Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Symposium
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Drinking== [[File:Nationalmuseet - Cophenaghen - brygos vomiting1.jpg|thumb|left|A slave attends to a vomiting symposiast.]] A symposium would be overseen by a "symposiarch" ({{langx|grc|συμπόσιάρχης}} : symposiárchēs) who would decide how strong the wine for the evening would be, depending on whether serious discussions or sensual indulgence were in the offing. The Greeks and Romans customarily served their wine mixed with water, as the drinking of pure wine was considered a habit of [[Barbarian#Hellenic stereotypes|uncivilized peoples]]. However, there were major differences between the Roman and Greek symposia. A Roman symposium (''convivium'') served wine before, with and after food, and women of status were allowed to join. In a Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women besides entertainers were not allowed to attend.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History Of Alcohol|date=2008|publisher=Penguin Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-592-40464-3|page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FpnqTGxykIC&pg=PT24}}</ref> [[File:Antiphon Painter ARV 339 58extra symposion (01).jpg|thumb|A youth reaches into a [[krater]] to replenish his [[kylix]] with wine ({{circa|490}}–480 BC).]] The wine was drawn from a ''[[krater]]'', a large jar designed to be carried by two men, and served from pitchers ''([[oenochoe]])''. Determined by the symposiarch, the wine was diluted to a specific strength and was then mixed. Slave boys would manage the ''krater'', and transfer the wine into pitchers. They then attended to each man in the symposium with the pitchers and filled their cups with wine.<ref name="The Symposium in Ancient Greece">{{cite web|title=The Symposium in Ancient Greece|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/symp/hd_symp.htm|website=New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art|publisher=Department of Greek and Roman Art|access-date=28 September 2017}}</ref> Certain formalities were observed, most important among which were [[libation]]s, the pouring of a small amount of wine in honour of various deities or the mourned dead. In a fragment from his c. 375 BC play ''Semele or Dionysus'', [[Eubulus (poet)|Eubulus]] has the god of wine [[Dionysos]] describe proper and improper drinking: <blockquote> For sensible men I prepare only three ''kraters'': one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth ''krater'' is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. </blockquote> [[File:Simposiasta, Real Fabrica del Buen Retiro, Madrid, 1784-1803 AD - Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas - Madrid, Spain - DSC08406.JPG|thumb|''Attendee at a Symposium'', [[biscuit porcelain]] including the [[Jasperware]] blue, [[Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro]], Madrid, 1784-1803]] In keeping with the Greek virtue of moderation, the symposiarch should have prevented festivities from getting out of hand, but Greek literature and art often indicate that the third-''krater'' limit was not observed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/alcohol-discovery-addiction-booze-human-culture/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119074056/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/alcohol-discovery-addiction-booze-human-culture/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 19, 2017|title=Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze|date=2017-01-17|access-date=2017-07-14}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)