



In ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party (from Greek συμπόσιον ''symposion'' from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together"). Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's ''Symposium'' and Xenophon's ''Symposium'', as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara. Symposia are also depicted in Greek, and Etruscan art, and show similar scenes. The Latin equivalent in Roman society is the ''convivium''.
The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for men to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were also frequently held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests.
Symposia were usually held in the ''andrōn'' (ἀνδρών), the men's quarters of the household. The participants, or "symposiasts," would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven (Oswyn Murray gives a figure of between seven and fifteen couches and reckons fourteen to thirty participants a "standard size for a drinking group"). If any young men took part they did not recline but sat up.
Food and wine were served. Entertainment was provided, and depending on the occasion could include games, songs, flute-girls or boys, slaves performing various acts, and hired entertainment.
Symposia often were held for specific occasions. The most famous symposium of all, immortalised by Plato, was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theater contest of the 416 BC Dionysia. The celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the toast of the town, the young Alcibiades, dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium.
In a fragment from his circa 375 BC play ''Semele or Dionysus'' Eubulus has the god of wine Dionysos describe proper and improper drinking:
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.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.
The guests also participated actively in competitive entertainments. A game sometimes played at symposia was ''kottabos'', in which players swirled the dregs of their wine in a kylix, a platter-like stemmed drinking vessel, and flung them at a target. Another feature of the symposia were skolia, drinking songs of a patriotic or bawdy nature, performed competitively with one symposiast reciting the first part of a song and another expected to improvise the end of it. Symposiasts might also compete in rhetorical contests, for which reason the word "symposium" has come to refer in English to any event where multiple speeches are made.
Category:Parties Category:History of wine Category:Ancient Greek society Category:Ancient Greek culture Category:Ancient Greek and Roman leisure
af:Simposium bg:Симпозиум ca:Simpòsium da:Symposion de:Symposion et:Sümpoosion el:Συμπόσιο es:Simposio (Grecia) eo:Simpozio fa:سمپوزیوم it:Simposio he:סימפוזיון nl:Symposium (klassieke literatuur) ja:シンポジウム no:Symposium pl:Sympozjon pt:Simpósio ru:Симпосий fi:Pidot sv:Symposium uk:Сімпосій yi:סימפאזיוםThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Coordinates | 39°44′21″N104°59′5″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Andreas S. Weigend Ph.D |
| Residence | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Nationality | German |
| Field | Computer Science |
| Work institutions | University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, & Tsinghua University |
| Known for | Expertise in:
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He currently lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University and Tsinghua University on the application of data analysis to electronic business problems. He is an advisor to many technology companies including MySpace and Nokia, and is a limited partner in The Founders Fund.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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