The Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C. to 8 A.D.), who came from a wealthy noble family, studied rhetoric in Rome and Athens and, after extensive travel, took up a position in the civil service, but soon gave it up in favour of poetry. In the last year of his life he was banished to the Black Sea by Emperor Augustus (63 B.C. to 14 A.D.) and was never allowed to return to Rome despite many petitions for mercy. In his work "Amores", which depicts a connoisseur enjoying himself, he describes the quality of some antique wines. The one of the Scythians (Iranian ethnic group that immigrated to the Balkans) does not come off well, he describes it as so strong "that you need an axe to cut it".
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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg