symposium midterm

archaic period

~800-510/490/479 BCE

Started at the import of the alphabet from the Phoenicians

Ended at democracy in Athens, or the endpoints of the Persian wars (either the battle of marathon won or the battle of thermopoly

classical period

510/490/479-323 BCE

Period of Plato, Greek tragedy and comedy

commensality

communal dining/drinking

euphrosyne

good cheer, gladness, merriment “good-mindedness”

sophrosyne

self-control, moderation, prudence, “safe-mindedness”

hetaireia

companionship, comradeship

later as “political club”

komos

festive/revelrous procession after the symposium

libation

small amounts of unmixed/undiluted wine, sips of liquid sacrifice

to “good divinity” (agathos daimon; dionysus?), to others (e.g. health), to Zeus the savior

symposiarch/basileus

In charge of the mixing of wine with water in the krater

epidexia

counter clockwise

dais

the homeric feast

“to divide”

arete

excellence, what one should strive for

in demonstrating dais, men win time (honor) and kleos (fame)

polis

city-state

social/political organization

“ashurbanipal’s garden party” relief

Depiction from the Assyrian empire, ~640 BCE

shows power dynamic, king reclining, queen sitting on throne, everyone else standing (servants), vast inequalities

eurytos krater

~600 BCE, Corinthian

Greek painting of a symposium on a krater. men reclining on couches, drinking wine, etc

Socrates

(469-399 BCE), turn from nature to human concerns (ethics, epistemology, politics)

did not write, was only a character in other authors

was executed in 399

xenophon

(430-355/4 BCE)

Aristocratic family, pro-spartan, mercenary soldier and leader in Persian war of succession, writer

Wrote Symposium, set in 422 BCE

claims to have been present, but never speaks during the event

Callias

host, one of the wealthiest men in Athens, lover of Autolycus

Autolycus

athlete/honoree of the symposium; beloved of Callias; murdered by Thirty Tyrants oligarchy in 404/3 BCE

Antisthenes

follower of Socrates, orator, and writer of Socratic dialogues; predecessor of Cynic philosophical school

andron

the “man’s room”

can be thought of as an anti-polis or a mini-polis, depending on the context

tragedy

popular poetic genre, developed in Athens in 4th and 5th century BCE

classical genre (Xenophon is classical, red figure develops in archaic but becomes popular in classical)

presided over by Dionysus; ecstatic experiences, blurring boundaries, encounters with the other/becoming other

Aristotle says the purpose of tragedy is by instilling/representing pity and fear to bring forward a catharsis (should purge pity and fear out of you)

others think tragedy is a purification of pity and fear, feeling in a “correct” way

kline

couches inside the andron

standard is 7 or 11 kline

nesters cup

end of 8th century BCE, simple drinking cup, earliest e.g. of Greek alphabet writing found, geometric style

Useful evidence for potential essay questions

Eurytos krater impact

black figure krater, 600 BCE, Corinthian, earliest depiction of/evidence for the latest date of a reclining symposium/dinner party, relative equality of participants, sharing of couches, depiction of Hercules

Topper would like to maintain from this that it was not near eastern

need to be able to ID on midterm exam

Eurytos krater image

Nester’s cup discussion

-idea of play/playfulness

-quote on the cup personifies the cup/plays an active role in the symposium

-association between wine and love/lust/sex, early piece of evidence for eros at the symposium

-inscription is poetic, lines in quote reflect this

-wine and poetry go together, need Dionysian madness, step outside of yourself

krater

mixing bowl

column, volute, calyx, bell

commensality

anthropological term

practices/rituals/socially and culturally determined ways of eating and drinking together

two examples in Greek context: symposium and Homeric feasts “dais”

Homeric feast- sitting, having merit-based system on basis of arete

Symposium- reclining, separation of drinking from eating, social equality, arete transmuted

hetaireia

comradeship/companionship

boundaries largely dissolved

symposium used to restrengthen bonds between social equals

komos also reflects great power and stability of the band of males

in changing social/economic/political model where symposium arises, hetaireia emerges

charis

grace, favor, charm

concept valued very highly at symposium

charm: very closely related to Euphrosyne

favor: reciprocity, reenforces hetaireia

krater ID

larger representation of the symposium, mixing

amphora ID

“ears on both sides”

kylix ID

personal drinking vessel

used to throw slurry in kottabos

over time gets flatter and broader, brings in sophrosyne

oenochoe ID

used for pouring, trifold lip, handle for pouring

black figure

black icons on red pottery

red figure

black covering the whole vase to show the red base for the icons

satyrs

drunkenness, wildness, man-goat hybrid, male sexuality

maenads

madness, ecstasy, dancing, female sexuality(?)

pharmakon

a drug

can mean both medicine and poison

wine is the pharmakon in Bacchae play

Euripides

popular playwright, wrote Bacchae

18 extant plays, 4 wins, used the raising platform more often than others

thematic issues: more philosophical? questioning of the gods? psychology? female perspectives? (misogynist or protofeminist?)

Pentheus

man of suffering

king of Thebes

doubts Dionysus as a god

sparagmos

tearing limb-from-limb

how Pentheus is killed by his mother