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a maenad's cellar

Welcome!

Β 

‘And if there is no wine there is no Aphrodite,
and without her, no pleasure left at all.’

β€” Euripides, The Bacchae, lines 773-774
Trans. by Robin Robertson

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On the ‘Gram

amaenadscellar

πŸ† modern maenad
🏺 ancient history student & wine lover
🌸 wine | classics | greek mythology
🍷 pour yourself a glass and stay a while

drama from greece – in more ways than one! curren drama from greece - in more ways than one!

currently taking a second/third level paper at university on greek and roman drama. the oresteia by aeschylus is the first set of plays we're looking at - with sophocles, euripides and aristophanes being looked at later in the paper. 

as for the wine, it hails from drama, greece. drama as a region was named for the god of wine and theatre, dionysus and produces unique wine. its as if dionysus himself blessed the vines. unfortunately the particular details of this wine were written down in a notebook i left at my parents. 

qotd : whos your favourite ancient greek playwright? im a sucker for euripides - the bacchae has my heart for obvious reasons. 

πŸŽ­πŸ·πŸ‡πŸ›οΈπŸ†
just two glasses of kefalonian zakynthino noble just two glasses of kefalonian zakynthino 

noble rot in central wellington felt like wine lovers heaven - wines from all over the world on a curated menu.
the late afternoon sun, a classics text and a glas the late afternoon sun, a classics text and a glass of wine. 

a curated moment, my typewriter was moved out of frame and though I love reading primary sources, it's not nearly this aesthetically pleasing on the daily and I even more rarely have wine that somewhat matches ancient text. transparency.

now, let's talk about that wine. if you've been following me for a while, you'll know I love greek history and greek wines. I think at this point my account is becoming a love letter to greece. 

greek wines are somewhat hard to find in new zealand and I've only really scratched the surface of greece's regions and varieties. I found this one at @meditastenz and it's a savatiano from attica. a region and variety I hadn't yet tried before. the fact it's athenian explains the thucydides. 

savatiano is a widely planted white grape variety in greece and commonly used in retsina. but producers are making single varietal savatiano wines which are growing in popularity. 

in the most simple terms, savatiano would be (in my eyes) greece's distinct version of the unoaked chardonnay. it's a medium bodied white wine, low acidity and dry in terms of sweetness. floral, citrus and mango aromas danced out of the glass. a persistent but subtle minty resin flavour lingered in my mouth. a wine that is comparable to chardonnay but holds its own uniqueness. a wine that is defined by the terroir of attica and the thousands of years of wine making history that's woven into the modern wine making identity. 

I adore greek wines, and this one was no different. 

#greekwine #wine #thucydides #ancienthistory #maenad 

wine is @anastasiafragouwinery 2024 savvatiano. always drink responsibly, 18/21+ .
when I first saw this artwork { frederick leighton when I first saw this artwork { frederick leighton, 1895 } I was hypnotised. it's not from the distant past, but it does give us a timeless window into that distant past.

the artwork depicts a maenad, or a bacchante, surrendering herself to ecstasy in dance. leopard skins drape over her shoulder and we are transported to a time where the maenads danced in the wilds. the fawn watching her curiously puts the scene in a forest, and highlights the connection to nature the maenads were known for.

I was hypnotised by this artwork. I saw myself in the bacchante. not looks, but spirit. I felt connected to her. 

this account is called a maenad's cellar. the cellar part is very metaphorical these days, I don't have a wine cellar (yet). but the maenad part... that is a core part of my identity. 

I am a maenad. 

I am a modern maenad. 

wine and classical studies are manifestations of that core maenadic spirit that was always within me. they are my passions. they are the content pillars that make this account viable. 

but behind the pillars, there is a maenadic spirit. 

deeply devoted to Dionysus. 

seeking joy in small moments, writing stories about the distant past & dancing late at night, tipsy on wine.

{ disclaimer : the last part is an aesthetic. always drink wine responsibly 18/21+ only } 

#wine #dionysus #bacchante #maenad #hellenicpolytheism
vintage copies of homer made better with wine & a vintage copies of homer made better with wine & a sleeping cat
currently reading sparta by andrew bayliss. currently reading sparta by andrew bayliss.
plan for tonight : malbec & chocolate plan for tonight : malbec & chocolate
my main copy of the aeneid was brought by my paren my main copy of the aeneid was brought by my parents from a second hand book shop in new york city. 

i was reading it and came across this. mostly, a second hand book will come with an old bookmark the previous owner forgot about, if anything other than notes scribbled in the margins are left in them. 

a chinese fortune cookie note in the early pages of the first book is unique. and i was disappointed that the fortune did not come true for me. 

what's the weirdest or coolest thing you've found in the pages of a second hand book?

#ancienthistory #secondhandbook #theaeneid #classicalliterature #romanmythology
a copy of xenophon's the art of horsemanship from a copy of xenophon's the art of horsemanship from 1962. old books will forever have my heart. 

I already have this book in my collection, xenophon's book on horsemanship was actually the first classics text I brought for myself (at least, as far as I can remember). I was a horse crazy girl. horses were once my entire life. I went down a rabbit hole of books on the academic art of riding and xenophon's name came up. his work being named the oldest text for horse riding that we still have today. I tracked down the book and was amazed. horse riding has not changed much since the days of xenophon, ancient greece. 

I guess that small realisation made me feel connected to the distant past, and maybe was apart of the initial sparks that inspired what is now a full blown obession on all things relating to ancient greece. 

linked to this, linked to my horse crazy childhood is my current main writing project. 

I'm curretly working on a children's horse book series. it is what I would have loved to have read as a child. it's set in ancient greece, admist a backdrop of chariot racing and the ancient olympic games. my main characters are historical figures fictionalised (kyniska, for example, is my main protagonist) . 

horses may not be in my life actively, but I'm always going to be a horse girl. not being biased, but I do think this particular primary source is one of my favourites. and isn't this copy from the early 1960's just gorgeous?
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