Symposium is traditionally translated as “banquet” but more literally “gathering of drinkers” . The Greek symposium was a male aristocratic activity, a social gathering where men drank together, conversed, and enjoyed themselves in a relaxing atmosphere (metmuseum). It was a key Hellenic social institution. Most of the talk that happened in the symposium was about philosophical and political issues and sometimes poetry. They were also frequently held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society.
The symposium began as a warrior feast. Prayers opened and closed the meetings and sessions sometimes ended with a procession in the streets.
It was broken up into two parts, the first included food and the second with drinking. The food in the first part was rather simple snack foods, basically used to help the second half last longer. The second part was inaugurated with a libation to the god Dionysus, the god of wine.
Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletics and poetic contests (britannica). Most of the drinking and discussion done in the symposia was done in a separate quarter called the Andron. The rooms were designed specifically for the proceedings. The participants, all male aristocrats, wore garlands and leaned on the left elbow on couches, and there was a large consumption of wine, served by slave boys. The symposium was comprised of about seven to fifteen couches with cushions, which fit one or two people to a couch, there were also low set tables.
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| Layout of an Andron |
The meetings were usually overseen by the symposiarch or master of drinking. It was his job to oversee his fellow men and make sure that the consumption of wine stayed so that everyone was happy and not overly intoxicated. It was also his job to make sure everyone followed the rules of the meetings.
Besides used as a place for meetings and conversation, sometimes the symposium was used for entertainment purposes. Poetry and music were central to the pleasures of the symposium. Although free women of status did not attend symposia, prostitutes and entertainers were hired to perform, consort, and converse with the guests. Some other forms of entertainment may have been games, songs, flute girls, slaves performing or hired entertainment depending on the occasion (wiki).
Homosexuality also played a big role in the symposium. Mostly men gathered to the symposium, and mentored younger boys there as well. This then budded into a more sexual aspect. The ancient greeks did not see man or woman, just beauty, and with the lack of women present in the symposium, homosexual acts occurred. "Homosexuality was even discussed in dialogues of Plato, such as the Symposium, to plays by Aristophanes, and Greek artwork and vases." (Stanford Encyclopedia)
The drink used for the event was drawn from a Krater, a large jar designed to be carried by two men used for mixing drinks. It was then distributed amoung the guests. The drink was three parts water and one part wine.
The feasts could only be afforded by the rich; in most Greek homes, religious feasts or family events were the occasion of more modest banquets. The banquet became the setting of a specific genre of literature, giving birth to Plato's Symposium, Xenophon's work of the same name, the Table Talk of Plutarch's Moralia, and the Deipnosophists (Banquet of the Learned) of Athenaeus.
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