A History of the World in Six Glasses: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Around 870 BCE, King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria gave an enormous feast. The feast, which went on for ten days, was meant to celebrate the building of a new Assyrian capital in Nimrud. The King served huge quantities of food: thousands of sheep, lambs, ducks, chickens, etc.—but the most important part of the meal was the wine that Ashurnasirpal served. While beer was the most common drink at the time, the King made sure that wine—previously a rarity in the region—was readily available at this feast. By serving wine, the King proved his wealth and worldliness. Ever since this feast, Standage concludes, wine has been a symbol of power, sophistication, and wealth.

It is not known how, exactly, wine was invented. It’s been around at most since 6,000 BCE, when the invention of pottery made it feasible to transport. The earliest evidence of wine comes from a large pottery vessel from 5,400 BCE, found in the Zagros Mountains. It’s speculated that wine was first popularized in Turkey, Greece, and later Egypt. The process of making wine by crushing grapes and leaving them to ferment was easiest in warm, sunny climates, but even so wine became a mark of status because of its rarity. Kings were buried with wine, and served the drink at feasts. After King Ashurnasirpal II’s feast, however, wine largely changed from a religious drink to a social one—albeit one that was highly expensive.

In general, wine never became as popular and widespread in Mesopotamian society as it did in Mediterranean societies. This meant that wine remained a luxury, fit only for kings. By the first millennium BCE, wine had become the most cultured and civilized beverage in Mesopotamia.

It’s usually believed that Western philosophy (Western ideas of ethics, science, law, politics, etc.) began in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE in Greece. Greece was also among the first societies to divide the known world into a civilized “West,” and a barbaric “East.” (Even the world “barbaric” is a Greek invention, referring to the foreigners’ inability to speak intelligently). Greeks showed off their sophistication by drinking wine. Wine was an intellectual’s drink—the Greeks liked to participate in symposiums, during which they drank and discussed intellectual matters.

In general, wine was a vital part of the Greeks’ belief in their own superiority to the rest of the world—indeed, the Greek historian Thucydides wrote that the Greeks became civilized in the instant that they learned to cultivate olives and grapes. As time went on, wine became more and more available, meaning that it was no longer only available to kings, as it was in Mesopotamia. The Greeks worshipped Dionysus, the god of wine and drama, and believed that wine was the gods’ gift to all mortals. But even though wine became more available, the Greeks still learned how to show off their status based on the type of wine they drank—certain grapes, especially from the islands of Chios and Thasos, were considered particularly rare. In this way, wine continued to be regarded as a mark of culture and intelligence.

The Greeks drank wine by mixing it with water. This mixture was the beverage consumed at the symposium, or intellectual drinking party. Men (no women were allowed) would gather in a private house, recline on chairs, and drink wine, often for many hours. The wine was served in a large bowl, making it easy to dilute the wine with water if need be. A bowl of wine that contained equal parts water and wine was considered to be very strong. It was believed that no human being could drink pure wine without becoming mad and violent—only Dionysus himself could do such a thing safely. Unbeknownst to the Greeks, it was actually life-saving to mix water and wine. By itself, water was dirty and could spread disease—wine purified the water by killing bacteria.

At a symposium, the drinkers could indulge in intellectual conversations, but they also enjoyed playing games and improvising poetry and music. A game called kottabos, in which the players had to flick the last drops of wine in their glass at a specific target, was all the rage in ancient Greece, and being talented at the game was considered as impressive as being a good athlete. In general, the symposium was something of a microcosm of Greek society—it had to be carefully controlled (like diluting the wine with water) so that things wouldn’t get out of hand.

In ancient Greece, the symposium was viewed as an opportunity to discuss profound truth. In Plato’s Symposium, one of the most famous Platonic dialogues, Plato’s mentor Socrates gathers his followers and discusses the history of love. Socrates proves himself to be the best thinker, not only because of the sophistication of his arguments but because he succeeds in drinking wine without collapsing from drunkenness. In the dialogue, Socrates argues that wine is an opportunity for a man to test his character. When a man drinks, he lets loose all his darkest feelings—envy, anger, lust, etc. Thus, by drinking, men can train themselves to control and even overcome these urges.

The symposium, in addition to being an opportunity for philosophers to discuss the universe, was an apt symbol of Greek democracy. At a symposium, full of wine, everyone was equal. Yet this equality was limited—only male landowners were allowed to participate in the festivities (women, slaves, and the poor were forbidden). The same was true in Greek society itself: wealthy men could vote, but not women, slaves, or the poor. Plato was suspicious of democracy—he believed that civilization needed order and hierarchy to survive. In his mind, the symposium was an illustration of the best and worst of human nature: the freedom of the mind, but also the chaos of unbridled democracy. Yet despite his misgivings about the structure of the symposium, Plato used the symposium as a model for his famous Academy. There, Plato taught students for many years, always using the same open-ended format that he’d enjoyed as a younger man at symposiums.

Wine was the perfect symbol of Greek culture: intellectual and elitist, yet hedonistic. In the centuries following the time of Plato, wine was exported across Europe and the Middle East. Largely because of the intellectual achievements of the ancient Greeks, wine continues to be regarded as the beverage of intelligent and sophistication.