prevent the rebellion of several of his border cities. Damascus under Rezon secured its independence Solomon, thus before the death of Solomon the unified kingdom of David began to disintegrate. With Damascus independent and a powerful man of Ephraim, the most prominent of the Ten Tribes, awaiting his opportunity, the future of Solomon's kingdom became dubious". According to 1 Kings 11:1-13, Solomon had broken the mandate of the Torah by marrying foreign wives and being influenced by them and building shrines to the Moabite and Ammonite gods.
So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel... Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David. Rehoboam's mother, was an Ammonitess, thus one of the foreign wives whom Solomon married. In the Revised Version she is referred to as "the Ammonitess". Conventional biblical chronology dates the start of Rehoboam's reign to the mid-10th century BC, his reign is described in 2 Chronicles 10-12 in the Hebrew Bible. Rehoboam was 41 years old; the assembly for the coronation of Solomon's successor, was called at Shechem, the one sacredly historic city within the territory of the Ten Tribes. Before the coronation took place the assembly requested certain reforms in the policy followed by Rehoboam's father, Solomon; the reforms requested would materially reduce the royal exchequer and hence its power to continue the magnificence of Solomon's court.
The older men counseled Rehoboam at least to speak to the people in a civil manner. However, the new king sought the advice from the young men he had grown up with, who advised the king to show no weakness to the people, to tax them more, which Rehoboam did, he proclaimed to the people, Whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, so shall I add tenfold thereto. Whereas my father chastised you with whips, so shall I chastise you with scorpions. For my littlest finger is thicker than my father's loins. Although the ostensible reason was the heavy burden laid upon Israel because of Solomon's great outlay for buildings and for luxury of all kinds, the other reasons include the historical opposition between the north and the south; the two sections had acted independently until David, by his victories, succeeded in uniting all the tribes, though the Ephraimitic jealousy was ready to develop into open revolt. Religious considerations were operative; the building of the Temple was a severe blow for the various sanctuaries scattered through the land, the priests of the high places supported the revolt.
Josephus has the rebels exclaim: "We leave to Rehoboam the Temple his father built."Jeroboam and the people rebelled, with the ten northern tribes breaking away and forming a separate kingdom. The new breakaway kingdom continued to be called Kingdom of Israel, was known as Samaria, or Ephraim or the northern Kingdom; the realm Rehoboam was left with was called Kingdom of Judah. During Rehoboam's 17-year reign, he retained Jerusalem as Judah's capital but Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they built for themselves high places, pillars, Ashe′rim on every high hill and under every green tree, they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. Rehoboam went to war against the new Kingdom of Israel with a force of 180,000 soldiers. However, he was advised against fighting his brethren, so returned to Jerusalem.
The narrative reports that Judah were in a state of war throughout his 17-year reign. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, king of Egypt, brought a huge army and took many cities. According to Joshua, son of Nadav, the mention in 2 Chronicles 11, 6 sqq. that Rehoboam built fifteen fortified cities, indicates that the attack was not unexpected. The account in Chronicles states that Shishaq marched with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and troops who came with him from Egypt: Libyans and Kushites. Shishaq's armies captured all of the fortified towns leading to Jerusalem between Gibeon; when they laid siege to Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave Shishaq all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute. The Egyptian campaign cut off trade with south Arabia via Elath and the Negev, established during Solomon's reign. Judah became a vassal state of Egypt. Rehoboam had 18 wiv
Europe
Europe is a continent located in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, it comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Since around 1850, Europe is most considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Although the term "continent" implies physical geography, the land border is somewhat arbitrary and has been redefined several times since its first conception in classical antiquity; the division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East-West cultural and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border does not follow political boundaries, with Turkey and Kazakhstan being transcontinental countries. A strict application of the Caucasus Mountains boundary places two comparatively small countries and Georgia, in both continents.
Europe covers 2 % of the Earth's surface. Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 741 million as of 2016; the European climate is affected by warm Atlantic currents that temper winters and summers on much of the continent at latitudes along which the climate in Asia and North America is severe. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast. Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization; the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD and the subsequent Migration Period marked the end of ancient history and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Renaissance humanism, exploration and science led to the modern era. Since the Age of Discovery started by Portugal and Spain, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at various times the Americas all of Africa and Oceania and the majority of Asia.
The Age of Enlightenment, the subsequent French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic and social change in Western Europe and the wider world. Both world wars took place for the most part in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1949 the Council of Europe was founded, following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill, with the idea of unifying Europe to achieve common goals, it includes all European states except for Belarus and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, a separate political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation.
The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The currency of most countries of the European Union, the euro, is the most used among Europeans. In classical Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess; the word Europe is derived from her name. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, "wide, broad" and ὤψ "eye, countenance", hence their composite Eurṓpē would mean "wide-gazing" or "broad of aspect". Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. There have been attempts to connect Eurṓpē to a Semitic term for "west", this being either Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down, set" or Phoenician'ereb "evening, west", at the origin of Arabic Maghreb and Hebrew ma'arav. Michael A. Barry, professor in Princeton University's Near Eastern Studies Department, finds the mention of the word Ereb on an Assyrian stele with the meaning of "night, sunset", in opposition to Asu " sunrise", i.e. Asia.
The same naming motive according to "cartographic convention" appears in Greek Ἀνατολή. Martin Litchfield West stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is poor." Next to these hypotheses there is a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning "darkness", which produced Greek Erebus. Most major world languages use words derived from Europa to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu. In some Turkic languages the Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa; the prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century. Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water
Gallon
The gallon is a unit of measurement for volume and fluid capacity in both the US customary units and the British imperial systems of measurement. Three different sizes are in current use: the imperial gallon defined as 4.54609 litres, used in the United Kingdom and some Caribbean nations. The IEEE standard symbol for the gallon is gal; the gallon has one definition in the imperial system, two definitions in the US customary system. There were many definitions and redefinitions. There were more than a few systems of liquid measurements in the pre-1884 United Kingdom. Winchester or Corn Gallon was 272 in3 Henry VII corn gallon from 1497 onwards was 154.80 fl oz Elizabeth I corn gallon from 1601 onwards was 155.70 fl oz William III corn gallon from 1697 onwards was 156.90 fl oz Old English Ale Gallon was 282 in3 Old English Wine Gallon was standardized as 231 in3 in the 1706 Act 5 Anne c27, but it differed before that: London'Guildhall' gallon was 129.19 fl oz Jersey gallon was 139.20 fl oz Guernsey gallon was 150.14 fl oz Irish Gallon was 217 in3 The imperial gallon, now defined as 4.54609 litres, is used in some Commonwealth countries and was based on the volume of 10 pounds of water at 62 °F.
The imperial fluid ounce is defined as 1/160 of an imperial gallon. The US gallon is defined as 231 cubic inches, 3.785411784 litres. A US liquid gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds or 3.78 kilograms at 62 °F, making it about 16.6% lighter than the imperial gallon. There are four quarts in a gallon, two pints in a quart and 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint, which makes the US fluid ounce equal to 1/128 of a US gallon. In order to overcome the effects of expansion and contraction with temperature when using a gallon to specify a quantity of material for purposes of trade, it is common to define the temperature at which the material will occupy the specified volume. For example, the volume of petroleum products and alcoholic beverages are both referenced to 60 °F in government regulations; this dry measure is one-eighth of a US Winchester bushel of 2150.42 cubic inches. The US dry gallon is not used in commerce, is not listed in the relevant statute, which jumps from the dry quart to the peck.
Gallons used in fuel economy expression in Canada and the United Kingdom are imperial gallons. Despite its status as a U. S. territory, unlike American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U. S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico ceased selling gasoline by the US gallon in 1980; the gallon was removed from the list of defined primary units of measure catalogued in the EU directive 80/181/EEC for trading and official purposes, with effect from 31 December 1994. Under the directive the gallon could still be used – but only as a supplementary or secondary unit. One of the effects of this directive was that the United Kingdom amended its own legislation to replace the gallon with the litre as a primary unit of measure in trade and in the conduct of public business, effective from 30 September 1995. Ireland passed legislation in response to the EU directive, with the effective date being 31 December 1993. Though the gallon has ceased to be the defined primary unit, it can still be used in both the UK and Ireland as a supplementary unit.
The United Arab Emirates started selling gasoline by the litre in 2010, along with Guyana, Panama in 2013. The two former had used the latter the US gallon until they switched. Myanmar switched from Imperial gallon to litre sales before 2014; the Imperial gallon continues to be used as a unit of measure in Anguilla and Barbuda, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Other than the United States, the US gallon is used in Liberia, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Peru, but only for the sale of gasoline. All other products are sold in its multiples and submultiples. Antigua and Barbuda planned to switch over to using litres by 2015, but as of 2018 the switch-over had not been effected. In the Turks & Caicos Islands, both the U. S. gallon and Imperial gallon are used, due to an increase in tax duties disguised by levying the same duty on the 3.79 L U. S. gallon as was levied on the 4.55 L Imperial gallon.
Both the US liquid and imperial gallon are divided into four quarts, which in turn are divided into two pints. These pints are divided into two cups, thus a gallon is equal to four quarts, sixteen cups or thirty-two gills. The imperial gill is further divided into five fluid ounces, whereas the US gill is divided into four fluid ounces, thus an imperial fluid ounce is 1/20 of an imperial pint or 1/160 of an im
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versions similar to white table wines, such as Manzanilla and Fino, to darker and heavier versions that have been allowed to oxidise as they age in barrel, such as Amontillado and Oloroso. Sweet dessert wines are made from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes, are sometimes blended with Palomino-based Sherries; the word "Sherry" is an anglicisation of Xeres. Sherry was known as sack, from the Spanish saca, meaning "extraction" from the solera. In Europe, "Sherry" has protected designation of origin status, under Spanish law, all wine labelled as "Sherry" must come from the Sherry Triangle, an area in the province of Cádiz between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa María. In 1933 the Jerez Denominación de Origen was the first Spanish denominación to be recognised in this way named D.
O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry and sharing the same governing council as D. O. Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda. After fermentation is complete, the base wines are fortified with grape spirit in order to increase their final alcohol content. Wines classified as suitable for aging as Fino and Manzanilla are fortified until they reach a total alcohol content of 15.5 per cent by volume. As they age in barrel, they develop a layer of flor—a yeast-like growth that helps protect the wine from excessive oxidation; those wines that are classified to undergo aging as Oloroso are fortified to reach an alcohol content of at least 17 per cent. They do not develop flor and so oxidise as they age, giving them a darker colour; because the fortification takes place after fermentation, most sherries are dry, with any sweetness being added later. In contrast, port wine is fortified halfway through its fermentation, which stops the process so that not all of the sugar is turned into alcohol. Wines from different years are aged and blended using a solera system before bottling, so that bottles of sherry will not carry a specific vintage year and can contain a small proportion of old wine.
Sherry is regarded by many wine writers as "underappreciated" and a "neglected wine treasure". Jerez has been a centre of viniculture since wine-making was introduced to Spain by the Phoenicians in 1100 BC; the practice was carried on by the Romans when they took control of Iberia around 200 BC. The Moors conquered the region in AD 711 and introduced distillation, which led to the development of brandy and fortified wine. During the Moorish period, the town was called Sherish, from which both Sherry and Jerez are derived. Wines similar in style to Sherry have traditionally been made in the city of Shiraz in mid-southern Iran, but it is thought unlikely that the name derives from there. Wine production continued through five centuries of Muslim rule. In 966, Al-Hakam II, the second Caliph of Córdoba, ordered the destruction of the vineyards, but the inhabitants of Jerez appealed on the grounds that the vineyards produced raisins to feed the empire's soldiers, the Caliph spared two-thirds of the vineyards.
In 1264 Alfonso X of Castile took the city. From this point on, the production of sherry and its export throughout Europe increased significantly. By the end of the 16th century, sherry had a reputation in Europe as the world's finest wine. Christopher Columbus brought sherry on his voyage to the New World and when Ferdinand Magellan prepared to sail around the world in 1519, he spent more on sherry than on weapons. Sherry became popular in Great Britain after Francis Drake sacked Cadiz in 1587. At that time Cadiz was one of the most important Spanish seaports, Spain was preparing an armada there to invade England. Among the spoils Drake brought back after destroying the fleet were 2,900 barrels of sherry, waiting to be loaded aboard Spanish ships; this helped to popularize Sherry in the British Isles. Because sherry was a major wine export to the United Kingdom, many English companies and styles developed. Many of the Jerez cellars were founded by British families. In 1894 the Jerez region was devastated by the insect phylloxera.
Whereas larger vineyards were replanted with resistant vines, most smaller producers were unable to fight the infestation and abandoned their vineyards entirely. Fino is the palest of the traditional varieties of Sherry; the wine is aged in barrels under a cap of flor yeast to prevent contact with the air. Manzanilla is an light variety of Fino Sherry made around the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Manzanilla Pasada is a Manzanilla that has undergone extended aging or has been oxidised, giving a richer, nuttier flavour. Amontillado is a variety of Sherry, first aged under flor and exposed to oxygen, producing a sherry, darker than a Fino but lighter than an Oloroso. Dry, they are sometimes sold to medium sweetened but these can no longer be labelled as Amontillado. Oloroso is a variety of sherry aged oxidatively for a longer time than a Fino or Amontillado, producing a darker and richer wine. With alcohol levels between 18 and 20%, Olorosos are the most alcoholic sherries. Like Amontillado dry, they are also sold in sweetened versions called Cream sherry.
Palo Cortado is a variety of Sherry, aged like an Amontillado for three or four years, but which subsequently develops a character closer to an Oloroso. This either happens by
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol, carbon dioxide, heat. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine; these variations result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the terroir, the production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define qualities of wine; these restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production. Wines not made from grapes include rice wine and fruit wines such as plum, pomegranate and elderberry. Wine has been produced for thousands of years; the earliest known traces of wine are from Georgia and Sicily although there is evidence of a similar alcoholic drink being consumed earlier in China. The earliest known winery is the 6,100-year-old Areni-1 winery in Armenia. Wine reached the Balkans by 4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece and Rome.
Throughout history, wine has been consumed for its intoxicating effects. Wine has long played an important role in religion. Red wine was associated with blood by the ancient Egyptians and was used by both the Greek cult of Dionysus and the Romans in their Bacchanalia; the earliest archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence for grape wine and viniculture, dating to 6000–5800 BC was found on the territory of modern Georgia. Both archaeological and genetic evidence suggest that the earliest production of wine elsewhere was later having taken place in the Southern Caucasus, or the West Asian region between Eastern Turkey, northern Iran; the earliest evidence of a grape-based fermented drink was found in China, Georgia from 6000 BC, Iran from 5000 BC, Sicily from 4000 BC. The earliest evidence of a wine production facility is the Areni-1 winery in Armenia and is at least 6100 years old. A 2003 report by archaeologists indicates a possibility that grapes were mixed with rice to produce mixed fermented drinks in China in the early years of the seventh millennium BC.
Pottery jars from the Neolithic site of Jiahu, contained traces of tartaric acid and other organic compounds found in wine. However, other fruits indigenous to the region, such as hawthorn, cannot be ruled out. If these drinks, which seem to be the precursors of rice wine, included grapes rather than other fruits, they would have been any of the several dozen indigenous wild species in China, rather than Vitis vinifera, introduced there 6000 years later; the spread of wine culture westwards was most due to the Phoenicians who spread outward from a base of city-states along the Mediterranean coast of what are today Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. The wines of Byblos were exported to Egypt during the Old Kingdom and throughout the Mediterranean. Evidence includes two Phoenician shipwrecks from 750 BC discovered by Robert Ballard, whose cargo of wine was still intact; as the first great traders in wine, the Phoenicians seem to have protected it from oxidation with a layer of olive oil, followed by a seal of pinewood and resin, similar to retsina.
Although the nuragic Sardinians consumed wine before the arrival of the Phoenicians The earliest remains of Apadana Palace in Persepolis dating back to 515 BC include carvings depicting soldiers from Achaemenid Empire subject nations bringing gifts to the Achaemenid king, among them Armenians bringing their famous wine. Literary references to wine are abundant in Homer and others. In ancient Egypt, six of 36 wine amphoras were found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun bearing the name "Kha'y", a royal chief vintner. Five of these amphoras were designated as originating from the king's personal estate, with the sixth from the estate of the royal house of Aten. Traces of wine have been found in central Asian Xinjiang in modern-day China, dating from the second and first millennia BC; the first known mention of grape-based wines in India is from the late 4th-century BC writings of Chanakya, the chief minister of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. In his writings, Chanakya condemns the use of alcohol while chronicling the emperor and his court's frequent indulgence of a style of wine known as madhu.
The ancient Romans planted vineyards near garrison towns so wine could be produced locally rather than shipped over long distances. Some of these areas are now world-renowned for wine production; the Romans discovered that burning sulfur candles inside empty wine vessels kept them fresh and free from a vinegar smell. In medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church supported wine because the clergy required it for the Mass. Monks in France made wine for years. An old English recipe that survived in various forms until the 19th century calls for refining white wine from bastard—bad or tainted bastardo wine; the English word "wine" comes from the Proto-Germanic *winam, an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, "wine" or " vine", itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European stem *win-o-. The earliest attested terms referring to wine are the Mycenaean Greek me-tu-wo ne-wo, meaning "in" or " of the new wine", wo-no-wa-ti-si, meaning "wine garden", written in Linear B inscriptions. Linear B includes, inter alia, an ideogram for wine
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