By causing humans to become, at least temporarily, more creative, cultural, and communal—to live like social insects, despite our ape nature—intoxicants provided the spark that allowed us to form truly large-scale groups, domesticate increasing numbers of plants and animals, accumulate new technologies, and thereby create the sprawling civilizations that have made us the dominant mega-fauna on the planet. In other words, it is Dionysus, with his skinful of wine and his seductive panpipes, who is the founder of civilization; Apollo just came along for the ride.
