Chair #338

DRUNKEN EGYPTIAN CHAIR

—Designed by John Knott

How did this chair get its name? Look at the chair upside down... it's what a drunk Egyptian might make.

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Ancient Egyptians Drank Medicinal Wines

“Doctor’s orders,” the pharaohs may have said with a wink as they took swigs of wine. At least 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians had begun a long-standing tradition of infusing their libations with medicinal herbs, according to a new chemical analysis of residues on wine jugs. The earliest written evidence for the practice comes from Egyptian papyri that date to 1850 B.C. The new find pushes archaeological evidence for medicinal wines back to 3150 B.C., the beginning of Egyptian history. The wine jar was found in the tomb of Scorpion I, one of the first pharaohs.

—John Roach, author of Uncorking the Past

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We think of Egypt when we think of pyramids, but did you know?... The Mesopotamians built the earliest pyramidal structures, called ziggurats. In ancient times these were brightly painted. Since they were constructed of mud-brick, little remains of them.