The Close Relationship Between the Development of Ancient Civilizations and Alcohol: Did Wine and Beer Give Birth to Kings? Unveiling the Behind-the-Scenes of Ancient Politics

1. Overview of the Research and the "Drunk Hypothesis"

The article from Greek Reporter dated July 17, 2025, introduces groundbreaking research by Václav Hrnčíř and others from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. They reconstructed ethnographies of 186 pre-modern societies and reported a statistically significant positive correlation between self-sufficiency in fermented beverages and political hierarchy.GreekReporter.com

This hypothesis quantitatively supports the "Drunk Hypothesis" proposed by sociologist Edward Slingerland, which argues that intoxication is an evolutionary facilitator of large-scale cooperation.NatureMax Planck Institute

2. The Ancient Alliance Between Alcohol and Power

The history of brewing dates back even before humanity. There is even the "Drunken Monkey Hypothesis," which suggests that primates attracted to fermented fruits are genetically drawn to ethanol.Wikipedia
Let's look at historical examples.

Banquets supported power through three aspects: ritual, labor mobilization, and alliance strengthening.

1. Sanctification Function
   Rituals dedicated to gods of wine, like Dionysus and Bacchus, shared transcendent values within the community.

2. Redistribution Function
   By converting surplus grain into beer for storage and distribution, royalty solidified their support base.

3. Norm Formation Function
   The seating order, drinking amounts, and toasting sequence at banquets visualized social hierarchy and internalized order.

3. Interpreting the Research Data

Hrnčíř and his team included control variables such as agricultural intensity, climate, and common ancestry, and found that the alcohol factor maintained an independent effect even in statistical models.GreekReporter.com

However, the introduction of agriculture contributed more significantly to political complexity, positioning alcohol as a "facilitator" rather than a "decisive factor." According to a summary by Phys.org, "Alcohol is more of a byproduct of agriculture, but intoxication lowered communication costs and cooperation thresholds."Phys.org

4. Reactions on Social Media

• Greek Reporter Official Post

  Introducing the article titled "How Alcohol Influenced the Rise of Ancient Societies" [Likes: 2.1k]X (formerly Twitter)

• Professor Edward Slingerland

  "A fantastic quantitative study to verify my hypothesis. Next, let's delve into causal mechanisms."X (formerly Twitter)

• Discover Magazine

  Spreading the article titled "The Drunk Hypothesis Claims Ancient Societies Were Built With Alcohol," sparking international debate.X (formerly Twitter)

• Ancient Pages

  "Alcohol was the blueprint for early civilizations"—buzzing among history enthusiasts with 3,000 retweets.X (formerly Twitter)

While supporters praise "banquets as creators of social capital," critics warn against using this as a "justification for alcohol harm." The debate has extended to contemporary drinking culture and alcohol tax policies.

5. Criticism and Limitations

A Nature editorial points out the possibility of reverse causality—political complexity may have driven alcohol production.Nature
Additionally, the dataset excludes distilled spirits, making it impossible to evaluate cases where advanced brewing technology followed state development. Furthermore, the harms of fermented beverages (alcohol dependence and health risks) cannot be ignored. Recent epidemiological studies have pointed out carcinogenicity even in small amounts, and the balance between "cultural significance" and "public health" will be a future point of discussion.

6. Implications for the Present

In the early 2020s, when "drinking alone" increased during the pandemic, the loss of humanity's inherent mechanism to gain social reassurance through **"drinking together"** was highlighted as a problem. Looking at history, moderation and community can be said to be the essence of alcohol culture.
Internationally, commons-style craft beer festivals and the development of non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages are expected to be "new social adhesives."