They didn't have water filtration and adding a little bit of an alcoholic beverage would guard against illness without being enough to intoxicate, though the people drinking it wouldn't understand the science of why this worked.
Many ancient cultures did this. Drinking pure water was a fool's game, especially within a city.
At a time when water was not safe to drink, mixing in wine was one solution. The other was to make the water into beer and drink that. Between them, the beer was more intoxicating.
Wine was commonly diluted before drinking back then. Even today, it won't hurt you any to drink your wine in a 2:1 mix with water.
#8 - Technically no. Paul died in the late 60s. Titus and the Timothies can be dated to the middle of the next century by things they say about theology and church structure. It was pretty common back in the day to write something and attribute it to someone famous to give it legitimacy.
#11 Someone told me that wine isn't alcoholic enough to make it clean, and that the reason beer works for this is because you boil the water as part of the brewing process. Also, in the Roman empire wine was usually mixed with 5 parts water (at least at the beginning of the party), so even if the alcohol would kill some of the bacteria, that seems pretty heavily diluted.
@16 Well, not exactly. The minerals in the water covered the lead pipes. It was the lead oxide in their make-up and cooking pots that caused them problems.
@13 - Actually wine is clean of pathogens, as the fermentation process, the finished alcohol and the ph (typically about 3.0) are pretty impervious to water-bound undesirables.
I know some historical re-enactors who play Romans. They drink something called posca, a cup of wine and a tablespoon of vinegar in a gallon of water. Ancient Gatorade. The alcohol and acetic acid would gang up on the bugs.
18, The Roman Empire fell after it accepted Christianity. There were many factors that contributed to it's downfall, but sodomy had absolutely nothing to do with it. Seriously, your home schooling is showing.
Many ancient cultures did this. Drinking pure water was a fool's game, especially within a city.
Find that one regarding the proper place to ride one's donkey. Should they stick to the Romans' donkey lanes? Are the lanes effective?
Wine was commonly diluted before drinking back then. Even today, it won't hurt you any to drink your wine in a 2:1 mix with water.
that and sodomy.......
we, on the other hand, are merely a lowly troll.
damn Bob, you're right.
thanks man.
it's the USA we were thinking of......
You mean like writing an entire delusional book, and attribute it to God?