Wine Drinking in Homeric World

L'Antiquité Classique
Wine and Wine Drinking in the Homeric World

Author(s): Zinon Papakonstantinou
Source: L'Antiquité Classique , T. 78 (2009), pp. 1-24
Published by: L'Antiquité Classique
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/antiqclassi.78.1
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Wine and Wine Drinking in the Homeric World∗
In book nine of the Odyssey, the Cyclopes are described as a lawless and over-
weening folk, ignorant of the customs and conventions of the civilized world (Od. IX,
106-115). Despite their reputation, Odysseus decides to confront them. He sets out
with twelve of his companions and enters the cave of Polyphemus, a “savage”
(ἄγριον, Od. IX, 215) man. The encounter turns disastrous when Polyphemus, in
defiance of all laws of hospitality, gradually devours Odysseus’ comrades. The
situation is dire but Odysseus finally gets the better of his opponent by exploiting the
power of one of the staples of Greek diet: wine. We are told that Polyphemus nor-
mally accompanies his meals with pure milk (ἄκρητον γάλα, Od. IX, 297) and not
wine, as it is the custom among Greeks. Hence it is not surprising that when Odysseus
offers him several drinks of wine (Od. IX, 347-350) Polyphemus becomes intoxicated
(φρένας ἤλυθεν οἶνος, Od. IX, 362; cf. IX, 454; IX, 516) thus giving Odysseus and
his comrades the chance to blind him and ultimately escape.
The poet implies that Polyphemus’ misuse of wine is due to the wiliness of
Odysseus who exploits the diametrically dissimilar nutritional habits of his ungra-
cious host as well as to the Cyclop’s savagery and ignorance of social etiquette.
Instead of observing the established rules of xenia regarding feasting and wine
consumption, Polyphemus eats his guests and drinks in quick succession large
quantities of unmixed wine offered to him by Odysseus (Od. IX, 347-363). By the
same token, the story assumes that all civilized Greeks would be familiar with the
protocol of feasting and wine drinking. For the audiences of the Odyssey it would
have been unthinkable to live in a Cyclopean social system without assemblies or
laws (Od. IX, 112), just as it would have been beyond contemplation to mistreat one’s
guests and violate the rituals1 of drinking in the manner of Polyphemus. For Homer
and his audiences, wine drinking was a basic and indispensable, but at the same time
highly symbolic, feature of everyday life.
Beyond this episode, the purpose of this paper is to explore the uses and social
significance of wine as depicted in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Homeric epics, as
well as other archaic Greek poetry (e.g. the Theognidea), were composed in a process
that synthesized “the diverse local traditions of each major city-state into a unified
Panhellenic model that suits most city-states but corresponds exactly to none”.2
Context of performance and ideological factors could certainly compromise the
∗
My thanks are due to the anonymous referee of L’Antiquité Classique for the incisive
comments. I am solely responsible for all remaining errors. I use T.W. ALLEN, Homeri Ilias,
Oxford, 1931 and P. VON DER MÜHLL, Homeri Odyssea. Basel, 1962 throughout the article.
1
By rituals I mean culturally embedded and frequently repeated practices associated with
wine drinking.
2
G. NAGY, The Best of the Achaeans. Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry,
Baltimore/London, 1999² [1979], p. 7.
L’Antiquité Classique 78 (2009),
p. 1-24.

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2 Z. PAPAKONSTANTINOU
picture of social realities reflected by poetry. Nevertheless, if such and other relevant
factors are taken into consideration, in the case of the Homeric epics the result is a
fairly homogeneous portrayal of institutions, values and practices that historians by
convenience refer to as the “Homeric world” or “Homeric society”, i.e. conditions of
life in the historical communities of Greece from the late ninth to the early seventh-
centuries BC.3 The following discussion focuses on fundamental aspects of wine
3
The issue of whether the Homeric epics depict a coherent historical society has
attracted scholarly attention for centuries and consensus is far from being achieved. Over the
last twenty years the view that the Homeric epics depict a set of values and institutions that is
relatively coherent and, in its broad outlines, in keeping with what is known about the period
spanning from the late ninth to the early seventh-centuries BC in Greece has emerged as the
new orthodoxy among the majority of ancient historians who attempt a verdict on the date of
the “Homeric World” (i.e. the political, social and economic conditions depicted in the Home-
ric epics). See e.g. B. QVILLER, “The Dynamics of Homeric Society”, SO 56 (1981), p. 109-
155; I. MORRIS, “The Use and Abuse of Homer”, ClAnt 5 (1986), p. 81-138 and a more recent
revised version of the same essay in D.J. CAIRNS, Oxford Readings in Homer’s Iliad, Oxford,
2001, p. 57-91; J.V. ANDREEV, “Die homerische Gesellschaft”, Klio 70 (1988), p. 5-85;
W. DONLAN, “The Social Groups of Dark Age Greece”, CPh 80 (1985), p. 293-308; ID., “The
Pre-State Community in Greece”, SO 64 (1989), p. 5-29; P.W. ROSE, “Thersites and the Plural
Voices of Homer”, Arethusa 21 (1988), p. 5-25; ID., Sons of the Gods, Children of the Earth,
Ithaca, 1992; ID., “Ideology in the Iliad: Polis, Basileus, Theoi”, Arethusa 30 (1997), p. 151-
199; C. ULF, Die homerische Gesellschaft. Materialen zur analytischen Beschreibung und
historischen Lokalisierung, Munich, 1990; J. WHITLEY, “Social Diversity in Dark Age Greece”,
ABSA 86 (1991), p. 341-365; H. VAN WEES, Status Warriors. War, Violence and Society in
Homer and History, Amsterdam, 1992; R. SEAFORD, Reciprocity and Ritual: Homer and Tra-
gedy in the Developing City-State, Oxford, 1994; J.P. CRIELAARD, “Homer, History and
Archaeology. Some Remarks on the Date of the Homeric World”, in J.P. CRIELAARD (ed.),
Homeric Questions, Amsterdam, 1995, p. 201-288; ID., “Past or Present? Epic Poetry, Aris-
tocratic Self-Representation and the Concept of Time in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries BC”,
in F. MONTANARI, P. ASCHERI (eds), Omero tremila anni dopo, Rome, 2002, p. 239-295;
D.W. TANDY, Warriors into Traders. The Power of the Market in Early Greece, Berkeley/Los
Angeles/London, 1997; K.A. RAAFLAUB, “Homer und die Geschichte des 8. Jahrhunderts v.
Chr.”, in J. LATACZ (ed.), Zweihundert Jahre Homer-Forschung: Rückblick und Ausblick,
Stuttgart, 1991, p. 205-256; ID., “Homeric Society”, in I. MORRIS, B. POWELL (eds), A New
Companion to Homer, Leiden/New York/Köln, 1997, p. 624-648; ID., “Politics and Interstate
Relations in the World of the Early Greek Poleis: Homer and Beyond”, Antichthon 31 (1997),
p. 1-27; ID., “A Historian’s Headache. How to Read «Homeric Society»”, in N. FISHER, H. VAN
WEES (eds), Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence, London, 1998, p. 169-193;
R. OSBORNE, “Homer’s Society”, in R. FOWLER (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Homer,
Cambridge, 2004, p. 206-219. I find particularly persuasive the suggestion that the Homeric
epics reflect conditions in Greece contemporary to the date of the written composition of the
epics but also conditions “within the time-span that could be covered by the audience’s collec-
tive memory” (K. RAAFLAUB, “Homeric Society”, o.c. this note, p. 628). Cf. the more cautious
assertion by K.-J. HÖLKESKAMP, “Ptolis and agore. Homer and the Archaeology of the City-
State”, in F. MONTANARI, P. ASCHERI (eds), Omero tremila anni dopo, Rome, 2002, p. 297-342
that “the events and heroic action of the epic ‘foreground’ could not have been set against a
‘background’ of a world of Odysseus that had vanished half a dozen generations before, of
social structures and institutions that were long and completely extinct, and of views and values

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WINE AND WINE DRINKING IN THE HOMERIC WORLD 3
drinking perceptions and practices as revealed by the Homeric epics, including ideas
about the nutritive and intoxicating qualities of wine, the consumption of wine
according to age, gender and social criteria, as well as the use of wine as a mark of
social distinction. The cumulative analysis of the evidence undoubtedly reveals the
complexity and importance of wine drinking in a highly stratified world. In the final
section of the paper, facets of the picture of wine consumption that emerge from the
Homeric epics are contrasted with and evaluated in the context of comparative
evidence provided by anthropological studies of alcoholic consumption in other parts
of the world.
Wine as nutrient and intoxicant
What did the Greeks of the Homeric age think about wine? How was wine
drinking practiced? The Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as other archaic poetry,4
provide rich and multifaceted evidence in our attempt to answer these questions. Wine
was the beverage of choice in the Homeric world. It was locally made5 or imported6
and was considered a staple of daily diet,7 always more preferable to water.8 It is
therefore not surprising that in the Homeric epics wine could be consumed at any time
of the day, including in the morning,9 with the accompaniment of food or without.10
that looked antiquated and downright outlandish to late 8th-century Greeks” (p. 301). Through-
out this paper I will be using the terms “Homer” and “Homeric world/society” (being aware of
all the problems associated with the composition and the authorship of the Iliad and the
Odyssey) to refer to the extant version of the epics and the various bards that contributed to
their composition (“Homer”) and the historical communities of early archaic Greece res-
pectively (“Homeric world/society”).
4
Although the present essay focuses mostly on the Iliad and the Odyssey, it constitutes
part of a wider examination, in preparation by the author, of alcoholic drinking in archaic and
classical Greece. For wine in the Homeric epics see also V. ANDÒ, “Vino e sistema di valori nei
poemi omerici”, Thalassa 1 (2004), p. 87-99; L. DELLA BIANCA and S. BETA, Oinos. Il vino
nella letteratura greca, Rome, 2002, p. 13-26 contains a brief discussion of aspects of wine use
in the Homeric epics devoid of references to modern scholarship.
5
See the grape harvest and wine-production scene on the shield of Achilles, Il. XVIII,
561-572. Cf. also the reference to the vineyard, harvest and wine-production in Phaeacia, Od.
VII, 122-125.
6
Cf. the references to wine trade in Il. VII, 467-475; IX, 71-72.
7
E.g. while preparing for his trip to Pylos and Sparta, Telemachus is advised by Athena
to take aboard the ship provisions of wine and barley, Od. II, 289 (οἶνον ἐν ἀµφιφορεῦσι, καὶ
ἄλφιτα, µυελὸν ἀνδρῶν); and Od. II, 349ff.
8
See Od. XII, 327-328 and 362-363 where Odysseus’ companions use water for libations
(a preliminary requirement of the feast and other forms of commensality that usually included
wine consumption) and presumably for drinking, only after the supplies of wine have been
exhausted: οὐδ’ εἶχον µέθυ λεῖψαι ἐπ’ αἰθοµένοις ἱεροῖσιν, ἀλλ’ ὕδατι σπένδοντες ἐπώπτων
ἔγκατα πάντα, “they had no wine to pour over the blazing sacrifice, but they made libations
with water and roasted all the entrails over the fire.”
9
See e.g. Od. XV, 493ff. when soon after dawn (495, αἶψα γὰρ Ἠὼς ἦλθεν ἐΰθρονος)
Telemachus’ comrades were mixing wine as part of their breakfast preparations (500 δεῖπνόν τ᾿

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Wine was almost always drunk diluted with water, a practice that eventually became
standard throughout the ancient Greek world. On other occasions, it appears that wine
was consumed as part of a cocktail like the cyceon that Hecamede prepares for Nestor
and Eurydemon in Il. XI, 618-643, a drink that consisted of Pramnian wine, onion,
honey, ground barley and goat’s cheese.11
To the extent that perceptions of wine and wine drinking are reflected in the
Iliad and the Odyssey, one can roughly distinguish between wine’s physiological and
social attributes. Regarding the former, the epics convey two prominent attitudes.12
The first views wine as a beneficial nutrient. The best illustration of that perception is
provided by Hecabe, mother of Hector, when the latter abandons the battlefield and
returns to Troy in search of Paris and in order to request from the Trojan women to
pray to Athena. Upon encountering her son, Hecabe inquires the purpose of his visit
and speculates that it is related to the success of the Greeks in battle. She then
proceeds to suggest that Hector should perform libations and revitalize himself by
drinking wine (Il. VI, 258-262):
ἀλλὰ µέν’, ὄφρα κέ τοι µελιηδέα οἶνον ἐνείκω,
ὡς σπείσῃς ∆ιὶ πατρὶ καὶ ἄλλοις ἀθανάτοισι
260 πρῶτον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὐτὸς ὀνήσεαι, αἴ κε πίῃσθα.
ἀνδρὶ δὲ κεκµηῶτι µένος µέγα οἶνος ἀέξει,
ὡς τύνη κέκµηκας ἀµύνων σοῖσιν ἔτῃσι.
ἐντύνοντο κερῶντό τε αἴθοπα οἶνον); similarly in Od. XVI, 1ff., while Eumaeus and
Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, were preparing their breakfast at dawn (2, ἐντύνοντο ἄριστον
ἅµ᾿ ἠοῖ) Telemachus approaches the swineherd’s hut. Eumaeus is startled by the unexpected
early morning visit and drops the vessels he was handling for mixing the wine (13-14, ἐκ δ’
ἄρα οἱ χειρῶν πέσον ἄγγεα, τοῖς ἐπονεῖτο, κιρνὰς αἴθοπα οἶνον). But once the arrival of
Telemachus is duly acknowledged, Eumaeus, Telemachus and Odysseus take their breakfast,
consisting of meat leftovers from the night before and “honey-sweet wine” (52, µελιηδέα
οἶνον).
10
See e.g. Od. XX, 136-137 where Eurycleia refers to Odysseus drinking wine without
food (οἶνον µὲν γὰρ πῖνε καθήµενος, ὄφρ’ ἔθελ’ αὐτός, σίτου δ’ οὐκέτ’ ἔφη πεινήµεναι). For
other instances of wine consumption without any reference to food see Od. I, 337 ff.; VI, 309;
XV, 391-392; XXI, 270-273; Il. VI, 258-260; IX, 173-177; XI, 641-643; XIV, 1-8; XVIII, 541-
547.
11
For the cyceon, a drink also associated with the Eleusinian mysteries, see in general
A. DELATTE, Le cycéon, breuvage rituel des mystères d’Éleusis, Paris, 1955 and M.-C. AMOU-
RETTI, “Les boissons hors du symposion”, in M. AURELL, O. DUMOULIN, F. THÉLAMON (eds),
La sociabilité à table. Commensalité et convivialité à travers les âges, Rouen, 1992, p. 70.
Potions such as the cyceon, and wine in general, were considered of high nutritional value, a
point that is further explored in the present section. Note that a potion similar to the one
prepared by Hecamede is concocted by Circe in Od. X, 234-236. This apparently hallucinatory
cocktail consisted of Pramnian wine, cheese, barley, honey and “evil drugs” (φάρµακα λύγρ᾿).
12
Besides the present discussion, cf. also the short article by A. DOMINIQUE, “Du bon
usage du vin chez Homère et dans la poésie archaïque”, in J. JOUANNA, L. VILLARD (eds), Vin
et santé en Grèce ancienne, Paris, 2002, p. 7-10. Social parameters of wine and wine drinking
are examined in subsequent sections of the present article.

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But stay while I bring you honey-sweet wine

so that you may pour libation to Zeus and the other immortals
260 first, and afterwards you shall yourself have benefit of it as well, if you
[ will drink.
When a man is weary with toil wine greatly increases his strength
just as you are weary with defending your comrades.
The same principle also prompts Odysseus (Il. XIX, 160-161; see also 167-
168; 231-232) to suggest that the Greek army should have their fill of food and wine
(σίτου καὶ οἴνοιο) before joining battle “because in them is courage and strength” (τὸ
γὰρ µένος ἐστὶ καὶ ἀλκή). The scene of workmen drinking wine at frequent intervals
while ploughing the land (Il. XVIII, 541-546, see n. 30) is also indicative of the belief
that wine possessed invigorating qualities.13
At the same time, Greeks of the Homeric age were also aware of the intoxi-
cating, inhibitive and potentially socially disruptive qualities of wine. Hence in Il. VI,
265 Hector turns down Hecabe’s invitation (see above) to drink wine on the grounds
that it might “cripple me and make me forget my force and my valour”. Other charac-
ters in the epics also voice similar concerns. For instance, in Od. XIV, 463-466
Odysseus describes wine as a substance that can lead even the most wise man to fri-
volous behaviour such as excessive laughter, dancing and speaking out of turn. And in
Od. XVIII, 240-242 Telemachus describes a drunken man as one that cannot stand on
his feet or find his way home.14 Moreover, extreme intoxication could lead to aggres-
sion and violence.15 When during the last feast of the suitors Odysseus, still disguised
as a vagrant, asks for permission to attempt to string the bow, he is perceived as drunk
and is rebuked by Antinous by being reminded of the fight between the centaurs and
the lapiths, i.e. the archetypal tale of a feast gone wrong because of heavy drinking
(Od. XXI, 288-298):
288 ἆ δειλὲ ξείνων, ἔνι τοι φρένες οὐδ’ ἠβαιαί·
...................................................
οἶνός σε τρώει µελιηδής, ὅς τε καὶ ἄλλους
βλάπτει, ὃς ἄν µιν χανδὸν ἕλῃ µηδ’ αἴσιµα πίνῃ.
13
For the same belief see also Il. III, 246; IX, 705-706. Cf. Od. XV, 406 where
οἰνοπληθής (“full of wine”) is used approvingly to describe the bountiful island of Syria. The
belief that wine possessed invigorating and restorative qualities is also reflected in the
Classical, Hellenistic and late antique medical corpora which frequently recommend wine for
the treatment of numerous diseases. See e.g. J. JOUANNA, “Le vin et la médecine dans la Grèce
ancienne”, REG 109 (1996), p. 410-434; R. ALESSI, “Le vin dans les Épidémies d’Hippocrate”,
in J. JOUANNA, L. VILLARD (eds.), o.c. (n. 12), p. 105-112; D. BÉGUIN, “Le vin médecin chez
Galien”, ibid., p. 141-154; A. GARZYA, “Le vin dans la littérature médicale de l’Antiquité tar-
dive et byzantine”, ibid., p. 191-200.
14
For the adverse effects of intoxication see also Od. IX, 360-374; 452-455; 515-517; X,
552-560; XI, 60-65; XVIII, 327-332; 389-393; XIX, 121-122. In Il. I, 225 Achilles insults
Agamemnon by calling him οἰνοβαρές “heavy with wine”.
15
Besides the exchange between Antinous and Odysseus, concerns that intoxication
might cause strife and violence are also expressed in Od. XVI, 291-292; XIX, 10-13.

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300 οἶνος καὶ Κένταυρον, ἀγακλυτὸν Εὐρυτίωνα,

ἄασ’ ἐνὶ µεγάρῳ µεγαθύµου Πειριθόοιο,
ἐς Λαπίθας ἐλθόνθ’· ὁ δ’ ἐπεὶ φρένας ἄασεν οἴνῳ,
µαινόµενος κάκ’ ἔρεξε δόµον κάτα Πειριθόοιο·
288 Ah, wretched stranger, you have no sense, not even a little.
……………………………………………………………..
The honey-sweet wine has hurt you, as it has harmed others as well
whoever takes it in great gulps and drinks beyond measure.
300 It was wine that made foolish the centaur, famous Eurytion,
in the palace of the great-hearted Peirithous
when he visited the Lapiths; his brain went wild with drinking
and in his madness he did evil in the house of Peirithous.
The Homeric epics therefore clearly suggest that there was some concerns over
inebriation among early archaic Greeks. These concerns appear to have been shared
across the social board, with extreme intoxication being equally reprehensible for the
nobility and the lower classes. Such an attitude, however, did not lead to the demoni-
zation of a more moderate degree of drunkenness. In other words, similarly to most
other societies where alcoholic drinking is socially integrated, Greeks of the early
archaic period had their own “rules of disorder”16 regarding drinking and intoxication.
More specifically, the main issue in relation to inebriation were not the pathological
consequences of heavy and chronic drinking that have constituted the bastion of Tem-
perance and other anti-drinking campaigns in recent historical periods, but rather what
one might call the social implications, especially the danger that one might lose his
wits and demean himself in the eyes of his social peers and fellow feast-participants.
According to these principles, the preferred drinking condition, especially within an
upper class feast, involved the acquisition of a moderate alcohol-induced intoxication
while maintaining one’s decorum17 – a condition that Theognis roughly two centuries
later called “neither sober nor too drunk” (478). Such drinking was viewed as both
liberating and socially responsible and became a widely accepted ideal of upper-class
alcoholic consumption in archaic and classical Greece.18
16
The phrase, coined by P. MARSH, E. ROSSER, R. HARRÉ, The Rules of Disorder,
London, 1978, with reference to actions in the schoolrooms and football grounds, is used here
metaphorically to denote the systems of meaning that govern a set of perceptions and practices
extant in a particular society that are considered deviant by some members of the society in
question. It should be noted that the use of the term “deviant” should not presuppose an intrin-
sically inferior status of the practices characterized as such (in our case, of a state of intoxi-
cation as opposed to a state of sobriety).
17
The antithesis of the condition in which Polyphemus finds himself in Od. Book IX.
Polyphemus does not only violate the drinking protocol by consuming large quantities of
unmixed alcohol in quick succession, he also abuses all the basic rules of xenia and aristocratic
commensality.
18
See e.g.; ANACREON, fr. 356 Page = 63 Bergk4 = 43 Diehl = 33 Gentili; THEOGNIS, 211-
212, 467-496, 497-498, 499-502, 509-510, 837-840, 841-842; XENOPHANES I, 17-19; CRITIAS
fr. 6 D-K = 4 Diehl = 4 Gentili-Prato. To be sure, this ideal of drinking was not shared by

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Wine in the Homeric feast and everyday life
Is the picture of the seemingly ubiquitous19 presence of wine drinking through-

out the Homeric epics an idealization? And do the epics provide any evidence for
drinking restrictions based on age, gender and social class? About twenty years ago
Dwight Heath, a meticulous researcher of drinking practices around the world,
remarked that
the drinking of alcoholic beverages tends to be hedged about with rules
concerning who may and may not drink how much of what, in what contexts,
in the company of whom and so forth. Often such rules are the focus of excep-
tionally strong emotions and sanctions.20
In many pre-industrial and modern societies, alcoholic drinking by women and
persons of special or ambivalent status is a social taboo.21 Very frequently these
societies establish firm regulations which severely limit or completely prohibit the
consumption of alcohol along gender and age lines.22 Such a comprehensive ban did
not exist in Homeric Greece. Although it is true that the context, membership and
etiquette of some drinking occasions in the Homeric world (e.g. the aristocratic δαὶς
ἐΐση, see below) were strictly regulated, in general characters in the Homeric epics
appear to have been quite liberal with regard to the consumption of wine. The Iliad
and the Odyssey amply demonstrate that wine was consumed by male nobles as well
as by the poor, the elderly and, to a certain extent, children and women. More speci-
fically, on two occasions in the Odyssey it is directly implied that women could drink
wine23 but since the epics largely depict a man’s world it is not surprising that not
much can be deduced regarding the drinking habits of women in Homeric Greece.
everyone. For instance some archaic lyric poets celebrate uncontrollable drinking and intoxica-
tion in the context of the exclusive and elitist symposion, e.g. ALCAEUS. fr. 335 Lobel-Page =
35 Bergk = 91 Diehl and fr. 332 Lobel-Page = 20 Bergk = 39 Diehl.
19
As sarcastically pointed out by HORACE, Epistles I, 19, 6: laudibus arguitur vini vinosus
Homerus.
20
D. HEATH, “A Decade of Development in the Anthropological Study of Alcohol Use,
1970-1980”, in M. DOUGLAS (ed.), Constructive Drinking. Perspectives on Drink from Anthro-
pology, Cambridge, 1987, p. 16-69 (quotation from p. 46).
21
On the other hand, in other societies extensive drinking by women and children is
tolerated, if not actively encouraged. See the studies in n. 72.
22
For alcoholic drinking and women in general beyond ancient Greece see e.g. D. GEFOU-
MADIANOU (ed.), Alcohol, Gender and Culture, London, 1992; M. MCDONALD (ed.), Gender,
Drink and Drugs, Oxford, 1994; A.L. MARTIN, Alcohol, Sex, and Gender in Late Medieval and
Early Modern Europe, New York, 2001. For underage drinking see e.g. E. FOSSEY, Growing
Up With Alcohol, London, 1994.
23
See Od. VI, 75-78 (a goatskin of wine is among the daily provisions for Nausicaa’s
excursion to the river); XX, 66-69 (the daughters of Pandareus are nourished by Aphrodite with
cheese, honey and “pleasant wine”). See also Od. XIII, 53-62 where Odysseus, after per-
forming a libation, passes on a two-handled cup to queen Arete. The poet does not tell us what
Arete did with the cup, but in a similar situation a man would normally be expected to pour a
libation as well and possibly drink.

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However, it is clear that compared to the almost constant drinking of men, women in
the Homeric epics are presented as consumers of wine only in limited circumstances.
This gender hierarchization of wine drinking24 squares well with the marginal position
of women within the male-dominated feasts as well as with the ban regarding the
handling and consumption of meat imposed upon them.25 To what extent this picture
is an idealization of historical conditions is uncertain. It is plausible that, contrary to
what the Homeric epics imply, in reality wine was more widely consumed by women,
a practice that various archaic and classical legal norms and moral ordinances (see
n. 24) sought to restrict.
Contrary to the drinking of women, no taboos or restrictions based on age or
social class appear to have been associated with the consumption of wine by children,
the elderly or individuals of low social backgrounds.26 For instance, in an attempt to
persuade Achilles to return to battle, Phoenix recalls an image of the Greek hero
attending a feast while still a toddler (Il. IX, 485-491):
485 And I reared you to be such as you are, godlike Achilles,
loving you from my heart; for with no other
would you go to the feast or taste any food in your own halls
until I had set you on my knees and given you your fill
of the meat cut first for you and held the wine for you (οἶνον ἐπισχών).
490 Often did you wet the tunic on my chest,
sputtering out the wine (οἴνου ἀποβλύζων) in your childish
[helplessness.
Similarly, in Od. XVI, 435-447 Eurymachus justifies his loyalty to Tele-
machus on the grounds that Odysseus “often set me upon his knees, and put roast
24
Restrictions on women’s alcoholic drinking are attested for later periods of Greek his-
tory as well. According to Aristotle, Aristides of Keos prescribed that minors and women
before marriage should drink nothing but water (ARIST., fr. 611, 28 Rose: ᾿Αριστείδης
ἐπιµελεῖται γυναικῶν εὐκοσµίας. καὶ τὸ παλαιὸν ὕδωρ ἔπινον οἱ παῖδες καὶ αἱ κόραι µέχρι
γάµου). Late sources claim that similar laws were in force at Marseille and Miletus (AEL., VH
II, 38: νόµος καὶ οὗτος Μασσαλιωτικός, γυναῖκας µὴ ὁµιλεῖν οἴνῳ, ἀλλ᾿ ὑδροποτεῖν πᾶσαν
γυναικῶν ἡλικίαν. λέγει δὲ Θεόφραστος καὶ παρὰ Μιλησίοις τὸν νόµον τοῦτον ἰσχύειν καὶ
<µὴ> πείθεσθαι αὐτῷ τὰς ᾿Ιάδας, ἀλλὰ τὰς Μιλησίων γυναῖκας; cf. ATH., X, 429 a-b παρὰ δὲ
Μασσαλιήταις ἄλλος νόµος τὰς γυναῖκας ὑδροποτεῖν. ἐν δὲ Μιλήτῳ ἔτι καὶ νῦν φησι
Θεόφραστος τοῦτ’ εἶναι τὸ νόµιµον; see THPHR., fr. 579A-B F.-H.-S). See also A. SZEGEDY-
MASZAK, The Nomoi of Theophrastus, New York, 1981, p. 89.
25
For the role of women in the Homeric feast and the ban on meat-consumption imposed
on them see J. RUNDIN, “A Politics of Eating: Feasting in Early Greek Society”, AJPh 117
(1996), p. 179-215, especially p. 189-190; H. VAN WEES, “Princes at Dinner. Social Event and
Social Structure in Homer”, in J.P. CRIELAARD (ed.), Homeric Questions, Amsterdam, 1995,
p. 147-182, especially p. 154-163.
26
I am referring here solely to the act of wine drinking per se and not to the various
trappings and symbols (material or otherwise) that distinguished the consumption of wine by
individuals of low social rank (such as the swineherd Eumaeus and Odysseus when disguised
as a beggar in Ithaca), and indeed by women and children, from the wine drinking of the upper-
class heroes. On this issue see further below.

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meat in my hands and held to my lips red wine”.27 The elderly are also depicted in the
Homeric epics as regularly enjoying wine. A case in point is Nestor who in the Iliad is
repeatedly depicted as too old and unfit to fight or engage in sport (e.g. I, 250-253;
IV, 317-325; XXIII, 624-650) but he is frequently present in drinking bouts (e.g. II,
402-440; XIV, 1-8). Finally, persons of low social backgrounds could hold their own
feasts and consume copious quantities of wine – although, as one might expect, not
the rare vintages that are sometimes associated with the heroic dais.28 Thus the
leaders of the Greek army at Troy frequently prompt the rank and file to “taste food
and wine”, often in preparation or in the aftermath of battle.29 Beyond the battlefield,
the shield of Achilles includes a scene in which field-workers take breaks to drink
wine as they work hard ploughing the land.30 Moreover, in Ithaca the swineherd
Eumaeus and Odysseus, the latter while pretending to be a “dismal old beggar” (Od.
XVII, 202; 337), frequently enjoy wine in company.31 While still in disguise,
Odysseus is even allowed at the banquets of the suitors, although he is by no means
an equal participant: he has to beg for his food and wine, he eats next to the threshold,
i.e. physically removed from the noble suitors, and he is constantly abused.32 It can be
27
Cf. also the monologue by Andromache (Il. XXII, 477-514), which occurs after she
learns of the death of her husband Hector, and which contains a vignette (490-498) of the
couple’s orphaned son Astyanax in a future dais. Being an orphan, Astyanax should not expect
to be treated as an equal at the feast; some guests might feel pity and hold out a cup for him but
he will not drink an equal measure: “his lips he wets, but his palate he wets not” (495).
Furthermore, Astyanax should expect to be hit and be verbally abused at the feast by children
whose fathers are alive and participate in elite commensality (“Off you go quick! Your father
does not feast in our company”, 498). Besides being indicative of attitudes towards children’s
wine drinking, this scene also reflects the complex rules governing the participation and
consumption of drink and food among peers in the dais as well as the precarious position of
those (cf. Astyanax, Telemachus, Odysseus disguised as a beggar) who did not completely
conform to the profile of the typical participant in aristocratic commensality. Underage
drinking is a common feature of many other pre-modern and modern integrated drinking
cultures. See the discussion in section “The Homeric world: an ‘integrated’ drinking culture”.
28
In addition, the material culture of the upper class feast differed greatly from the accou-
trements of the commensality of the lower social classes. See H. VAN WEES, o.c. (n. 25),
p. 150, note 5. On valuable vintages and the construction of social difference and distinction
based on the consumption of wine see further below.
29
See Il. XIX, 160-161. Other examples of the Greek army rank and file drinking wine:
Il. I, 467-469; VIII, 231-232. The rank and file of the Trojan army also consume wine: Il. VIII,
505-507 and 545-546.
30
Il. XVIII, 541-546: “On it he set also soft fallowland, rich in soil and wide, that was
three times ploughed. And in it were many ploughmen who wheeled their teams and drove
them back and forth. And whenever after turning they came to the end of the field, then a man
would come up to each and give into his hands a cup of honey-sweet wine (δέπας µελιηδέος
οἴνου).”
31
Od. XIV, 45-47; 78-79; 109-114; 446-448; XV, 301-303; XVI, 478-480. Cf. also Od.
XVII, 602-604 where Eumaeus is dining alone and drinks wine.
32
Odysseus at the feast of the suitors, Od. XVII, 335; XVIII, 248; XX, 247; XI, 434;
Odysseus having to beg for food and drink, Od. XVII, 365-368; 415-418; XX, 378; drinking
wine, Od. XVIII, 151-153; XX, 260-262; perceived as drunk by the suitors, Od. XXI, 288-310;

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reasonably argued that different modes of drinking among the rich and the poor no
doubt reflected social differences and helped solidify class consciousness and identity
among fellow-drinkers of equal social status. Moreover, at times, drinking occasions
shared by persons of unequal social status (e.g. the one implied by Agamemnon in Il.
VIII, 227-234) served a fundamental need for social bonding by encouraging positive
interaction, reciprocity and sharing between members of groups (e.g. army, civilian
community) with common interests/fortunes.
Although sometimes Homeric figures consume wine alone (e.g. Eumaeus in
Od. XVII, 602-604; possibly Odysseus in Od. XX, 136), the Homeric epics over-
whelmmingly suggest that drinking was a quintessentially social act. Occasions of
commensality where wine drinking occurs include the typical upper-class δαὶς ἐΐση
(“equal feast”) that is regularly carried out by the members of the ruling elite and
which conforms to the basic requirements (e.g. acknowledgement of equal social sta-
tus among participants; rules of xenia, including gift-exchange) of Homeric aristo-
cratic etiquette33 as well as the eating and drinking bouts conducted by individuals of
lower social standing.34 In the following section I explore primarily some prominent
aspects of the logistics of feasting and wine drinking in the Homeric world; ideolo-
gical and social dimensions will receive more extensive coverage in subsequent
sections.
While in the palace of Alkinoos in Phaeacia, Odysseus is described as pro-
ceeding to join “the men at their wine” (ἄνδρας µέτα οἰνοποτῆρας ἤϊε) after taking a
bath (Od. VIII, 456-457). However, what follows is not simply wine drinking but a
eating while sitting on the threshold, Od. XVII, 339-359; XX, 257-259; being verbally and
physically abused, Od. XVII, 375-377; 449-450; 462-464; XX, 292-302.
33
The banquets of the suitors in Ithaca constitute a deviation from the norms of aristo-
cratic commensality. Although of well-heeled backgrounds, the suitors engage in a type of
commensality that does not always conform to the requirements of a proper heroic δαίς ἐΐση.
For the feasts of the suitors see S. SAÏD, “Les crimes des prétendants, la maison d’Ulysse et les
festins de l’Odyssée”, Études de littérature ancienne 1 (1979), p. 9-49. On Homeric commen-
sality in general see also, in addition to the studies by H. VAN WEES and J. RUNDIN, n. 25
above, G. BRUNS, Küchenwesen und Mahlzeiten (Archeologia Homerica Q), Göttingen, 1970;
S. SHERRATT, “Feasting in Homeric Epic”, in J.C. WRIGHT (ed.), The Mycenaean Feast,
Princeton, 2004, p. 181-217 (despite its value, Sherratt’s essay is marred by a complete neglect
of important recent scholarship on the subject of Homeric commensality, including the essays
by van Wees and Rundin, n. 25 above).
34
Besides the term dais, occasions of commensality are designated, among others, as
deipnon, ariston, dorpon, eilapinē and eranos. These terms have various connotations, e.g. a
deipnon, as RUNDIN, n. 25, p. 185, points out, frequently “designates the meal of those engaged
in hard labor”, including aristocratic warriors and working class labourers. See e.g. Il. VIII, 53;
XI, 86; XVIII, 560. Od. IV, 61; VI, 97; IX, 311; XV, 397. For the other terms, see the
discussion in RUNDIN, n. 25, p. 184-6. M. WĘCOWSKI, “Homer and the Origins of the Sym-
posion”, in F. MONTANARI and P. ASCHERI (eds), o.c. (n. 3), p. 625-637 has recently argued that
“Homer was aware of the existence of the symposion more or less in the form known to us from
Greek vase painting and from Greek lyric poetry a hundred years from Homer” (p. 625). The
arguments of the present paper regarding the social and ideological value of wine in the
Homeric epics remain valid regardless of the accuracy of Węcowski’s thesis.

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fully-fledged aristocratic feast complete with the consumption of meat and singing. In
other words, what the metonymy in Od. VIII, 456 seems to suggest is that the feast
was perceived by many Homeric Greeks as first and foremost a drinking session.35
The protocol and conduct of wine drinking at a feast, both in terms of the vintage and
the quantities of wine consumed, was supervised and controlled by the host. In fact
the Homeric feast is almost always depicted as a highly regulated affair. It usually
begins with a libation and sacrifice; then follows the eating of meat and drinking of
wine, the two indispensable ingredients of any respectable feast in the Homeric world;
and finally, after the guests have eaten and drunk, the closing stages of the feast at
times comprise further entertainment in the form of singing and dancing36 and almost
always the obligatory closing libation, followed sometimes by more drinking.
It is worth exploring in more detail the role of wine in all these stages of
Homeric commensality. Wine was an essential ingredient for the performance of liba-
tions.37 The conduct and purpose of wine libations varied considerably depending on
the occasion, but in the context of a banquet they were frequently associated with the
welcoming and departing of guests (Od. III, 386-394; VII, 162-185; XV, 147-149),
the sacrifice of roasted meat (Il. I.457-464; XI, 772-775; Od. XIV, 446-447) and the
closing of the feast proceedings (Il. I, 469-471; VII, 480-482; Od. III, 329-336 and
395-397; VII.136-138 and 228-229; XVIII, 418-428).38 In a feast Homeric heroes
would normally use the same type of diluted wine for libations and for drinking,39 but
on special occasions libations were performed using unmixed (ἄκρητος) wine.40 That
some libations were more special than others is also suggested by the fact that at times
Greek heroes performed them using special vessels of intrinsic and symbolic value,
similar to the ones offered as gifts in xenia. A case in point is Achilles who, on the
eve of Patroclus’ return to the battlefield in Troy, pours a libation to Zeus using “a
35
See also SHERRATT, o.c. (n. 33), p. 190 who, based on Linear B evidence, suggests that
“the term δαίς could perhaps originally have acquired its secondary meaning of ‘feast’ in the
context above all of festal wine drinking”.
36
See Od. I, 150-152: “Now after the suitors had put away the desire for food and drink,
their hearts turned to other things, to song and to dance; for these things are the crown of a feast
(ἀναθήµατα δαιτός).” Cf. Od. IX, 5-11 where Odysseus calls the feast accompanied by song “a
most excellent” (κάλλιστον) and “delightful” (χαριέστερον) occasion.
37
See Od. XII, 327-328 and 362-363, note 8 above.
38
Libations could of course be performed outside the context of commensality, e.g. Il. VI,
258-262; IX, 173-176; XVI, 225-248; XXIII, 218-221; Od. II,430-434; XXI, 270-273. For
representations of libations in Attic vases see F. LISSARRAGUE, “Un rituel du vin : la libation”,
in O. MURRAY, M. TECUSAN (eds.), In Vino Veritas, Oxford, 1995, p. 126-144.
39
See Il. X, 578-579 where the Achaeans draw wine from the mixing bowl (ἀπὸ δὲ
κρητῆρος) and pour it in a libation to Athena; and Od. XVIII, 423 where wine is mixed in a
kratēr (κρητῆρα κεράσσατο) for libations, thus signalling the end of a feast of the suitors. For
diluted wine in Homeric libations and commensality see e.g. Il. III, 268-270; IV, 259-260; IX,
202-203; Od. I, 110; III, 390-395; VII, 179-185; IX, 208-211; X, 356-357; XIII, 50-56; XVIII,
423-428; XX, 251-252.
40
For the use of unmixed wine in libations (σπονδαὶ ἄκρητοι) see Il. II, 341; IV, 159.
Both instances suggest that libations of pure wine were used, along with oaths, sacrifices and
handshakes, to consolidate the alliance of Greek armies fighting at Troy.

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well-fashioned cup from which neither was any other man used to drink the ruddy
wine, nor was he used to pour libations to any other gods except only to father Zeus”
(Il. XVI, 225-227).41
Following the preliminary banquet libations and sacrifices, mixed wine was
served and food, indispensably meat and bread, and occasionally other delicacies as
well, were distributed and consumed (e.g. Il. I.457-478; II, 421-432; IX, 197-222; Od.
I, 139-143; I, 146-150; III, 62-67; VIII, 470; XV, 135-143; XIX, 194-198; XX, 248-
256). Often the consumption of food and wine was performed in accordance with a
protocol that reflected power relationships in the Homeric world.42 Thus in a feast in
which the noble guests were perceived as being of equal status, the expectation was
that they would all partake of the same quantities of meat and wine.43 However, some
of the Homeric heroes were more equal than others and occasionally they were
honoured, among other things, with choice portions of meat at the table44 and rare
vintages and greater quantities of wine for their drinking.45 At times, wine drinking
went on long after eating has been completed. For instance, following the completion
of their dinner and in response to Odysseus’ inquiries about his past, Eumaeus invites
his disguised master
to listen now in silence and take your pleasure and drink your wine (πῖνε τε
οἶνον) as you sit here. These nights are endless and one can sleep through them
or he can enjoy listening to stories … But we two will drink and eat (πίνοντέ
τε δαινυµένω τε) in the hut and will entertain each other remembering and
retelling our sad woes (Od. XV, 390-400).
Conversation and the drinking of wine were not merely inexpensive after-
dinner pastimes for those who could not afford dancers and bards. They were also
important mediums of social interaction. In addition to the swineherd Eumaeus and
the disguised Odysseus, the most distinguished heroes also enjoy reminiscing about
the past and bonding with their fellow guests with a cup of wine in hand. Thus,
41
Cf. also the farewell libations for Telemachus and Peisistratus, performed by Menelaus
using a golden cup, Od. XV, 147-149.
42
With particular emphasis on the preparation and distribution of meat in Homeric feasts
as reflections of gender differentiations, heroic valour and social hierarchy see J. RUNDIN, o.c.
(n. 25), p. 187-188; H. VAN WEES, o.c. (n. 25), p. 158-159; S. SHERRATT, o.c. (n. 33), p. 184-
186.
43
This is what is implied in e.g. Il. I, 458-471; II, 425-432; Od. III, 62-68; IV, 469-485;
VIII, 469-486; XV, 133-143.
44
See Il. VII, 319-322; Od. IV, 66; XIV, 437. For a discussion of these passages see
RUNDIN, o.c. (n. 25), p. 195-197. Cf. also Od. VIII, 474-476 where Odysseus offers to the bard
Demodocus a portion of the chine of a boar, rich in fat, “of which still more was left”. The poet
does not imply that this portion was better than what the other guests received, but that it was
their equivalent. Hence Demodocus, who would normally not be invited at an upper class feast
as an equal participant, receives guest treatment because of the quality of his song. The same
principle that dictated the honouring of a special guest with choice meat was also in operation
in the commensality of lower classes, e.g. Od. XIV, 418-456.
45
On wine as a token of social distinction in Homeric commensality see further below.

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following the feast that Nestor offers to Telemachus in Pylos (Od. III, 62-403), the
two are depicted engaging in conversation and drinking well into the night.46 Even the
potentially precarious meeting between Achilles and Priam is sealed by food and
drink (Il. XXIV, 621-634). Hence, besides being the beverage of choice in
commensality where meat was consumed, the preceding analysis indicates three
additional attributes of wine in the Homeric world: as gender differentiator, in the
imposition of restrictions (real or idealized) on wine drinking by women; as a
parameter of religious worship, primarily in its use in libations; and finally as an
essential feature of male socialization as observed in the scenes of feasting and after-
dinner drinking.
Wine vintages and the material culture of wine drinking
Due to its widespread appeal and consumption, wine was highly valued in the
Homeric world. As one might expect, some wines were valued more than others. Fac-
tors that distinguished luxury47 from common wines were age, grape variety and
production techniques. In this context, sought after wine was a valuable commodity
and the Homeric epics make quite clear that there was a specialized wine market in
early archaic Greece. For example, according to Il. IX, 71-72 Thrace was the source
of wine stored in the hut of Agamemnon. Moreover “Pramnian” wine, an appellation
that appears to have been especially valued by the Homeric heroes, is mentioned in
both the Iliad and the Odyssey.48 How these and other specialty wines were acquired
46
For other instances of wine drinking after the end of the feast see e.g. Il. IX, 174-178;
Od. VII, 182-184 and 228-229.
47
With regard to the references to aged wine in Od. III, 390-395 and Od. II, 340-342,
discussed below, H. WILSON, Wine & Words in Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages,
London, 2003, p. 170 points out: “The practice of keeping wine and allowing it to age presumes
a notion of civilised living: it requires a society that is no longer preoccupied with the exclusive
business of survival, as Noah’s was, and can afford to develop an aesthetic sense, so that wine
is not merely an intoxicant or a disinfectant but exists in different grades, the best being a
luxury item.”
48
Il. II, 639; Od. X, 235. In later sources the adjective “Pramnian” seems to designate
primarily a particular grape type, although at times it refers to a geographical origin. Hence
according to Eustathius’ Odyssey scholion “Pramnian” wine derives from a grape variety
(ἄµπελος) that was also known as Θασία (“Thasian”) and µελίκηρις (“honey-sweet”). See also
ATH., I, 30b-e, citing Eparchides (FGrH 437 F 1), who claims that wine from the pramnian
variety was produced in Icaria; ATH., I, 31d-e, citing Alciphron of Maeander, according to
whom pramnian wine was produced in Letoreia near Ephesus; and ATH., I, 28f, citing
Ephippus, who referred to pramian wine from Lesbos. However, another scholion on Od. X,
235 (G. DINDORF, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Odysseam, Oxford, 1855) besides the information
on the grape variety contained in the Eusthathius scholion also adds τῷ ἀπὸ τῆς Πράµνου
νήσου. And Semus (FGrH 396 F 6a, cited in ATH., I, 30c-d) associates pramnian wine with a
“Pramnian” rock in Icaria. A possible explanation of the frequent association between pramnian
wine and Icaria is that the Icarian pramnian variety was a famous and sought-after, and as a
result emblematic, specimen of the pramnian appellation.

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is revealed by a scene in the Iliad (VII, 472-475) which describes the trade of wine, in
this case brought in the Greek camp from Lemnos: 49
ἔνθεν οἰνίζοντο κάρη κοµόωντες Ἀχαιοί,
ἄλλοι µὲν χαλκῷ, ἄλλοι δ᾿ αἴθωνι σιδήρῳ,
ἄλλοι δὲ ῥινοῖς, ἄλλοι δ᾿ αὐτῇσι βόεσσιν,
475 ἄλλοι δ’ ἀνδραπόδεσσι·
From these ships the long-haired Achaeans bought wine,
some for bronze, some for gleaming iron,
some for hides, others for cattle
and some for slaves.
Metals, cattle and slaves are some of the most precious material possessions
that the leading Achaeans enjoyed and, in the absence of coinage, constituted the
currency in commercial transactions of the kind described above. Besides grape
variety, elaborate or time-consuming vinification methods could also generate rare
and possibly highly-sought vintages. Od. VII, 122-125 describes a method whereby
grapes are dried in the sun before they are trodden to yield their juice:
ἔνθα δέ οἱ πολύκαρπος ἀλῳὴ ἐρρίζωται,
τῆς ἕτερον µέν θ’ εἱλόπεδον λευρῷ ἐνὶ χώρῳ
τέρσεται ἠελίῳ, ἑτέρας δ’ ἄρα τε τρυγόωσιν,
125 ἄλλας δὲ τραπέουσι·
There too is his fruitful vineyard planted
and a part of the grapes on a warm spot on level ground
are drying in the sun, while other grapes men are gathering
and others, too, they are treading.
Centuries later Pliny the Elder (XIV, 84) described a similar method which he
associated with Greek wines. The direct exposure of grapes to the sun results in the
concentration of their natural sugar, thus yielding a strong (in aroma and alcohol
content) and sweet wine. As Wilson pointed out, “this method of vinification is ela-
borate and time-consuming, and its yield is low. Hence this kind of wine must have
been a luxury item, a wine fit for king Alcinous and his court to drink”.50
The fact that wine was often a high-value luxury commodity is also suggested
by the way it was stored and looked after in the royal palaces. For instance, the
treasure chamber of the palace of Odysseus in Ithaca contained gold and bronze
bullion, chests of clothes, fragrant olive oil and “great jars of old and sweet wine
(οἴνοιο παλαιοῦ ἡδυπότοιο), holding in them an unmixed divine drink, lined up in
order along the wall” (Od. II, 340-342). Besides their obvious material worth, most of
the items stored in Odysseus’ treasure vault were also endowed with great symbolic
value since many of the same items circulated in the prestige economy of gift-
exchange of the Homeric heroes. The presence of mature and vintage wines among
49
For the wine of Lemnos see also Il. VIII, 230-232.
50
WILSON, o.c. (n. 47), p. 171.

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traditional gift-exchange items suggests that wine too was part of the heroic code of
xenia.
The association between wine and the aristocratic xenia is also explicitly
corroborated throughout the Homeric epics in primarily two ways. First, wine could
be donated in the context of gift-exchange. By presenting rare and symbolically
charged material possessions as gifts, Homeric elites consolidated peer relationships
and authenticated social hierarchies.51 In Od. IX, 196-205 Odysseus describes how he
was presented with “splendid gifts” (ἀγλαὰ δῶρα) of high value by Maro, a priest of
Apollo: seven talents of gold, a mixing bowl of silver and twelve jars of unmixed
sweet wine, a drink so exquisite that was carefully stored and guarded by its owner. It
is this wine that Odysseus offers as a gift to Polyphemus (Od. IX, 347-350) and it is
the latter’s ignorance of the etiquette of gift-exchange and the conventions against
drinking unmixed wine that are highlighted in the subsequent scenes (Od. IX, 353-
370) of Polyphemus’ drunkenness and transgressive behaviour.52
Secondly, just as the departure of a dear friend was often signalled by the
award of a cherished and unusually expensive gift by the host, so the consumption of
wine in a manner that deviated from the norm could highlight the importance of the
social occasion for both host and guests. Hence in Pylos, Nestor offers Telemachus a
vintage eleven year old wine (οἴνου ἡδυπότοιο, τὸν ἑνδεκάτῳ ἐνιαυτῷ) to drink and
pour libations (Od. III, 390-395). We are told that this wine had been kept sealed all
these years (cf. the jars of wine stored in the treasure chamber of Odysseus, Od. II,
340-342) and its consumption on this occasion aimed at elevating and distinguishing
the xenia offered to Telemachus. The correspondence between the consumption of
first-rate wine and social context is also explicitly articulated by Achilles in Il. IX,
202-204 when Phoenix, Aias and Odysseus visit him in order to persuade him to
return to battle – although this time it is not the age and quality of the wine that is the
signifier of a special occasion but rather its quantity and potency. Hence upon the
arrival of his guests, Achilles instructs Patroclus to “set out a larger bowl, son of
Menoetius; mix a stronger (ζωρότερον) drink and prepare a cup for each of them, for
the men who are most dear (φίλτατοι) are here under my roof”.
The material accoutrements of wine drinking could also signify the importance
of the drinking occasion and the social status of the drinkers. Hence, while Alcinous
and the noble Phaeacians held their banquets and entertained distinguished foreign
guests in a luxurious palace (Od. VII, 84-107), the swineherd Eumaeus had to partake
51
There is an extensive literature on the role of gift-exchange in pre-modern societies. See
recently A.W. WEINER, Inalienable Possessions. The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving,
Berkeley, 1993, especially p. 1-12. For the Homeric world, see W. DONLAN, “Reciprocities in
Homer”, CW 75 (1981-82), p. 137-175; I. MORRIS, “Gift and Commodity in Archaic Greece”,
Man 21 (1986), p. 1-17.
52
On this point see also V. ANDÒ, o.c. (n. 4), p. 92-94 who considers wine as the demar-
cating point between humanity and savagery in the Polyphemus episode as well as in the
encounters of Odysseus with other fantastic and mythical creatures: “al livello dell’immagi-
nario che informa le avventure narrate alla corte dei Feaci, la funzione del vino è appunto
quella di demarcare la condizione umana, ed in modo evidente per la presenza dei diversi poli
oppositivi” (p. 94).

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of food and drink with his companions and visitors (e.g. Od. books XIV, XV and
XVI) in the modest surroundings of his hut. Moreover, in Homer aristocrats often
consume wine from elaborate and valuable cups (variously designated as δέπας,53
ἄλεισον,54 κύπελλον,55 κοτύλη56), yet persons of low or ambivalent status often
enjoyed their drinks from a rustic κισσύβιον.57 Thus according to Il. XI, 629-643,
Nestor drank the invigorating wine potion prepared by Hecamede in his “most
beautiful” (περικαλλές) four-handled cup (δέπας), decorated with golden nails and
motifs of feeding doves, which only the king of Pylos could lift easily when it was
full. Similarly to Nestor’s cup, goblets employed in aristocratic commensality and
libations are often described as “golden” (e.g. Od. III, 472, χρυσέοις δεπάεσσιν; Od.
XVIII, 121, δέπαϊ χρυσέῳ; Od. XXII, 9, καλὸν ἄλεισον … χρύσεον ἄµφωτον; Od. I,
142, χρύσεια κύπελλα; Il. IX, 670, χρυσέοισι κυπέλλοις)58 and “beautiful” (e.g. Od.
III, 63, καλὸν δέπας ἀµφικύπελλον; XXII, 9, καλὸν ἄλεισον; cf. Nestor’s δέπας
περικαλλές above).59
The elevated status of elite commensality paraphernalia is also suggested by
the fact that, similarly to wine, precious drinking goblets and mixing bowls circulated
as gifts in the exclusive aristocratic gift-exchange network of Homeric heroes. Thus
upon Telemachus’ departure from Sparta (Od. IV, 587-619 and XV, 101-132)
Menelaus gives the Ithacan prince a drinking cup (δέπας ἀµφικύπελλον) and a mixing
bowl (κρητῆρα) as parting gifts (Od. IV, 589, δῶρα). Menelaus is keen to emphasize
the krater’s illustrious pedigree: it is the “most splendid and most valuable” (Od. IV,
614 and XV, 114, κάλλιστον καὶ τιµηέστατόν ἐστι) treasure in his palace, wrought of
silver except the edges which are finished in gold. It is made by none other than
Hephaistus himself and was given as a xenia gift to the king of Sparta by the Sidonian
king Phaidimus. Meanwhile, in Scheria Odysseus receives from king Alkinous a
beautiful golden goblet (Od. VIII, 430-431, ἄλεισον περικαλλὲς χρύσεον) as a
farewell xenia gift. And in Il. XXIV, 234-235 a δέπας περικαλλές, donated to Priam
by Thracians, is described as “a great treasure” (µέγα κτέρας).60
53
See e.g. Il. IV, 262; VIII, 162; IX, 176; IX, 203; IX, 224; XI, 632; XII, 311. Od. III,
340; III, 472; VII, 138; IX, 209; XV, 466; XVIII, 121; XIX, 62; XXI, 272; XXII, 17; XXII, 86.
54
See e.g. Od. XV, 469; XXII, 9.
55
Il. I, 596; IV, 345; IX, 670. Od. I, 142; II, 396; IV, 58; X, 357; XX, 253.
56
Il. XXII, 494. In Od. XV, 312 and XVII, 12 Odysseus, disguised as beggar, hopes to
receive food and a κοτύλη by strangers.
57
Od. IX, 346; XIV, 78; XVI, 52. In Od. XIV, 112 Odysseus in disguise, while in
Eumaeus’ hut, is offered wine in a σκύφος. And in Il. XVIII, 545 field workers depicted on the
shield of Achilles consume wine from a δέπας. For the use of δέπας in non-elite commensality
see also Od. IX, 10 and Il. I, 471.
58
Cf. Od. III, 41; III, 50; III, 53; IV, 58; X, 316; X, 357; XV, 149; XX, 261. Il. III, 248;
IV, 3; XI, 774; XXIII, 196; XXIV, 101; XXIV, 285.
59
Cf. Il. XXIV, 101.
60
See also Od. XV, 85 where Menelaus contemplates of presenting Telemachus with a
χρύσειον ἄλεισον; and Il. VI, 220 where Oeneus receives from Bellerephon a “two-handled
cup of gold” χρύσεον δέπας ἀµφικύπελλον.

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Mixing bowls and drinking cups were also awarded as prizes in the class-
exclusive athletic contests following the funeral games of Patroclus. In a process that
bears close affinities with gift-exchange practices,61 the organizer of the games
Achilles awards prizes to almost all aristocratic participants, including a δέπας ἀµφι-
κύπελλον to the loser of the boxing match Euryalus (Il. XXIII, 699) and a silver
mixing bowl to the winner of the footrace Odysseus. According to the poet, this
mixing bowl “in beauty by far surpassed the others in all the earth” (Il. XXIII, 742-
743, κάλλει ἐνίκα πᾶσαν ἐπ’ αἶαν πολλόν). Its symbolic value was further enhanced
by its illustrious history as a prestige item, i.e. the fact that it had been previously
given as a gift (Il. XXIII, 745, δῶρον) and then as ransom payment, before being
presented as an athletic prize. Finally, it should be pointed out that in addition to other
material awards, in the funeral games of Patroclus an “excellent feast” (Il. XIII, 810,
δαῖτ’ ἀγαθὴν) figures among the prizes promised to the contestants of the armour
combat.
Wine and social distinction
In addition to contexts of xenia, the privilege to consume better and more wine
is strongly intertwined in the Iliad with the warrior ethos of the Greek elites.62 It was
vital for Homeric elites to define themselves individually and as a group – a pre-
requisite of their social and political ascendancy in Homeric communities. As a result
collective elite activities, such as elite group drinking or political decision-making,
became points of reference for Homeric society. Frequently, the borderline between
drinking party and political council was not always easily discernible.
The association between exclusive elite feasting and drinking on the one hand
and military/political power on the other is vividly demonstrated in the speech of
Sarpedon to Glaucus in Il. XII, 310-321:
310 Glaucus, why is it that we two are the most honoured (τετιµήµεσθα)
with pride of place and meats and full cups (ἕδρῃ τε κρέασίν τε ἰδὲ
[πλείοις δεπάεσσιν),
in Lycia and all men look on us as on gods?
And we possess a great estate (τέµενος) by the banks of Xanthus,
a fair tract of orchard and of wheat-bearing ploughland.
315 Therefore it is now our duty to stand among the foremost Lycians
and confront blazing battle
so that many a one of the close-armoured Lycians may say
‘Surely these are no inglorious men (οὐ µὰν ἀκλεέες) who rule
[(κοιρανέουσιν) over Lycia,
our kings (βασιλῆες), and they eat fat sheep (ἔδουσί τε πίονα µῆλα)
320 and drink choice honey-sweet wine (οἶνόν τ’ ἔξαιτον µελιηδέα); but
[their might too
is noble, since they fight in the forefront of the Lycians.
61
See Z. PAPAKONSTANTINOU, “Prizes in Early Archaic Greek Sport”, Nikephoros 15
(2002), p. 51-67.
62
A point also strongly emphasized by V. ANDÒ, o.c. (n. 4), p. 88-90.

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The right to eat choice meats and drink full cups of exquisite wines while
occupying a seat of honour at a feast is clearly one of the privileges that is inextri-
cably associated with elevated social status (Il. XII, 319, βασιλῆες). However, and
because of the precarious nature of Homeric political and military leadership, such
privileges had to be constantly re-claimed and re-asserted through further displays of
political rule and acts of military valour.63 Hence in Il. IV, 257-264 Agamemnon
taunts Idomeneus’ fighting spirit in the following words:
Idomeneus, beyond all the Danaans with swift horses
I honour you both in war and in other tasks,
and at the feast (ἐν δαίθ’), when the ruddy wine of the elders
(γερούσιον [αἴθοπα οἶνον)
260 the best men (ἄριστοι) of the Argives mix in the bowl.
For though the other long-haired Achaeans
drink an allotted portion, your cup stands always full (πλεῖον δέπας
[αἰεὶ),
just as mine does, to drink whenever your heart commands (πιέειν ὅτε
[θυµὸς ἀνώγοι).
Rise up then to battle, and be such a one as you declare you once were.
A few passages later (Il. IV, 338-348) similar language is used to induce
Menestheus and Odysseus to join battle:
Son of Peteus, the king nurtured by Zeus,
and you who excel in evil wiles, you of crafty mind,
340 why do you stand here cowering, and wait for others?
For you it is appropriate to stand among the foremost
and confront blazing battle;
for you are the first to hear my call to the feast (δαιτὸς),
whenever we Achaeans make ready a banquet for the elders (δαῖτα
[γέρουσιν).
345 Then you are happy to eat roast meat
and drink cups of honey-sweet wine as long as you will (κύπελλα
[οἴνου πινέµεναι µελιηδέος, ὄφρ’ ἐθέλητον).
But now you would be pleased to look on even if ten detachments of
[the Achaeans
were to fight in front of you with the pitiless bronze.
In both instances Agamemnon is referring to the privileges of Idomeneus,
Menestheus and Odysseus to feast and drink at the banquet of the elders (IV, 259,
γερούσιον αἴθοπα οινον; IV, 344 δαῖτα γέρουσιν), i.e. the equal feast of the leaders of
the Achaean army.64 Similarly, in Il. XVII, 248-251 Menelaus addresses the leaders
63
Passages such as Il. IV, 257-264 and Il. IV, 338-348 also serve the additional function
of rhetorically re-affirming the established social realities to early archaic audiences of the
Homeric epics.
64
Cf. also Il. VIII, 161-163 where Diomedes is described as being honoured at the feast
with “pride of place, choice meats and full cups”.

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of the Greek army as “friends, leaders and chieftains of the Argives, you who at the
table of the sons of Atreus drink at the common cost (250, δήµια πίνουσιν)65 and give
commands each one to his men”. And in Il. IX, 223-228 Odysseus raises a cup of
wine and in greeting Achilles points out that “we (i.e. Phoenix, Aias and Odysseus
himself) are not lacking of the equal feast, either in the hut of Agamemnon, son of
Atreus, or now in yours”.
In other words, once a member of the ruling elite became established and was
continuously re-affirmed in the eyes of his peers and the people as a valorous political
and military leader, then his participation in aristocratic feasts and drinking bouts
became a measure of success. That was because participation in the feasts of the
leaders, even for the most achieved warriors, was not an ex officio prerogative but the
Greek kings and princes, as suggested by Il. IV, 257-264 and Il. IV, 338-348, were
invited and honoured at the discretion of their peers.66 Hence after the death of Hector
in the hands of Achilles, Andromache forebodes (Il. XXII, 477-514) that in future
feasts her orphaned son Astyanax will not be able to drink wine in quantities equal to
other participants, i.e. that he will suffer a demoted social status.67 In short, an invita-
tion to a gerousios oinos,68 i.e. the drinking party of the Homeric elites, was among
the highest tokens of social and military recognition one could receive, to the extent
that a permanent seat at the feasts and drinking bouts (Il. X, 216, αἰεὶ δ’ ἐν δαίτῃσι καὶ
εἰλαπίνῃσι παρέσται) of the leaders (βασιλῆες, Il. X, 195) is promised as the highest
reward by Nestor to those among his social peers who manage to spy successfully on
the Trojans (Il. X, 194-217).
For the Homeric elites wine consumption, besides being a quintessentially
social act, was also a token social distinction. Drinking occasions articulated social
relations of dependence, peerage or reciprocity, especially in contexts of xenia. Vin-
tage wines were donated or consumed in honour of special friends whose status the
host wished to elevate. Moreover, the right to consume wine in the company of kings
and princes exemplified the heroes’ martial excellence and, by projecting their
position of social and political ascendancy, articulated their claim to rule.
The Homeric world: an “integrated” drinking culture69
Our analysis of the practices and ideologies of wine drinking in the Homeric
world clearly reveals the latter as a “non-ambivalent”, “integrated”, “permissive”
drinking culture, i.e. a culture where alcohol (in this instance wine) was an accepted,
65
Cf. Alcinous’ suggestion (Od. XIII, 13-15) to the Phaiacian nobles to give each a great
tripod and a caldron as xenia gifts to Odysseus “and we will make it good to us by a collection
among the people” (ἡµεῖς δ’ αὖτε ἀγειρόµενοι κατὰ δῆµον τεισόµεθ’).
66
For this type of feast see also H. VAN WEES, o.c. (n. 25), p. 165-166.
67
For this passage see also n. 27.
68
For the γερούσιος οἴνος see Il. IV, 259; Od. XIII, 8-9.
69
The purpose of this section is to provide some insights on the meaning of wine drinking
in the Homeric world based on comparative ethnographic evidence. It does not purport to be a
comprehensive examination of the vast anthropological literature on alcoholic drinking vis-à-
vis the evidence for drinking in the Homeric world.

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morally neutral element of social life. In ethnographic literature, integrated drinking

cultures have developed and well-defined norms, protocols and values associated with
alcoholic drinking.70 Alcohol is openly and actively sought and consumed within the
prescribed drinking protocols by people of all ages, genders and social backgrounds.
Moreover, compared to ambivalent drinking societies71 (frequently, societies that
have a history of temperance or prohibition) integrated drinking cultures exhibit low
levels of chronic pathological alcoholism (in the form of addiction). Behavioural pro-
blems (antisocial attitudes, aggression) that in ambivalent drinking societies are habi-
tually considered consequential of excessive drinking, are in most integrated drinking
cultures rare.72
Comparably to other integrated drinking cultures, in the Homeric world soli-
tary drinking and alcoholism, in the form of chronic addiction, appear to have been
quite erratic. Furthermore, even though the Homeric epics display an awareness of the
consequences of acute intoxication and of the undesirable behaviour that might result
from excessive drinking, both issues receive only marginal attention and overall there
appears to have been very low levels of disapprobation associated with alcoholic
drinking in the Homeric world. The scant references to the problematic consequences
of alcohol in the Iliad and the Odyssey contrast sharply to the numerous references,
encountered in the same poems, to the integrative and beneficial attributes of wine
drinking. Overall, consuming wine was a routine everyday activity that for Homeric
Greeks could be carried out at any time of the day or occasion including meals
(breakfast, lunch, dinner), celebrations (sacrifices to gods and other festivities), during
short breaks from war or agricultural labour, or simply in the company of friends until
early in the morning.73
70
For integrated and ambivalent drinking cultures see the various studies in D. PITTMAN,
H. WHITE (eds.), Society, Culture and Drinking Patterns Reexamined, New Brunswick, 1991,
with earlier bibliography. See also the summary essay by R. LIONETTI, “Per un’antropologia del
bere: norma, devianza e controllo sociale”, in A. ROLLI, A. COTTINO (eds.), Le Culture
dell’alcool. Sociologia del bere quotidiano tra teoria e intervento, Milan, 1992, p. 129-139.
71
I.e. societies where alcoholic drinking, even though it is practiced, at the same time it is
predominantly viewed as problematic and as the source of a range of social issues.
72
There are several documented cases of societies where communal, heavy and habitual
drinking does not result in widespread chronic alcoholism or antisocial behaviour. See e.g.
W. MANGIN, “Drinking Among Andean Indians”, Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 18
(1957), p. 55-66; O. SIMMONS, “Ambivalence and the Learning of Drinking Behavior in a
Peruvian Community”, American Anthropologist 62 (1960), p. 1018-1027; D. HEATH,
“Drinking Patterns of the Bolivian Camba” in PITTMAN, WHITE, o.c. (n. 70), p. 62-77.
73
The frequency and ubiquity of feasting and wine drinking in the Homeric world has
sometimes troubled commentators from ambivalent, non-integrated alcohol cultures, such as
the UK and the USA. Scholars during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often
overlooked the evidence for habitual drinking in the Homeric epics or interpreted the scarce
references to chronic alcoholism and alcohol-triggered antisocial behaviour as tokens of tempe-
rance and moderation on the part of Homeric Greeks. See A. P. MCKINLAY, “New Light on the
Question of Homeric Temperance”, Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 14 (1953), p. 78-
93, for a summary and critique of such views. McKinlay maintained that there is no reason to
argue against the picture of frequent and copious wine drinking in the Homeric world. How-

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In the Homeric world drinking is carried out in accordance with a distinct set
of rules and principles, similarly to other integrated drinking societies. The social
background of one’s fellow drinkers, the quality and quantity of wine consumed, and
the physical context of drinking, are some of the aspects of wine consumption regu-
lated by the Homeric drinking and feasting74 etiquette revealed by the Iliad and the
Odyssey. Despite the existence of a well-defined protocol, there were few, if any, res-
trictions on alcoholic drinking, in the sense that almost anyone could drink wine in the
appropriate context (in accordance to their gender, age, social background) if they so
wished.
Furthermore, in the Homeric world the consumption of alcohol was imbued
with symbolism. Once again, rich ethnographic research75 on other pre-modern and
ever, he attributes the scarcity of references in Homer to alcoholic addiction and the allegedly
concomitant deviant social behaviour to the “poet’s idealizing his heroes both in their sense of
propriety and in their power of performance” (MCLINLAY, o.c., p. 92). The key factors in
understanding the arguments of McKinlay as well as other anglophone pioneers of the study of
alcohol in the ancient Greek world is that most of them had limited access to ethnographic
comparanda on alcoholic drinking and, most importantly, that their views were highly
conditioned by the atmosphere of temperance and prohibition of their contemporary societies.
In such a context, it was quite difficult to envisage the possibility that habitual heavy drinking
could not necessarily result in chronic alcoholic addiction and socially problematic behaviour.
More recently, SHERRATT, o.c. (n. 33), p. 182 objected that “to a modern-minded reader of the
epics, all this stopping to eat and drink can seem tedious. It interrupts the flow of the story
(especially in the Odyssey) and distracts us from the plot, particularly since it often takes up a
large number of lines and tends to be couched in repetitive, predictable language”. Once again,
ethnographic and literary comparanda suggest that frequent references to eating and drinking
should not necessarily be viewed as disruptive of the story, but rather as an integral part of it.
Epics such as the Nibelungenlied and Beowulf, both reflecting conditions in pre-modern,
integrated drinking societies, include frequent and extensive references to alcoholic drinking,
similarly to the Homeric epics. Moreover, it is indeed the case that in many ethnographically
attested drinking cultures (including ostensibly the societies depicted by the Homeric epics) the
division between drinking and non-drinking hours, common in many western industrialized
countries, simply does not exist. In such cultures, drinking is freely and uninhibitedly practiced
around the clock. See D. HEATH, Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol
and Culture, Philadelphia, 2000, p. 9-41.
74
For patterns of organization of feasts in other integrated, pre-modern drinking societies
see in general K. BIRKET-SMITH, Studies in Circumpacific Culture Relations. I. Potlatch and
Feasts of Merit, Copenhagen, 1967; L.L. JUNKER, Raiding, Trading and Feasting. The Political
Economy of Philippine Kingdoms, Honolulu, 1999, p. 313-335 (with earlier bibliography);
M. DIETLER, B. HAYDEN (eds.), Feasts. Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on
Food, Politics and Power, Washington/London, 2001.
75
For an introduction to the ethnographic writings on alcoholic drinking see the studies in
M. EVERETT, J. WADDELL and D. HEATH (eds.), Cross-Cultural Approaches to the Study of
Alcohol. An Interdisciplinary Perspective, The Hague/Paris, 1976; M. DOUGLAS (ed.), o.c.
(n. 20); PITTMAN, WHITE, o.c. (n. 70); D. HEATH, o.c. (n. 73) and ID. (ed.), International Hand-
book on Alcohol and Culture, London, 1995. See also Social and Cultural Aspects of Drinking.
A report published by the Social Issues Research Centre, Oxford UK (available online at
http://www.sirc.org/publik/drinking_contents.html, accessed 25/9/2008).

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modern integrated drinking cultures provides insightful parallels. Aspects of the sym-
bolic and ideological functions of wine in the Homeric world, e.g. as situation definer,
gender differentiator and token of military and social distinction, have already been
explored in previous sections of this paper. Others can be indirectly deduced from the
evidence that the Homeric epics provide. For instance, it is evident that drinking
locations are in the Homeric epics by and large integrated in the social fabric and
everyday life (e.g. Eumaeus’ hut which, besides being an occasion where drinking
frequently occurs, is also the stage for a number of other daily functions).76 As far as
one can tell, in the Homeric world there were no dedicated drinking places such as
taverns.77 Similarly, in other integrated drinking cultures, houses, yards and work
locations can also serve as stages for alcoholic drinking. This situation is in sharp
contrast with conditions in ambivalent, non-integrated drinking cultures (e.g. many
modern industrialized north European societies where drinking is often viewed as pro-
blematic and is practiced within strictly established limits) where the existence of dis-
tinctive drinking spaces are the norm and where such spaces are often viewed as
liminal, threshold or even as “alternative reality” places78 situated between the private
and public sphere.
Another instance where the enthographic record of integrated drinking cultures
can be illuminating of practices depicted in the Homeric epics concerns the scene,
depicted on the shield of Achilles, of ploughmen drinking wine every time they
reached the end of the field (Il. XVIII, 541-546). For urbanites and even farmers in
contemporary non-integrated drinking cultures, it would have been thought of as
counterproductive to consume such bountiful quantities of alcohol during one’s
working hours. Nevertheless the practice is well-documented in other integrated
drinking societies besides the Greek world. Thus in Brittany “at the time of any
collective work – weeding, harvesting or silage-making, for example – bottles of red
wine litter the edges of the fields. Wine must be served regularly to each worker,
using the same glass for each, and filling it to the brim. Without this drink, labour
would be hard to get”,79 while in southern Peru alcohol is regularly consumed during
the performance of tasks that require physical strength, team work and co-ordina-
76
A differentiation should be made between drinking location and drinking occasion.
Even though it is clear that the Homeric epics depict a world where no specialized spaces
dedicated only to drinking and feasting existed, it is also clear that at times a drinking occasion
might have special significance, i.e. the exclusive feasts of the Greek leaders at Troy which at
times effectively also function as political councils.
77
Taverns are of course documented in later periods of Greek history, including classical
Athens. The history of drinking spaces in the Greek world is a fertile topic that requires further
investigation.
78
See e.g. J. GUSFIELD, “Passage to Play: Rituals of Drinking Time in American Society”,
in M. DOUGLAS (ed.), o.c. (n. 20), p. 73-90 provides a good example of the demarcation
between drinking and non-drinking space in a modern ambivalent drinking culture. For further
examples and references see Social and Cultural Aspects of Drinking, o.c. (n. 75), p. 38-39.
79
M. MCDONALD, “Drinking and Social Identity in the West of France”, in
M. MCDONALD (ed.), o.c. (n. 20), p. 99-124 (quotation p. 108).

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tion.80 Even in ambivalent drinking cultures, in some sectors that retain traditional
work patterns (e.g. construction industries where work is mostly defined as a male
activity), drinking during working hours sometimes occurs.81
Finally, the ethnographic record provides many parallels to the practices and
attitudes towards underage drinking as encountered in the Homeric world. We have
seen in previous sections of this essay that in the Homeric epics male children often
accompany adults in feasts and have several opportunities to drink. This picture is
paralleled by the attitudes and practices of underage drinking in other integrated
drinking societies. For instance, describing drinking practices in a community in Peru,
Simmons82 notes: “Learning to drink begins at an early age in Lunahuaná. Most infor-
mants said they had their first drink of cachina, wine or pisco between the ages of 9
and 13, and many said that children as young as 5 regularly receive their copita, little
cup, of sweet wine”. Similarly, in the community of Chamula in Mexico “children are
habituated to aguardiente83 from early infancy. At drinking feasts I saw women
remove their infants from their breasts to pour aguardiente between their lips”.84 In all
these cases, including the Homeric world, underage drinking serves as a medium of
socialization and integration of children into the social fabric.
Conclusion
In the Homeric world, wine served a number of practical purposes and satis-
fied basic needs. Wine was considered to be a highly nutritional and invigorating
beverage and as such was consumed by men and women, young and old. Even though
extreme intoxication was frowned upon, there appear to have been no concretely arti-
culated restrictions on wine drinking, except perhaps regarding the consumption of
wine by women. Wine drinking feasts were in many ways microcosms of the social
structure of the Homeric world, reflecting class and gender inequalities. Hence
depending on the context, drinking could reinforce social integration, group identity
and class distinctions. Drinking occasions, especially of the warrior elite, were struc-
tured and carried out in accordance with the dominant protocol of social hierarchy.
Upper class drinking bouts were also characterized by the luxurious material accou-
trements of feasting that were so vital in xenia and gift-exchange contexts. As a result,
participation in the feasts and drinking bouts of the aristocracy was a token of social
distinction and a measure of success. Individuals of low social status also consumed
wine on frequent occasions, in contexts of leisure or in intervals during the perfor-
80
P. HARVEY, “Gender, Community and Confrontation: Power Relations in Drunkenness
in Ocongate (Southern Peru)”, in M. MCDONALD (ed.), o.c. (n. 20), p. 219. See also SIMMONS,
o.c. (n. 72), p. 1022, who identifies “work activities in the fields” as one of the “principal
drinking situations” in the community of Lunahuaná, also in Peru.
81
See E.E. LEMASTERS, Blue-Collar Aristocrats: Life-Styles in a Working-Class Tavern,
Madison WI, 1975.
82
O.c. (n. 72), p. 1022.
83
A local variety of liquor.
84
R. BUNZEL, “The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Cultures”, Psychiatry 3
(1940), p. 361-387 (quotation from p. 372).

141.211.4.224 on Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:02:29 UTC
mance of commitments such as warfare and agricultural labour. Despite the habitual
drinking described by the Homeric epics, the scarcity of widespread symptoms of
chronic alcoholic addiction, a feature of Homeric drinking that is to be associated also
with the rarity of references to socially disruptive behaviour resulting from alcoholic
consumption, is quite notable and paralleled in several other cultures. These and other
features qualify the Homeric world as an integrated, permissive drinking society, i.e. a
society where alcoholic drinking is viewed in a positive light and is fully embedded in
everyday life. A comparison of features of wine drinking in the Homeric world with
aspects of alcoholic drinking in other integrated drinking societies elucidates further
Homeric drinking practices and contributes to the interdisciplinary debate of the
cultural significance of alcohol in the pre-modern world.
University of Washington Zinon PAPAKONSTANTINOU

Box 353650
USA-Seattle, WA 98195-3650
e-mail: zpapak@u.washington.edu

141.211.4.224 on Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:02:29 UTC

Wine Drinking in Homeric World

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L'Antiquité Classique

Wine and Wine Drinking in the Homeric World

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Wine as nutrient and intoxicant

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But stay while I bring you honey-sweet wine

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300 οἶνος καὶ Κένταυρον, ἀγακλυτὸν Εὐρυτίωνα,

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Wine in the Homeric feast and everyday life

Is the picture of the seemingly ubiquitous19 presence of wine drinking through-

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Wine vintages and the material culture of wine drinking

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morally neutral element of social life. In ethnographic literature, integrated drinking

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University of Washington Zinon PAPAKONSTANTINOU

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