A History of the World in Six Glasses: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins with the Urban Revolution: the rise of cities throughout the Fertile Crescent, and later Europe, Asia, and Africa. It’s still not entirely clear why people chose to live in cities instead of small villages. There were probably a few reasons, but one of the most important was that cities provided a defense against invading armies. In cities in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere, agricultural surpluses paved the way for advanced civilizations. This occurred because with a surplus of grain, bread, and beer, some people could afford not to work full-time, meaning that they could focus on administrative, political, or artistic tasks. The surplus of grain also made it possible for civilizations to invest in large public works, such as canals and pyramids.

The earliest records of people drinking beer have been found in Mesopotamian poetry. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the first great works of literature, Gilgamesh confronts a “wild man” named Enkidu. Enkidu’s wildness is immediately demonstrated when he’s served bread and beer, and doesn’t know how to consume them. As soon as Enkidu drinks a glass of beer, he “turns into a human.” In spite of the fact that beer leads to drunkenness, beer was also a symbol of civility and culture in the ancient world.

In ancient Egypt, beer was believed to have divine origins, and to be able to cure diseases. In one Egyptian story, beer saves the human race: when the goddess Hathor plots to kill off all humans, the god Ra gives her beer, making her fall asleep and forget her mission.

Following the golden age of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the dominant civilization of the Middle East was Sumer. Sumerians were the first to use writing, and also made use of elaborate canal systems to ensure regular irrigation for their crops. Sumerian rulers provided their people with regularized rations, and scientists have found that these rations included meat, fish, chickpeas, lentils, beans, and beer. In all, the rations provided about 4,000 calories per day—more or less the same amount recommended for adults today.

The Sumerians’ language was called cuneiform. The cuneiform symbol for beer looks like a jar. The oldest written recipe in the world is a recipe for beer, scrawled on a tablet.

In Sumer, as well as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, people were required to pay taxes in the form of grain. This wealth was then used by the people’s rulers to build public works. In other words, grain—and beer—was a form of payment. To build the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, workers were paid in beer. In general, bread and beer were regarded as the bases of all life—so much so that in Egypt, “bread and beer” was an expression of good luck and prosperity. The Egyptians also used beer as a sedative during surgeries. Finally, Egyptians were buried with bread and beer, so that they would have riches to take with them in the afterlife. Even common Egyptians, who didn’t have the wealth to be buried in elaborate tombs, were buried with bread and beer.

Although the world no longer sees beer as a universal currency, beer remains a staple of working-class life, just as it was for the workers at Giza thousands of years ago. Toasting a friend’s health with a glass of beer is a vestige of the ancient world’s belief in the restorative powers of beer. Finally, beer remains a symbol of friendship, unpretentiousness, and equality, hence the saying, “Get a beer.”