The Wine Drinking Habits Of Alexander The Great

History tells us that Alexander the Great, born in 356 B.C., loved wine. So much so that as the Prince of Macedonia, he once held a drinking competition between his Macedonian soldiers and the newly conquered Persian Shahs, all vying for a 57-pound piece of gold. So motivated were the contenders that all 41 died of alcohol poisoning either on the day or shortly after that.

In case it's not apparent that Alexander the Great might have enjoyed the drink a bit too much, consider that Alexander himself is said to have died less than a year later, potentially due to alcohol's effects. He was 32 years old.

His excessive drinking may have been due, at least partially, to his culture. Although Greece was well-known for its wine production, the custom at the time was to dilute wine with water before consumption as a way of sanitizing the water and making it more palatable. The Greeks also found that this tasty low-alcohol wine helped stave off potentially embarrassing drunkenness. There was no such judgment in Macedonia, however; Macedonians eschewed the watering-down practice and drank their wine straight. As the Prince and later King, Alexander proudly upheld this tradition, possibly to his detriment. (He no doubt would have appreciated knowing about the cheapest wines you can buy with the highest alcohol content.)

Alexander became King of Macedonia at just 20, following his father's assassination, and became one of history's greatest conquerors. Beyond the storming, pillaging, and overthrowing, he's credited with bringing many diverse cultures together by conquering lands from India to Alexandria, Egypt (named after him, which was something he frequently did). Some of his tactics for unification wouldn't fly today, like when he ordered 10,000 of his soldiers to marry the women of his latest acquisition, Persia (referred to as the Susa Weddings).

One wine-drinking quirk of the Macedonian was post-conquest drunken debauchery in the palaces he'd conquered, celebrations that could last for days. Interestingly, his tutor and buddy Aristotle likely would have disapproved of Alexander's more hedonistic characteristics around wine. Aristotle believed wine should be drunk only in moderation, as he poetically stated (via "Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors, Volume 1"), "It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken."