Cultural History of Alcohol
Jonathan Yardley reviews Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by Iain Gately and comments on the fundamental role of alcohol in Western Civilization.
To the ancient Greeks, alcohol was an essential part of a civilized society: “Our word wine derives from their oin, whose consumption was considered to be both one of the defining characteristics of Hellenic civilization and a point of difference between its members and the population of the rest of the world, whom they termed barbaroi, or barbarians.” Rome, “the next great drinking civilization to emerge in the classical world,” was transformed “from a sober society, suspicious of both alcohol and drunkenness, to a major producer, populated with practiced and discriminating drinkers,” and as its empire spread, so too did its permissive attitudes toward alcohol.
Though Christianity is often associated in the popular mind with opposition to alcohol, the historical truth suggests otherwise. . . . [H]oly orders, in particular the Cistercians, played essential roles in the development of sophisticated techniques for making wine and beer, and to this day some beverages are closely identified with their monastic origins.
Yardley seems to gloss over the point that opposition to alcohol is characteristic of a particular strain of Christianity, and the historical truth bears this out quite nicely. That makes the history of alcohol in
Alcohol plays an important role in leisure, and according to Josef Pieper, leisure is the basis of culture. So Gately’s book may deserve a prominent place in the library of culture warriors.
Photo: Whisky Barrels, Invergordon Distillery by foxypar4 (Creative Commons)
