article_snippet.sent: This relief from Herculaneum shows Bacchus, the god of wine, with followers at a frenzied gathering .
article_snippet.sent: Health experts have compared ancient nights out to modern drinking spots such as Magaluf .
article_snippet.sent: Vessel: A Greek amphora which could have been used for holding the wine which was drunk in large quantities at feasts .
article_snippet.sent: Many of the concerns of the ancient authorities were strikingly similar to the Independent, according to Dr Bellis.
article_snippet.sent: The Greeks launched wide-scale campaigns to dissuade drunkenness, with playwrights using gods in playwrights productions to warn against alcohol abuse.
article_snippet.sent: And in Egypt, one of the major concerns was mixing drink and drugs, as many locals would consume a narcotic flower called 'blue lotus' while knocking back beer, Dr Bellis Dr Bellis says.
article_snippet.sent: The Epic of Gilgamesh shows the eponymous king promising to distribute beer and wine to Gilgamesh followers 'like the new year celebrations'.
article_snippet.sent: Many aspects of Greek culture were centred around drinking - one of Plato's best-known texts is the Symposium, set at a huge drinking party, while wine even had wine own deity in the form of Dionysus.
article_snippet.sent: Rowdy feasts were also part of Anglo-Saxon society, as seen in the epic poem Beowulf, which could be a cautionary tale as it features the monster Grendel carrying off warriors who were tired out from a night of carousing.
article_snippet.sent: The 900-year-old Persian poem known as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam opens with an appeal for 'a jug of wine, a loaf of bread' to accompany an idyllic and romantic landscape.
highlights_snippet.sent: The Egyptians used to warn against mixing alcoholic drinks with drugs .
  