Ashley Edewaard: Wine: Peril or Prophylactic? Ancient Medical Theory in Clement of Alexandria's Dietary Prescriptions

In the late second century C.E., Clement of Alexandria composed the Paedagogus, an ascetic treatise instructing Christians in the ideal approach to daily life. In this text, Clement addresses a wide range of topics, from food and table manners to bathing and sexual activity. The present paper examines Clement’s advice regarding wine, utilising ancient medical models to explain why Clement adopts a cautious view of this substance while simultaneously allowing and even recommending its use. Clement’s understanding of wine’s effects, both positive and negative, draws heavily from the theories articulated in the Hippocratic and Galenic corpora. Doctors prescribe wine as a remedy against bodily and mental disorders, even while recognising the dangers associated with its abuse. The medical authors describe wine as a heating beverage, useful for counteracting the cold of winter and the chill of old age. At the same time, wine’s heat could inflame both the brain and the sexual organs, resulting in intoxication and unbridled sexual activity. Wine’s positive effects on the humours could also be harnessed to remedy digestion and improve mood. In accord with these theories, Clement urges restraint in drinking wine because of its potential to cause sexual impropriety, especially among hot-blooded youths, and intoxication. Because of its effects on the brain, wine was also detrimental to intellectual pursuits. Clement advocates that wine’s heating properties be harnessed to counter cold air, its cheering properties to offset depression, and its purgative properties to aid digestion.