1. Many archaeologists know about the influence of Greek culture. At Ashurnasirpal’s palace is an emblem of his own wealth. Canals, waterfalls, and orchard gardens surrounded the palace. Also, carvings show Ashurnasirpal holding a gold bowl in his hand that contains wine, which is associated with power, prosperity, and privilege. (43-45)

2. There were many factors involved in the possibility of producing wine in Greece. Wines main use was religious. Its value made it worthy for consumption by the gods. Wine was very exclusive, only the elite could afford to drink it. Ashurnasirpal had a vineyard in his own garden so therefore, the wine that didn’t come from distant regions, literally came from his trees. (46)

3. Wine became an important drink throughout the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean. Wine soon became known as not just as social beverage, but as a religious beverage as well. Wines availability grew into two values. First, wine production boosted, also quantity of wine being traded over sea, making wine accessible over larger geographic areas. Second, as quantity grew prices fell, wine became available to an immense division of society.

4. The root of Western civilization can be followed back to the golden age of ancient Greece. The Greeks approach was to seek logical inquiry through opposing discussion. This approach underpins the modern Western style of life, in which politics, commerce science, and law are all fixed in regulated competition. (51)

5. The Greeks determined how cultured a person was by their drink of wine. What type of wine you drank and the age of the wine were the two main indicators. Wine drinking was compatible with civilization and elegance. One of the factors that were more significant than the choice of wine was how you drank it. It declared your innermost nature. (56)

6. The symposia were scenes for frisky but opposing discussion in which drinkers would try to outdo each other in humor, poetry, or rhetoric. The ambience of the symposion prompted the Greeks how civilized they were, in comparison with the barbarians. Cultured competition and Greece’s believed dominance over foreigners were evident in the Greek love of wine. (52)

7. What most distinguished Greece from other cultures was the practice of mixing wine with water before consumption. The preparation of mixing wine and water was a neutral ground between barbarians who overdrink and those who did not drink at all. The combination of water and wine consumed in the symposion supplied arable metaphorical ground for Greek philosophers, who compared it to the combination of the good and bad in human nature. (56-62)

8. Plato had a different view of democracy than others. He was “suspicious” of democracy. He thought it meddled with the raw order of things. Plato confirmed that the good could counterbalance the bad in the symposion. After a day of