The cultivation of grapes and production of wine were important parts of the process of civilization. This link was also a commonplace in Greek thought: barbarian peoples were known for liking beer or milk and being ignorant of wine. Thus, in Homer's Odyssey (circa eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E.) the Cyclops Polyphemus is tricked by Odysseus, since he is unused to strong Greek wine, and his drunken stupor allows Odysseus and his men to blind him and make their escape from his cave.

Greek attitudes toward drunkenness were less conflicted than in present-day society. While realizing that excessive drinking could be damaging to health and could cause a variety of social ills, the ancient Greeks accepted without question the pleasure that alcohol could provide. In Euripides' play Bacchae (circa 406 B.C.E.), the blind prophet Tiresias praises the god...