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'In water you see your own face, but in wine the heart of its garden.'
(Ancient Egyptian proverb).
It seemed like a good idea at the time didn't it! When it was first suggested you jumped straight in, all enthusiasm, excitement and joy at the prospect. Now... in the light of dawn, dwarfs with mallets are pounding inside your head, your mouth feels like you swallowed half the desert sands of Kemet, then threw them up... and your eyes are objecting to the morning light in the strongest possible terms.
All visitors to the Egyptian and Greco Roman town of Dionysias tend to have this same reaction upon waking their first morning and you are no different.
The sign above your bed echoes a Late Kingdom maxim and reads, "With a beaming face, celebrate the joyful day and rest not therein. For no one can take away his goods with him." Yet all you wish to do is rest after last night’s bounty. You have woken with vague and unrefined memories of your first night in Dionysias and in your half stupor, fragments of last night excesses are coming back to you.
'The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with wine.'
(2200 BC inscription).
You seem to recall
that in your wanderings with friends,
you came across a building
with an erect phallus
hanging outside and
with the accompaniment of the
usual ribald jokes and gestures,
you all wandered off to find a bar,
minus two friends
who disappeared inside.
What stories you wonder,
will they have to tell when
you next see them!
Those women with the
come hither eyes.
That bar and club, now what was it called? Ah yes... in the Egyptian quarter, The Drunken Croc... scantily clad servant girls and boys carried trays laden with delicacies; rich dishes of butter and cheese, fattened fowl and beef, flavoured with rosemary, cumin, garlic, parsley, cinnamon and mustard, and sweetened with honey, figs and other fruits. No expense spared. That most valued drink in ancient Egypt 'shedeh' was made of red grapes but does that explain the state of your clothes? You dwell upon that passage from the Book of the Heavenly Cow, when Hathor (as the eye of Re) is tricked into drunkenness through the use of beer dyed red to look like blood in order to avert the destruction of mankind. Could that be what you were drinking last night? And just what is that peculiar smell?
And there's another thing... In the Pyramid Texts the god Sesmu brings the pharaoh grape juice for wine production. Although he was a god of wine and of the wine press, Sesmu was also a vengeful god. In a papyrus from the XXI Dynasty, Sesmu’s cruel side was shown by two hawk deities twisting the net of the wine press that contains three human heads instead of grapes. Hmmm, you concede… this is what your head feels like this morning! It's a good thing there's no one around to lecture you on what was in that smoking pipe!
Perhaps it was the dancing... a magnificent, spectacular, gloriously colourful, entertaining show in this plush, capacious and traditional Egyptian style tavern. More than a feast for the eyes these fabulous dancers in exotic, majorly glam Egyptian costumes who took your breath away. Of course, you and your friends joined in, irresistible as it was being beguiled by exotic dancers and acrobats. Oh yes... and one of those dancers did have the cutest...mmmmmm *sighs* Fellow guests were draped in blossoms and fragrant wreaths of flowers... the scent of these mingling with those very intriguing perfumed wax cones that other party goers wore on their heads. The words of one of the songs plays in your head...
The atmospheric lamp lighting
and the swift table service,
the endless toasts to Renentet
the goddess of plenty and harvests, the raising of cups to honour the goddess Hathor, mistress of wine and intoxication... the entertaining antics of your friends and yes... that rather gorgeous Roman soldier who chatted with his off duty smiling Egyptian counterpart from the medjay and who kept darting those sexy glances in your direction. You dwell upon that bore who appear out of nowhere and joined your table and prattled on and on and on and on about everything and nothing but one thing he said has stuck in your mind..."
he'd informed you in his supercilious way,
"or drunkenness, "tht"
is derived from the verb, "Thi", to be drunk,
which is also the root of the words for a habitual drinker or drunkard, "thw".
It also gives us the word for confused, "thth".
Other common terms related to intoxication
include the verb "nwh",
which means to be or become drunk
and the terms for drinking party, "t hnkt",
literally meaning "beer-house", "mswr",
originally meaning a drinking bowl but later a
drinking place and "st n thy",
meaning a place of intoxication."
Was it all Greek to you? What dull company you were thinking and yes, just your rotten damn luck, the Roman optio and the medjay officer had left by the time you'd looked back.
A soft knock at your door has you struggling upright and groaning a welcome to the maidservant who places a jug of water by your bedside before tiptoeing away. Where was it you and your friends went after the Drunken Croc? Ah yes, certainly it was to Fubar's 'Bar Baboon' by the lakes edge that you staggered into to play senet and gamble the rest of the night away. Has that pounding stopped? You are pretty sure you resisted being dragged into Djelibeybi's Tattoo Parlour but how you made it back to your lodgings, completely escapes you!
It wasn't just the palms that were swaying was it? Any time now and one by one, your friends who share the room next to yours are going to struggle awake then invade your room to make plans for today’s adventures. Doubtless, you'll have to remind them that before you do anything you'll have to journey out to the medjay fort to the west of the main temple to bail out another of your party who, after being mugged and relieved of his purse last night, went on a drunken binge and ended up clashing swords with an innocent Greek and half destroying the taverna of the Delinquent Dryad. Will your friends will want to hire a boat to sail Lake She resy or hopefully, (please?) just relax like you and nurse their aching heads.
Conceivably, one of them could suggest a tour to the town of Renentet for a visit to the temple of the cobra goddess... but could you be bothered doing anything so taxing today or would you prefer a gentle meander down to the Roman Bath House for a long indulgent soak and some pampering before the Roman feast at the Villa Thracia tonight? If you can get yourself out of bed, that is!
Perhaps a sashay along the main promenade's market stalls leading to the temple area where every thing from opium to rush sandals is on offer will take your fancy. With luck, this may revive you a little before lunch. Who knows... you may well run into that handsome optio and a few of his impressive and athletic looking Egyptian friends from last night!
You wont forget to sign the Guest Book before you leave Dionysias will you? Oh, and one more thing... remember that little something you misplaced last night? You might find it outside at the garden fountain.
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