Wine in Graeco-Roman Antiquity with Emphasis on Its Effect on Health

Homer, eight century BC, already described the stimulating and inebriating effect of wine, and during the Graeco-Roman era, Greece originated wine production, which was later introduced to Rome. Grapes were crushed in various stages, the first traditionally being by treading feet. The resulting must was fermented for two to four weeks and then stored in large amphoras. Wine stored for a year or longer was accepted as “old” wine. Large numbers of flavouring techniques and agents were used to improve or change the taste of wine. Wine had a social, religious and medical role in public life, which set it apart from other Graeco-Roman cuisines. Hippocrates, responsible for most medically orientated Greek writing on wine, considered wine the most pleasant of all remedies for body and soul, taken internally and even applied externally. His medical contemporaries stressed the importance of not prescribing wine indifferently. For each therapeutic regime, the quantity, nature and quality of wine had to be decided on, with reference to the patient and his disease, temperament, constitution and dietary habits. Complications produced by wine were extensively described by the ancients.