text: Binge drinking might seem like a uniquely modern phenomenon - but in fact it is a time-honoured tradition, according to health experts. Ancient civilisations such as the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians have had to deal with rowdy, drunken behaviour in public for thousands of years. Now one academic suggests that modern authorities should take a lead from their forebears as they attempt to mitigate the impact of our boozy culture. Party: This relief from Herculaneum shows Bacchus, the god of wine, with followers at a frenzied gathering . Contrast: Health experts have compared ancient nights out to modern drinking spots such as Magaluf . Mark Bellis, who is honorary professor of public health at Bangor University, is giving a talk at a conference in Las Vegas this week about the history of binge drinking. In his lecture, entitled 'Lessons from the history of nightlife - 10,000 years from Mesopotamia to Vegas', he will examine how our distant ancestors balanced freedom with responsiblity in regulating nightlife. He told the Independent: 'We think we're discovering the problems of nightlife for the first time, but these have been with us for a long time. 'There's always been a tension in history: people want a safe night out, but they also demand freedom and an element of anonymity.' Vessel: A Greek amphora which could have been used for holding the wine which was drunk in large quantities at feasts . Many of the concerns of the ancient authorities were strikingly similar to ours, according to Dr Bellis. In Pompeii - where one of the best-preserved buildings after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is a tavern - city officials installed street lights, only to face opposition from drinkers who were worried about sacrificing their privacy. The Greeks launched wide-scale campaigns to dissuade drunkenness, with playwrights using gods in their productions to warn against alcohol abuse. 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 says. He told the Independent: 'People look for an escape from the social and behavioural constraints of the day. That's what night has always been about.' The official preview of his talk, set to take place tomorrow, reads: 'The foundations of modern nightlife go back thousands of years to when people first abandoned nomadic lives to build and live in cities. 'Since then, countless cultures have added their own innovations and regulations in attempts to balance safety and security with excitement and anonymity. 'Looking back at how nightlife developed over the past 10,000 years, we can learn from history's successes and failures and develop a greater insight into the challenges posed by nightlife today.' The use of alcohol goes back to the Stone Age, and almost all societies around the world have made some sort of drink - despite the problems that come with a booze culture. Some of the earliest written texts, from Mesopotamia, make reference to alcohol - the law code of Hammurabi, from 1750 BC, contains regulations stopping tavern landlords from ripping off their customers. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows the eponymous king promising to distribute beer and wine to his followers 'like the new year celebrations'. 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 its own deity in the form of Dionysus. However, to avoid excess drinkers were advised to water down their wine with water, and to drink more water between each cup of alcohol. Warning: Gin Lane, by William Hogarth, graphically depicted the dark side of booze culture . The Roman love of drinking is shown by the preserved city of Pompeii, where one of the buildings buried by volcanic ash in the eruption of Vesuvius appears to have been an inn. 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. The Islamic world attempted to eliminate the problem of drunkenness with a religious ban on alcohol, but there are signs that this did not always work. 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. One tactic used to tackle alcohol abuse was to substitute less strong drinks instead of spirits - for example, in the Georgian era William Hogarth published two prints contrasting the hellish 'Gin Lane' with the relaxed and peaceful 'Beer Street'.
target: Health expert Mark Bellis says alcohol abuse goes back as far as ancient civilisations such as the Greeks and Mesopotamians .
  The Egyptians used to warn against mixing alcoholic drinks with drugs .
  Authorities tackled public drunkenness with street lights and advertising .