You amaze me with both your erudition and the quantity of free time you have on your hands.
Well... (blushing) -g- thanks, I do not see why, the Internet favors the speed to acquire [hopefully] more knowledge. All you need is some basic knowledge about the subject, (in this case, wine for me is easy) and then googleise it a bit and presto... you have some substance. -g-
As for free time.... hardly, I am here trying to finish my taxes (which I hate), and then, I read your post about wine, (which I love), and no, I am not an alcoholic. I have drunk wine since my early teens with my father's blessings of course, (the advantage of being born within a Latin culture). At the time, obviously not in large quantities. [and these days actually quality has replaced the former quantity days]. Mainly with meals.
You see, I am in good company, Thomas Jefferson, (whom I consider in the level of Superman), used to be a tremendous wine lover (and specifically of Chateau d'Yquem). Therefore, hope being eternal, I am thinking one of these days I will become somehow brilliant if I consume the proper quantity of the liquid, since by logical (-g-) deduction one could draw such conclusion about Jefferson and wine. I like to think positively. -g-
Now...
Hugo may have been hubristic, or maybe he just extended his name from Victor Ego,
Perhaps Hugo had some Argentinean in him -gg-
but for him to assert that man is responsible for wine is like saying the bottler of ketsup is responsible for the original smashed tomato.
Well, I can't speak for tomatoes, as for wine...
I tend to agree with Hugo, wine requires a lot of love and passion for the final product, it is a living thing, it is near perfection, (particularly in the case of d'Yquem) and most definitively requires the help from man to arrive at the final product.
The gods ?... well, I would say that certainly mother nature has done its work in the examples you mentioned. However, Bacchus, Dionysus et all simply were (and are), the imagination and product of man (again).
Look at some examples...
__________________ The Aztecs
Hymn to Tezcatzoncatl Totochtin.
1. Alas! alas! alas! alas! alas! alas!
2. In the home of our ancestors this creature was a fearful thing.
{p. 62}
3. In the temple of Tezcatzoncatl he aids those who cry to him, he gives them to drink; the god gives to drink to those who cry to him.
4. In the temple by the water-reeds the god aids those who call upon him, he gives them to drink; the god aids those who cry unto him.
Notes.
Tezcatzoncatl was one of the chief gods of the native inebriating liquor, the pulque. Its effects were recognized as most disastrous, as is seen from his other names, Tequechmecaniani, "he who hangs people," and Teatlahuiani, "he who drowns people." Sahagun remarks, "They always regarded the pulque as a bad and dangerous article." The word Totochtin, plural of tochtli, rabbit, was applied to drunkards, and also to some of the deities of special forms of drunkenness.
The first verse is merely a series of lamentations. The second speaks of the sad effects of the pulque in ancient times. (On Colhuacan see Notes to Hymn XIII.)
sacred-texts.com
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I am just the mesanger here, but in the above example of pulque (and subsequently tequila and mezcal), I personally think those are drinks of the demons --and I don't believe in them -gg- but nasty they are....
________________ The Egyptians...
Gods and Goddesses of wine
Wine was considered a particularly special offering to any of the ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. But it was Renentet (also called Ernutet or Renen-utet) the goddess of plenty and harvests who invariably had a small shrine near the wine press and vat, as well as on the spout where the juices flows from the vat to the receiving tank. Osiris was also a god of wine as head honoree at the Ouag festival. the hieroglyphics making up the festival name include three wine jars on a table, and a fourth jar being offered by an outstretched hand. The goddess Hathor (Het-hor) was, among other things, the goddess of wine and intoxication.
touregypt.net
______________The Greeks and Romans
Bacchus, God of wine for the Romans, Dionysus, God of wine for the Greek, was the son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Semele. Juno (Hera), to gratify her resentment against Semele, contrived a plan for her destruction. Jove took the infant Bacchus and gave him in charge to the Nysacan nymphs and for their care were rewarded by Jupiter. When Bacchus grew up he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice. Juno struck him with madness but he was cured by the goddess Rhea who taught him how to show the people the cultivation of the vine.
The name Bacchus came into use in ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. It refers to the cries with which he was worshipped at the Bacchanalia, frenetic celebrations in his honor.
bacchuscellars.com
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LOL Bacchanalia ... he he he I wonder if modern day religious rulers would consider throwing an orgy along the lines of the above example.... if so, I may consider converting -gg-
Personally, I think that humans created the god(s), and to do so, they certainly needed the help of WINE -ggggg-
[perhaps is one of those strange symbiotic relationships between man, wine and gods]
Clearly it is up to each one of us to place them in the proper combination that work for us and makes us happy. Mostly, I subscribe to Jefferson's theory about wine and life...
He called wine a "necessary of life."
He also said that...
"no nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage."
thomasjefferson.net |
