Instead, in his Histories, he famously wrote that the Egyptians are "religious to excess, beyond any other nation in the world." He documented their meticulously clean practices, including shaving their bodies entirely, washing themselves with cold water multiple times a day, and exclusively drinking from rinsed bronze cups.
Beyond the gods, Greek scholars and philosophers viewed Egypt as a legendary source of primal, ancient wisdom. Figures like Herodotus, Plato, and Pythagoras traveled to Egypt to study. In Plato’s dialogues, Egyptian priests are often depicted as wise guardians of the world's true history who viewed the Greeks as "children" in comparison
Herodotus did report on the Egyptians getting drunk during a specific, actual religious event: The Festival of Drunkenness.
The Festival: He noted that during the festival of the goddess Bastet (or Hathor) in the city of Bubastis, the crowds consumed more grape wine than in all the rest of the year combined.
The Scale: He recorded that these massive gatherings drew up to 700,000 participants, leading to uninhibited, drunken behavior, including women exposing themselves to the onlookers.
The Ritual: In Egyptian theology, ritual intoxication wasn’t a vice, but a sacred privilege. The ancient Egyptians believed becoming completely intoxicated brought them into a borderline state of mind that allowed them to better perceive the goddess.
