1. How might beer have influenced the transition from hunting and gathering (Paleolithic) to agricultural-based (Neolithic) societies? people settled down to make beer out of barley and such
2. What does this history of beer in the ancient world tell us about the early civilizations? What it tells us really are essentially two things: first, that somehow ancient civilizations understood in some form or manner that the water was not "safe" to drink in some regions. 3. What sources does the author use to gather his information on the use of beer? the author uses sources from the Stone Age period to gather information on the use of beer. He focuses on the transition that led to humanity shifting from hunting and gathering to agriculture. It also shows how the cultivation of grain led to fermentation
4. What were some of the uses of beer by ancient cultures? Nourishment? Ritual? Religious?
5. How did beer “civilize” man, according to Standage?
6. What is the relationship between beer and writing, commerce, and health?
7. What does the story of beer tell you about social and gender roles in ancient southwest Asia and Egypt?
8. Would the earliest civilizations of southwest Asia and Egypt have been as prosperous without the discovery of beer? Why or why not?
Wine in Greece and Rome
1. How was wine used by the Greeks?
2. How and why did wine develop into a form of a status symbol in Greece?
3. How was wine consumed? What does this tell us about the ancient Greek culture?
4. How did the use of wine in Roman culture differ from that of ancient Greece?
5. What is the relationship between wine and empire, medicine, and religion?
6. What does the story of wine tell you about social and gender roles in the Mediterranean world? How did this change over time?
7. Explain how wine-drinking related to the development (and self-image) of ancient Greece (as compared to other parts of the world).
8. What