Wasted, smashed, hooned, trolleyed, battered, boozed, fucked, wankered….all words expressing inebriation and, interestingly, all words in the passive voice. This linguistic peculiarity implies that alcohol is somehow a living and active entity. Indeed, its place in our culture is unparalleled. It is both social lubricant and social barrier, signifier of prosperity and mark of desperation, intensifier of emotions and desensitizer of the body. Consequently it has been both glorified and vilified over the cultural history of the world.
The Greeks are normally associated with orgies replete with unbridled debauchery, including loose sexual morals and plenty of booze. Indeed, at the Dionysian festival people consumed vast quantities of wine, believing that it would bring them closer to their deities. However, apart from these displays of inebriety, the Greeks were
fairly moderate in their consumption of alcohol. There are few references in literature to mass drunkenness among the Greeks and both Xenophon and Plato praise moderate use of wine as beneficial to health and happiness. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, would prescribe wine for medicinal purposes. Most of the art that survives from these times is painted on amphorae which were used for transporting wine. In a nice little nod to self-referentiality, these were sometimes decorated with drawings of grapes or scenes of wine drinking. The drunken few have given the sober masses a bad name.
Similarly, according to modern historians, at the start of the Roman Empire, the Romans practiced great moderation in drinking. From the Fifth to the First Centuries BC, the traditional Roman values of temperance, frugality and simplicity were gradually replaced by heavy drinking, ambition, degeneracy and corruption. The Dionysian rites (Bacchanalia, in Latin) spread to Italy during this period and were subsequently outlawed by the Senate. Certain prominent political figures, such as Julius Caesar and Cato the Elder were praised for their moderate attitude to drink; the fact that this was worthy of mention shows that it was a rarity. Marc Antony, however, took pride in his destructive drinking behaviour. With boozy politicians aplenty, it was clear this was a society on the brink of collapse.
With the Roman Empire falling into a drunken stupor, the emerging Christian Church outlined clear and consistent rules on its consumption. St Paul in particular focused on alcohol in his writings: he strongly condemned drunkenness, but saw wine as inherently good. After all, in John’s gospel one of Jesus’ miracles is his conversion of water into wine, and the grapey substance is still at the centre of Catholic mass. Interestingly, the spread of Christianity and viticulture (the making of wine) happened simultaneously. St Martin of Tours was engaged in the seemingly rather dissimilar missions of spreading the Gospel and planting vineyards.
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Throughout the Middle Ages monasteries were the primary producers of wine and beer. In Medieval England, ale was often used to pay tolls, rent or debts. The most important development at this time was the discovery of distillation knowledge of the process spread slowly among monks, doctors, and alchemists. During the Black Death and other plagues in the 14th Century, people increased their consumption of alcohol in the mistaken belief that it might protect them from mysterious deadly diseases. Needless to say, apart from numbing the pain, drinking alcohol did them few favours. On balance, compared to modern standards, alcohol consumption was very high.
Despite the disruptive impact of the Reformation, attitudes towards booze remained mostly unchanged: alcohol was a gift of God and created to be used in moderation for pleasure, enjoyment and health; drunkenness was viewed as a sin. This moderate attitude was not always practiced. For example, Medieval Swedish beer consumption was forty times that of modern Swedish consumption. It is said of distilled alcohol that “the sixteenth Century created it; the Seventeenth Century consolidated it; the Eighteenth popularized it”. Arguably, the greatest product of the Seventeenth Century was sparkling champagne, invented by a monk, with the name — and I’m not kidding — Dom Pérignon. While drunkenness was still an accepted part of life in the Eighteenth Century, the Nineteenth Century would bring a change in attitudes as a result of increasing industrialization and the need for a reliable and punctual work force. Self-expression was replaced by self-discipline. Over time, more and more personal, social, and moral problems were blamed on alcohol. The brief period of Prohibition in America proved that far from eliminating crime, the banning of alcohol created more outlets for it.
In modern society, the attitude towards alcohol is actually rather similar to the one which has endured throughout the whole of history. NHS leaflets and alcohol awareness talks have replaced the pulpit in preaching moderation towards alcoholic consumption. In culture, the portrayal of it is mixed. One in four songs in the UK Top 40 make reference to booze. While it is normally portrayed overwhelmingly positively as the crucial component of a good night out, sometimes its darker side is discussed. Rap group Cypress Hill gives a touching ode to tequila in ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and Ludacris notes that “errbody drunk as fuck” in ‘Everybody Drunk’, but Lil Wayne delivers a more sentimental and thoughtful song about solitary drinking in ‘Me And My Drink’.
Booze, in all its various forms, has outlived nations, epochs, generations and ages. It is a part of our cultural heritage, and fortunately so. For although alcohol will always be the master of some, for most alcohol is slave to man.
