UNLOCKING ANCIENT ATHENS

Hello, my fellow gossipers and welcome or welcome back to the Agora Gossip podcast. I’m your host, Freya, a lover of the classical world and all it has to offer. If you want to know about the world of ancient Athens then you are precisely in the right place. From your marriages to your meals and your education to your occupations, I will tell you everything you need to know about the place the Athenians called home. Are you ready to take a deep dive into what life was like thousands of years ago? I hope so, because there is a lot to cover…

 

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Welcome back to episode three everyone! Now, it’s no secret that the Greeks loved to have fun, they went to the theatre, they played sports, and attended religious festivals but one of their most loved types of entertainment came in the form of a drinking party! However, instead of the focus being on who can drink the most, it was more seen as an opportunity for men to come together and discuss certain topics, and play games.

 

Today we’re going to be talking about the symposium!

 

So, if you want to know more about how the ancient Athenians did drinking parties, then keep on listening!

 

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What was the symposium?​

Out of every part of ancient Athenian life, such as what they ate, what their military looked like and how they conducted their political affairs, the area we know the most about are their drinking parties (which are also known as symposia).

 

This is because not only do we have so many images of drinking parties having been painted on pots but we also have lots of surviving poetry that was written for the purpose of being recited at the symposium. And, if that wasn’t enough, we also, over time, have uncovered several drinking vessels that were used at the symposium.

 

The ancient Greek symposium was only for aristocratic men. And for them it was a really important event. It was an opportunity for men to not only learn about certain topics, such as the current political climate and various social affairs but also a chance to openly discuss them. The only women involved in the symposium were the ones that were there to help out, such as pouring the wine, or for entertainment, such as dancers and musicians. Sometimes, women were just simply at the symposium to entertain, but others were mistreated and were subjected to sexual abuse. For example, in Demosthenes’ work Against Neaera he talks about how poorly she was treated. Neaera was a hetaira and they were essentially high-class prostitutes who performed at symposiums.

 

Demosthenes writes that Neaera was treated ‘without decency or restraint, taking her everywhere with him to dinner where there was drinking and making her a partner in his revels; and he had intercourse with her openly whenever and wherever he wished’. He also says that she was brought to a ‘gay party’ and ‘in that place many had intercourse with her when she was drunk’.

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Where was the symposium held?

Symposium’s were held inside the andron, which was a room found in most, but not all Greek houses. Houses in the Greek world were gendered; this means that there were certain spaces for men and certain spaces for women. The andron was a male space; it literally translates to ‘of men’, and it was only for men which meant the women of the household weren’t allowed to enter it. They are identifiable from their shape, which was a square and they also had raised concrete borders along the floor which were designed to fit the couches men would recline on at the symposium.

 

The guests at the symposium reclined on couches, propping themselves up on their left elbows and it was never more than two men to one couch. Alongside the couches, the andron also contained low tables, cushions, and decorations along the wall. We don’t know exactly how many men attended each symposium but it is believed it was between fourteen to thirty people and therefore the andron would fit between seven to fifteen couches.

 

What happened at the symposium?

So, what could you expect whilst you were at a symposium? Well, actually the title symposium wasn’t the name of the whole evening, it only refers to one part of a longer process.

 

Firstly, the guests would be led into the banquet where they were given water to wash their hands, oils to make them smell nice and have flower garlands placed on their heads. After this, they began to eat their meal.

 

After they finished eating, the guests partook in a variety of activities, all whilst drinking wine. This was the beginning of the symposium. Libations (which is basically the pouring of drinks as an offering to the gods) were made by the leader. They were also known as the symposiarch and the guests had to obey his word. If you didn’t then you were at risk of permanently being banned from other banquets which eventually could have made you a bit of a social outcast.

 

An important job the symposiarch had was deciding how strong the drinks at the symposium should be and how many kraters should be drunk. The drinks were a combination of water and wine; this is because, not only was drinking pure wine a fast track to getting extremely drunk but it was also believed that mortals drinking unmixed wine was a signal of barbarian impropriety and the consumption of pure wine was something only meant for gods and heroes. The mixed wine was served by slaves and there would be music playing in the background to create a pleasant atmosphere.

 

Something that was really important at symposiums was making sure you didn’t get too drunk and take things too far. And what do I mean when I say taking things too far? I mean vomiting. It was really important that guests drank in moderation and there are several vases which depict people overindulging. These vase paintings were used as a warning to people, showing them how not to act when they were at the symposium.

 

A large part of the symposium was the inclusion of singing songs and poems to the rhythms of a lyre, pipes, or dancers. The singing could appear in two forms. The first form was a kind of a musical version of IT, except no one is running! When it was each person’s turn, they would stand up and hold a myrtle-branch. They could stop whenever they wanted and hand the branch to someone else and they would have to continue singing the same song. This would continue until no one else could sing and the last man standing would be declared the winner.

 

The other form of singing mostly only undertaken by poets was the singing of original songs or poems. The themes of these poems ranged from topics like the symposium they were currently at, friendship, love, the gods, and even political discourse.

 

A game that was very popular at symposiums was kottabos. This involved pinging droplets of wine at a target to make it fall over. Some versions of them game included guests shouting out the name of the person they loved whilst flicking the wine.

 

At the end of the symposium, when the night was drawing to a close, the leader would make more libations and the men, who were probably getting on for being fairly drunk at this point, would spill into the streets and stroll about, shouting and singing, looking for women to join them.

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So, that concludes episode three of Agora Gossip! I think the idea of laying around with your friends, chatting about various topics, playing games, and listening to music sounds amazing.  I would love to have gone to a symposium but since as a woman I wouldn’t have been able to take part, maybe I should host my own one day! Maybe I should contact Channel 4 and suggest a new and improved ‘Come dine with me’…come symposium with me!

 

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and I will see you next time my fellow gossipers!