zythum
Zythum (from Latin, based on {{langx|grc|ζῦθος}}, zŷthos), sometimes also known as zythus or zythos,{{Citation |last=Zaruwa |first=M. Z. |title=Traditional Brewing Technique in Northern Nigeria |date=2014 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-770-4_3 |work=African Indigenous Knowledge and the Disciplines |pages=23–28 |editor-last=Emeagwali |editor-first=Gloria |place=Rotterdam |publisher=SensePublishers |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-94-6209-770-4_3 |isbn=978-94-6209-770-4 |access-date=2023-02-16 |last2=Ibok |first2=N. U. |last3=Ibok |first3=I. U. |editor2-last=Dei |editor2-first=George J. Sefa|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=Dzino |first=Danijel |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004344853/B9789004344853-s007.xml |title=Sabaiarius: Beer, wine and Ammianus Marcellinus |date=2017-01-01 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-34485-3 |language=en}} was a malt beer made in ancient Egypt.{{Cite book |last=Rupp |first=T |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |publisher=Oxford |year=2020 |chapter=Beer and brewing}} The earliest existing records of brewing relate to the production of zythum by ancient Egyptians, {{circa|2000 BCE}}.
{{anchor|Etymology|Names}}
Name
Zythum comes from a Greek word meaning "ferment". The Latin name is a transcription of the Greek. The Egyptian name for beer was hqt,"[https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/beer/ Beer in Ancient Egypt]" at Ancient Egypt Online sometimes written as hemeket.
Recipe
The principal ingredient was malted grain, either emmer wheat or barley or both together. It is often said that yeast was added by lightly baking bread and using crumbled bread to start the fermentation. This, however, is not supported by archaeological finds, which suggest instead that cooked grain and malted grain were combined, producing a mixture that contained sufficient sugar for fermentation.Delwen Samuel, "[http://ancientgrains.org/samuel2000aemt.pdf Brewing and baking]" in P. T. Nicholson, I. Shaw, eds, Ancient Egyptian materials and technology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) pp. 537-576, especially 555-557
A very different recipe is mentioned in the third tractate of the Babylonian Talmud (42b).{{Cite book|title=The Talmud: A Selection|editor=Norman Solomon|publisher=Penguin|year=2009|pages=148, 150|chapter=Third Tractate Pesahim (The Passover)|isbn=978-0-14-144178-8}} According to Rav Yosef b. Hiyya, it contains {{frac|1|3}} barley, {{frac|1|3}} safflower seed and {{frac|1|3}} salt. Rav Papa substituted wheat for barley. The ingredients were steeped, roasted and ground.
Medicinal properties
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2019}}
Apart from recreational drinking, zythum was used as an ancient Egyptian medicine. It was said to work as both a laxative and antidiarrhoeal. Its use was thought dangerous for sick people and pregnant women.
Legacy
Among Orthodox Jews, it is forbidden during Passover because it contains barley, making it chametz, although the punishment of kareth is not applicable to its consumption.{{cn|date=January 2021|reason=Does this really apply to Egyptian Zythum?}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/LX/Zythos.html Zythos], Hellenica
{{Beer styles}}
Category:Ancient Egyptian medicine