In the history of mankind, the regular consumption of alcohol is directly related to cultivated agriculture, when 6,000 to 8,000 years ago people began to deliberately brew beer-like beverages from grain. People had already had individual experiences before that, but more or less by chance, when, for example, fruits began to ferment in the first primitive vessels and the alcoholic liquids that resulted were consumed. Very soon these were also used for soothing or healing purposes, because various positive effects were recognized by chance, but of course their cause could not be interpreted. This is testified in many ancient scriptures, including the Bible.
Alcohol as medicine
The Jewish Talmud says (Rabbi Banal): " Where there is a lack of wine, one needs medicine. In the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) wine played a role in almost all his medicines. He prescribed it, among other things, to cool down fever, as a diuretic, to strengthen convalescents, and as a painkiller and sedative. The Romans used the effectiveness of wine as an antibiotic, because during the conquests the soldiers received water mixed with wine (or vinegar). In some ancient cultures, drinking alcohol and even intoxication was also used as a means of communication. In the exuberant celebrations in honour of the wine god Dionysus in ancient Greece, intoxication was considered a purifying ceremony with psycho-hygienic effects (for practices and customs in this regard, see drinking culture).
