An analysis of a refined drinking vessel discovered in Heinrich Schliemann’s excavation of Troy in the 19th century has confirmed that it was used to drink wine in the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2300-2000 B.C.). The same technology was used to analyze residue in common cups and beakers and the evidence of wine was found there too. This is the earliest chemical evidence of wine consumption in Troy. The presence of it in vessels of all kinds found outside of the citadel as well means that wine was not the exclusive province of Early Bronze Age elites as scholars previously believed based on the prevalence of wine vessels in ceremonial and aristocratic contexts.

Researchers from the University of Tübingen examined residue in a depas amphikypellon, a cylindrical cup with a widened mouth and two curved handles. The form was widespread in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean and Aegean. Examples have been found in mainland Greece, the Cyclades, Minoan Crete, northern Syria and most of all, in Anatolia. Schliemann found a number of them in his excavation of Troy, and one of them wound up at the University of Tübingen.

When he found the depas vessels, Schliemann believed they were the ones described by Homer several times in the Iliad (e.g., Hephaestus’ “double cup,” the gold “double cup” Oeneus gives to Bellerophon, the “cup exceeding fair” given to Priam by Thracians). The only thing that’s double about them is the handles, however, and plenty of other ancient Greek vessel forms have those, so there is no real connection between the depas and the Iliad, and they far, far predate the Homeric Age (1200-800 B.C.). (Schliemann was wrong about a lot, including the ages of the layers of Troy he dug into.)

So while they have nothing to do with the Trojan War and its associated mythology, depas amphikypellon vessels contain important information about the movement of trade goods, local pottery manufacturing and what people drank in the Early Bronze Age.

From Schliemann’s finds, a Depas beaker and two fragments are now in the Classical Archaeology Collection at the University of Tübingen. Maxime Rageot from the University of Bonn milled a two-gram sample from the two fragments. He then heated the samples to 380 degrees Celsius and analyzed the resulting mixture using gas chromatography (GC) and gas-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). “The decisive factor was the detection of succinic and pyruvate acids: they only form when grape juice ferments. This means we can now say with certainty that wine was actually consumed from the Depas beakers and not just grape juice,” said Maxime Rageot from the University of Bonn.

Wine was the most precious beverage in the Bronze Age, and a depas cup was the most exquisite vessel. Depas cups have been found in temple and palace complexes. Therefore, scholars concluded that wine was consumed on special occasions in elite circles. But perhaps lower-class people in Troy also drank wine as an everyday food and beverage? “We also chemically examined ordinary cups found in the outer settlements of Troy, and thus outside the citadel. These vessels also contained wine!” said Stephan Blum of the University of Tübingen. “This makes it clear that wine was an everyday beverage, even for ordinary people.”