When did Happy Hour start?

The ancient Greeks had a cocktail hour in the late afternoon or evening, complete with hors d’oeuvres. An Athenian gentleman would drop by a neighbour’s house during the “happy hour” with a goatskin of wine, and expect to be treated to an outlay of appetizers-the Greeks called them “provocatives to drinking”, that might include caviar, oysters, nuts, olives, shrimp, and pate. Compare that spread to today’s bar-fare of peanuts, cheese, and crackers and you’ll agree that in some ways we haven’t come very far in the last 2,500 years.