alcohol

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The automaton who drinks the king’s leaving

Introduction

In medieval Islam, the court included, in addition to functional appointees, many people with diverse talents, from literati to astrologers, poets, singers, and jesters. From this group of people emerged -the boon companions (Arabic: نديم, nadim)– a class by themselves. They were selected from the best talents to befriend the ruler and were given a permanent position which carried great prestige and influence. Al- Jazari made a boon companion from jointed copper. He holds a goblet in his right hand and a waterlily in his left.

The Boon-Companion, Topkapi manuscript, 1206

Al-Jazari wrote that “It was one of the customs of the kings in those days, when they were drinking, to leave some [of the wine] in the goblet and this, when it had collected, was drunk by a boon-companion designated for that duty. ” The automaton is replacing this boon-companion.

I read quite a lot of material about the boon-companion in recent weeks, some of it you will find below, but I haven’t found an explanation for why someone should drink the King’s leftovers? Tasting the wine before the king makes sense because of the fear of assassins, but why drink leftovers? An explanation will be gladly accepted.

After the king drinks, the steward takes it and pours what is left in it into the boon companion’s goblet. The automaton lifts the goblet, drinks the king’s leftovers, and nods his head several times. This happens every time wine is poured into the goblet. His left hand moves to indicate his capacity. At some point, the head of the carousel says to someone he wishes to make fun of:

“puts him on his knee, drinks and gives him drinks. He does not finish two or three goblets before [the boon companion] pours on to him all he has drunk since the beginning of the carousal, wetting his clothing. The wine flows beneath him, making him a target for laughter”

The scene is almost taken from a wild and colorful feast in One Thousand and One Nights. This is being told incidentally in an Engineering book…

How does the boon companion work?

The technical explanation, as always, is in blue, so anyone not interested in siphons and floats can skip those bits. This is a drawing from the book, and I added labels for clarity.

The Boon-Companion mechanism with my labels, Topkapi manuscript, 1206

The automaton is in the form of a five-year-old boy; I don’t think the illustrator read the book, as the figure looks bearded and quite old. The king’s leftover wine is poured into the goblet, almost filling it, then flows through the forearm of the boon-companion into the arm tank. The tank becomes heavier, the arm pivots, and the goblet rises to the lips of the boon-companion. His head, also on an axle, which is not shown in the drawing,  is pushed back slightly by the goblet, imitating drinking. Al-Jazari installed a siphon in the tank. We came across one in the post about the Peacock basin and the magic of automatons. The siphon is a tube in an inverted ‘U’ shape, which causes a liquid to flow upward with no pump, but powered by the clever use of gravity:

A siphon

Ancient Egyptian paintings indicate the use of siphons in the wine industry as early as 1500 BC. Physical evidence shows Greek engineers used siphons in Pergamon in the third century BC.

Ancient Egyptian paintings from the Tomb of Kynebu, Thebes, 1450 BC

Hero of Alexandria, who I mentioned before, wrote extensively about siphons in his treatise Pneumatica, and the Banu Musa brothers, who were also discussed, invented the double-concentric siphon. So the use of the siphon by al-Jazari is not new, only an elegant solution for the boon-companion automaton. Atmospheric pressure pushes the liquid up the tube, provided the siphon is filled with water or wine in our case. In the automaton of al-Jazari, this is achieved by the pivoting of the arm. Then the wine runs from the end of the siphon into the main tank. The arm tank becomes lighter and rises while the arm and the goblet sink. The head of the boon-companion moves forward and oscillates several times. As the wine is rising in the main tank, the float rises with it, releasing rope through the two pulleys and the left hand, and the waterlily sinks. When the float has no room to rise, the waterlily touches the thigh of the boon-companion, indicating to the master of the feast that it is time for buffoonery. If the boon-companion drinks an additional glass or two, the wine will rise to the bend in the siphon and wet the poor holder.

The Boon- Companion and  the Courtyard Culture in Diyarbakir

The gap between Islamic history and culture, as I (a secular Jew, living in Tel Aviv, looking at Islam from the outside through meetings with students, colleagues, press, and television) understand them to be, and the life as shown in al-Jazari’s book, is huge. Contemporary Islam is fully committed to Sharia law (شريعة), somewhat similar to Jewish orthodoxy, far away from the feasts described in the medieval literature and poetry of the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, but also of the small principality in Diyarbakir.

The importance of boon-companionship as an institution is evident from the many references by kings, court stenographers, historians, and even cookbook writers.

I will bring just three examples of this wealth of information :

  1. The ‘Kitāb al-Fihrist (كتاب الفهرست) by Ibn al-Nadim, a bookseller, and a boon companion himself (note his name!), in the tenth century, Baghdad. Is an  Index of all books written in Arabic in his time. The term catalog may be misleading, the author described the lives of thousands of authors, listing all the titles of their books and evaluating their merits. He also dealt with the religions, customs of his time, and its scientific achievements. It is actually an outstanding cultural encyclopedia. It is interesting to note that a chapter is dedicated to “boon-companions, table-companions, literary men, singers, slaptakers, buffoons, and comedians.” An example from the Fihrist is Abu al-Anbas al-Saymarī.  He was a high-ranking judge and close associate of ninth-century caliphs in Baghdad.

“Although he was one of the jesters and clowns, he was also a man of letters, familiar with the stars, about which he wrote a book [actually two manuscripts remained]. I have observed that it was praised by the leading astrologers. [Caliph] al-Mutawakkil included him in the group of his court companions, giving him special attention.”

Among books that the Fihrist lists by al-Anbas are:

  • Aids to Digestion and Treacles
  • Refutation of Abu Mikhail al-Saydanani in Connection with Alchemy
  • Interpretation of Dreams
  • Rare Anecdotes about Pimps
  • Superiority of the Rectum over the Mouth
  • The Surnames of Animals
  1. Ibn Sayyar of Baghdad wrote a tenth-century cookbook, Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ ( كتاب الطبيخ‎, meaning The Book of Dishes). This is the earliest known Arabic cookbook. It contains over 600 recipes. The final pages offer guidelines for drinking parties, especially in the king’s presence. There is a very detailed description of what is expected from the boon-companion. This is a brief excerpt from the book:

 “The nadim [ boon companion] who drinks with the king must occupy the place that has been assigned to him, without seeking to put himself in a higher or lower position, he must not lie down but rather hold himself in an upright position… he must not yawn… nor persist in an argument under the effect of  drink because whoever behaves in this way is boorish.”

 

  1. Al-Mas‘udi ( ابو الحسن علي المسعودي ) was a Muslim historian and geographer. He is known for his book Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems, a historical account in Arabic of the beginning of the world, starting with Adam and Eve and continuing through the late Abbasid Caliphate. Among others, he describes a poetic dialogue between a secretary to the caliph and a boon-companion:

“I am a help, and you are a hindrance;

I am for eagerness, and you are for jest;

I am for hard work, and you are for leisure;

I am for war, and you are for peace.”

To which the nadim retorted:

“I am for well-being, and you are for trouble;

I am for companionship, and you are for service;

when you get up I sit down;

and when you are angry I am friendly.

I am called nadim [literally ‘he who regrets’ ]

because of the chagrin felt at my departure.”

 

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A Goblet which arbitrates during drinking parties

Introduction

It is a tall goblet made of silver. The goblet has a fretted, flat lid with a beautiful dome in the center. On top of the dome, there is a duck with an open beak. The goblet is put in the middle of the party, and wine is poured. The duck rotates and emits a shrill tone until it comes to rest and stops whistling; its beak is pointed towards one of the participants who drink from the spout and empties all the wine and returns it to the steward, If however, any wine remains in it the duck whistles and the steward would not accept the goblet until the chosen one completed the drinking.

A drawing of the Goblet which arbitrates, Topkapi Manuscript, 1206

How does it work?

The technical explanation will be colored in blue as always, so anyone who is not interested in how a pitcher of wine makes sounds and how you know how much wine was drank can skip those bits. The drawing below is by the book translator and annotator, Donald R.Hill. It would help us to follow the mechanism:

The goblet mechanism following the drawing by Donald Hill.

The servant pours the wine on the fretted lid. The wine flows downward through the opening on the water wheel. Please see below the beautiful drawing by al-Jazari, which looks just like a modern turbine of NASA. The flow of wine hits the blades and rotates the wheel and the duck, which is on the axle. The wine goes down into the channel into the goblet, driving the air from through the air pipe and the whistle. When the drinker drinks from the spout, the wine goes back in the opposite direction, but if the drinker did not finish the wine, it will come back and push air in the pipe, and the duck will make a sound indicating that the drinker did not complete his duty.

A comparison of the water Wheel by al-Jazari and a modern turbine, NASA website.

 

Alcohol?

I am not an expert on Islam and its development, but the casual reference to alcohol drinking surprised me very much. I’ve explored the issue a little bit, but I would love to receive your corrections, comments, or other proposals. The prohibition on alcohol in the holy Quran is gradual. Muslims believe that Allah did so in his great wisdom and understanding of human nature and the knowledge of how rooted is alcohol consumption. In the beginning, Muslims were prohibited from participating in prayers when drunk:

Surah An-Nisa [4:43]:

“O you who have attained to faith! Do not attempt to pray while you are in a

state of drunkenness, [but wait] until you know what you are saying”

Further, it is said that alcohol is more damage than good:

Surah al-Baqarah 2:219:

“They will ask thee about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: “In both there is great evil as well as some benefit for man; but the evil which they cause is greater than the benefit which they bring.”

And only, at last, there is a sweeping prohibition:

Surah Al-Maida, 5:90

“O you who have attained to faith! Intoxicants, and games of chance, and idolatrous practices, and the divining of the future are but a loathsome evil of Satan’s doing: shun it, then, so that you might attain to a happy state!

All English translation by Muhammad Asad.

Despite the prohibition on drinking wine and intoxicating beverages in Islam, you can find many testimonies for drinking alcohol in the medieval Islamic world in language, culture, and poetry.  The word “alcohol” itself comes from the Arabic word al-kuhul (الْكُحْل) means the essence. This is because the production process is reminiscent of the production of the Kahal powder used as a dark eye-coloring cosmetic. In poetry, Abu Nuwas, probably the most famous Arab poet of the Abbasid era who also appears in “Thousand Nights and Nights,” wrote wine poems, The Khamriyyāt. You can be read more here:

“Don’t cry for Layla, don’t rave about Hind!

But drink among roses a rose-red wine,

A drought that descends in the drinker’s throat,

bestowing its redness on eyes and cheeks.

The wine is a ruby, the glass is a pearl,

served by the hand of a slim-fingered girl,

Who serves you the wine from her hand, and wine

from her mouth — doubly drunk, for sure, will you be!”

The Story of Bayad and Riyad, 13th-century Manuscript, Vatican library

“The drawing is from the manuscript “The Story of Bayad and Riyad”( حديث بياض ورياض).  This is the only manuscript left; it was probably created in Andalusia very close to 1200 (the years in which al-Jazari wrote “The Book of knowledge of Ingenious mechanical devices”) The scene in the picture is clearly a feast in which a group of women and men drink wine together.

The goblet which arbitrates is evidence that the court of Diyarbakir has lived with this contradiction in peace. There are plenty of references to Islam and its customs in the book, and there are playful fun drinking parties without any apology or concealment. We only have to guess the explanation. The Arctic rulers lived among a diverse local population, including Armenians, Syrians, and Greeks, most of them oriental Christians. In Christianity, not only wine is not forbidden, but it is a part of the ritual. At the Last Supper of Jesus, Jesus blesses the wine, states that the wine is his blood, and instructs the disciples to drink from it. Then he passed unleavened bread around the table and explained to his Apostles that the bread represents his body. These are the roots of the Holy Communion ceremony. It is possible that living together led to a softer approach to drinking wine. However, the evidence for alcohol use comes from all over the Muslim world from Persia to Andalusia and also spans for hundreds of years. I may be dumping the strict current prohibition on periods where the perception of early and late in the holy Quran was different and religious concepts were more moderate.

Truth or Dare?

My beloved M., the first reader of my posts, commented on the resemblance between the rotating duck and the bottle in the game “Truth or Dare”. This is a party game I last played as a teenager and was particularly popular among adolescents. The Internet offers application (few!), which make me feel that what was daring at my time is quite innocent today. On the other hand, it seems as though the game is still popular and therefore needs have not really changed?

Seemingly, this is a different game. The participants sit in a circle and spin a bottle. The participant to whom the bottle was pointed was asked: “Truth or Dare?” If you choose “truth”, you are asked a question that you must answer. At the time, all the questions were opened in: “Is it true that…” And most of them, if not all, dealt with things that are between him and her. If you choose “Dare”, you are given a task that opens with words “I dare you..” and most of those were the first kisses or something ridiculous. The question I think is why we need a bottle? Or in the context of the goblet which arbitrate why in duck?  Adolescents, at least in my time, were embarrassed about discovering their sexuality and the relationship with the opposite sex. The use of a game frame and temporary loss of control for the benefit of the “bottle” allowed expanding the boundaries and experimenting with what was difficult to ask or say without the protection of the game and could bring about embarrassment or reprimand. Does this mean that the partners at the banquet needed a duck that arbitrates because they felt discomfort with drinking alcohol? is this a question mark on my assumption that the goblet is clear evidence that the court of Diyarbakir lived with this contradiction in peace?

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The Mechanical Bartender, Cocktails and Rodeo

Introduction

The official definition of a “cocktail” according to Webster Dictionary is “an iced drink of wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients.” However, we refer to almost any mixed drink as a cocktail. According to Wikipedia, the history of cocktails begins in 1806, but my readers will be surprised to learn that al-Jazari thought about it already in the 12th century. The drink-selector is a man riding a cow. To the best of my knowledge cows are not used in any culture for riding. The nearest exception is bull riding in the Rodeo, and the bulls look like they are not too happy with the idea. This post is a strange combination of all three (al-Jazari, Cocktail, and Rodeo). Let’s Hit the road.

The Wine pitcher, Manuscript from Syria 1315, Calligrapher: Farrukh ibn `Abd al-Latif

How does it work?

The technical explanation as always will be colored in blue, so anyone who is not interested in patents of pouring and extracting wine can skip those bits. Al-Jazari took a large brass pitcher and welded a handsome cow made from cast-bronze. In the center of the cow, there is a valve in the shape of a man riding the cow and his stretched hand points to a circular disk (not seen in the drawing). The pitcher is divided into five containers. In the first tank, there is an aromatic wine, in the second tank, there is a rose-colored wine(Rosé). The third has a yellow wine. I guess he meant what we call today white wine, but I could not find any support for my assumption. In the forth tank there is red wine, and the last one is full of water. The disk has each liquor markup:

Drawing of the disk, Topkapi manuscript, 1206

The rider is a sophisticated valve and when rotated to a point one get his chosen wine, or you can produce different mixes, and al-Jazari proposed a few options. The following drawing helps to understand how did it work. This is a combination of a drawing by the book translator and illustrator Donald Hill with a drawing by al-Jazari, and I added captions:

Integrated drawing of the book translator and annotator Donald Hill with a drawing by al-Jazari.

In the beginning, a servant lifts the cover and pours aromatic wine. The wine enters only the appropriate tank and fills it. The wine doesn’t get anywhere else (except maybe negligible amounts) because the way to the other containers is through the higher pipes. When the tank is full the float in the cage will rise and push the seal upward, blocking the tank. The purpose of the cage is to keep the float in place, allowing only vertical movement. I added the detailed drawing by al-Jazari how to build the cage for the float. Next, the servant would pour the Rosé. The wine will accumulate above the partition until it would pass the height of the pipe and flow into the Rosé tank. Since the pipe opening is lower from the bent in the siphon and the water pipe (please look in the drawing) and the white wine pipe (not in the drawing) No Rosé will flow into any other tank. Only when the Rosé tank is full, the float would seal it in the same way as explained before.  The same logic continues to fill all the remaining tanks. Each of the containers has a pipe which comes out of the cow mouth through the valve. When you turn the selector to one of the six points, the appropriate pipe is connected, and the selected wine comes out.

Cocktail

Cocktail is a drink prepared by mixing alcohol with alcohol or a soft drink. Al-Jazari proposed to mix all four wines, or to mix wine and water, half in half or third wine and two-thirds water. I think it falls under the definition of a cocktail. There is plenty of evidence for mixing alcoholic beverages throughout history but the first time it was mentioned explicitly by the name “cocktail” is in 1806 in the American magazine The Balance and Columbian Repository: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters (alcoholic drink flavored with botanical matter).” I found the picture at the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans (it’s not a Museum of my invention, and they even have an educational program?):

The newspaper where the term “cocktail” was first used.

The more interesting question is where this weird name cocktail = Rooster tail originated? One story is that the victor in a cockfight was toasted by his fellows with a special drink crowned with feathers, one for each of them left on the winning rooster’s tail. Another version claims that  Betsy Flanagan, a tavern keeper, served French soldiers a drink in 1779 garnished with tail feathers of her neighbor’s rooster. In other stories, the “Cocktail” has nothing to do with roosters but is a modification of some other word. Two options are: “Cocktail” was derived from the French term for egg cup, coquetel. One  Antoine Amedie Peychaud of New Orleans who mixed his Peychaud bitters into a stomach remedy served in a coquetel. Not all of Peychaud’s customers could pronounce the word, and it became known as a cocktail. The last story is that this was the name of a Mexican Princess named Xochitl. The name means flower in Aztec(?) and some claim it’s the name of an Aztec goddess. Either way, the princess served drinks to American soldiers as part of the celebration of a Peace Treaty signed between Mexico and the United States in the 18th century. “Cocktail” is just a wrong spelling of her name. There are plenty of other stories. The number of colorful stories makes me think they were invented in an evening of too many cocktails and I doubt them all.

It is interesting to note that the myth that drinking a cocktail or even mixing between various drinks (for example drinking beer with a shot of vodka) is the cause of drunkness, or at least a bad headache the next morning is just nonsense. Actual drunkenness and hangover are caused by the amount of alcohol and have nothing to do with mixing or the order of the drinks.

Rodeo

Al-Jazari doesn’t explain why the wine-selector is a man riding a cow? To my knowledge, there is no culture where people rode cows. Oxen were used regularly to pull heavy wagons or for grinding grains in mills and we have the wonderful Minoan art depicting acrobatics on bulls. We think it was a central part of Minoan worship, but to my understanding, we know very little:

The Bull-Leaping Fresco from the palace at Knossos.

The closest thing to riding cows is the Rodeo. It is a popular sport that originated in Spain and Mexico and spread to the United States and elsewhere. During the Rodeo, the rider must stay atop the bull for eight seconds with the use of one hand gripped on a bull rope and the other hand is in the air. I saw it only in the movies, and it’s a pretty sure way to end badly bruised or worse. It certainly doesn’t explain why al-Jazari chose the cow rider as the wine selector?

Cocktails are relatively sophisticated drinks and Rodeo, at least in my mind, is a much more popular sport that goes well with a beer or manly drinks.  To my surprise I  found that  there are quite a few cocktails associated with Rodeo, for example:

Two ounces of Reno Rodeo Legacy Vodka, juice from 1 lemon, 1-ounce triple sec, .5 ounce limoncello, and a splash of simple syrup to sweeten! Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake vigorously, and pour into chilled martini glass. Let’s raise our glasses to al-Jazari, brave bull riders, and tasty cocktails!