Latest news with #Schliemann
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trojans of all classes enjoyed a nice jug of wine
Homer's The Iliad recounts one of history's greatest legendary epics. It also describes a round of drinks shared by the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. 'Hephaestus spoke, then stood up, passed a double goblet across to his dear mother… As he spoke, the white-armed goddess Hera smiled,' Homer writes. 'She reached for her son's goblet. He poured the drink, going from right to left, for all the other gods, drawing off sweet nectar from the mixing bowl.' It doesn't take long for the deities to soon begin laughing 'irrepressibly' while 'all that day they dined, until sunset.' In the end, 'No one's heart went unsatisfied.' According to recent analysis of ancient relics recovered from the real ruins of Troy, wine wasn't restricted to Greek divinity and wealthy humans. It was likely enjoyed by everyday residents, too. The new findings published in the April edition of the American Journal of Archaeology also further support a longstanding theory that Homer based The Iliad on actual historical events. The ruins of Troy were rediscovered over 150 years ago by a German businessman and amateur archeologist named Heinrich Schliemann. Among the artifacts Schliemann recovered in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey, were a number of slender, two-handled drinking vessels made from clay. Experts have since excavated over 100 of these depas goblets (depas amphikypellon) from Trojan dig sites, which date back to 2500-2000 BCE. More have also been found across the Aegean, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. Each depas goblet measures roughly 4.7–15.75 inches tall, and can hold between 0.25–1 liter of liquid. Today, the University of Tübingen in Germany's classical archeology collection contains one depas goblet and two vessel fragments from Schliemann's original excavations. At the time, Schliemann believed depas goblets were used for communal celebrations similar to those described in The Iliad. But without modern chemical analysis methods, his hypothesis could not be tested. That recently changed thanks to a collaborative team from the Universities of Tübingen, Bonn, and Jena. After milling a two-gram sample from each of the two vessel fragments, researchers heated them to 716-degrees Fahrenheit and analyzed the mixture with gras chromatography and mass spectrometry equipment. Two types of molecules stuck out in the results: succinic and pyruvic acid. 'They only occur when grape juice ferments. So now we can state with confidence that wine was actually drunk from the depas goblets and not just grape juice,' study co-author Maxime Rageot at the University of Bonn said in an accompanying statement. Depas goblets weren't everyday items, however. Wine was the most expensive drink available during the Bronze Age, and the majority of recovered goblets have been found in palaces and temples. Experts previously believed this implied that wine consumption was primarily relegated to societal elites. But in their same study, researchers also conducted a similar analyseis of common Trojan cups found outside the city's central complex. Those results also proved wine was more accessible than researchers once thought. 'These vessels also contained wine,' confirmed study co-author Stephan Blum from the University of Tübingen. 'So it is clear that wine was an everyday drink for the common people, too.' Just how often middle- and lower-class residents of Troy drank wine remains unclear. But with the latest findings, historians and archeologists now know that fermented grapes weren't only reserved for the likes of Hera and Hector.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ice racing set to return to Brant Lake
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A popular racing series is set to make its long-awaited return to the ice of Brant Lake near Chester. The Sioux Valley Cycle Club attempts to host a series of ice races each winter and recently kicked off the season at Saddleback Race Track in Sioux Falls. Super Bowl star attends Coyote game 'The club was willing to have some races out there on their pond and it kind of got us jump-started for the season as the ice was building, and our goal was to get on a lake,' ice racing promoter Micah Schliemann said. Micah Schliemann is the race promoter and says ice racing is making its return to Brant Lake for the first time since 2020. 'Really awesome out there for the local community and a lot of the history has started out there for ice racing,' Schliemann said. The club hasn't been on any lake since 2022 due to past poor ice conditions. 'It was just always unsafe, and this year it built up good and then it kind of leveled off, and then it built up even better,' Schliemann said. As the cycle club makes the move from Saddleback to Brant Lake, Schliemann will bring about 100 competitors along for the ride. 'You're going to see kids of all ages, six years old all the way up to full adults in their 50s and 60s out there racing, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, and motorcycles,' Schliemann said. 'It's going to be action-packed,' Top Notch Powersports owner Grant Cummings said. Grant Cummings owns a local motorcycle shop, Top Notch Powersports, and says there's a lot that goes into setting up a bike for ice. 'Guys are trying to keep the water and the moisture out of the engines and that kind of thing, so they'll use foam in a lot of areas to keep ice from building up,' Cummings said. But the key to victory may be where the rubber meets the ice. 'Whoever has the best tires is usually going to have the advantage, so the past few years guys have been pretty competitive on tire building and tire buying,' Cummings said. Schliemann says it should result in quite a show. 'They're going to be bar-banging, sliding, and it's going to be a heck of a good day on Sunday,' Schliemann said. The ice racing event begins at noon Sunday at Brant Lake in front of the Shipwreck Bar, and is free to attend. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
