Antiquities Exhibits

The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for men of respected families to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were 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 - 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.  If any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up. However, in Macedonian symposia, the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wil...

Sculpture of a nuptial banquet, Greek, 3rd-2nd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art "A nuptial banquet takes place on a lavishly decorated and furnished couch (kline). The man reclining at the far right raises a wine jug, while the female, seated at the front edge of the couch, once played a lyre. Two child Erotes join the young couple and all participants are crowned with ivy leaves and wreaths. Exceptional for its three-dimensionality, ornate style and preservation of polychromy, this group visualizes the semantic overlap in Greek thought and art between the bridal and the death kline and the role of lyre music as expression of marital love."  - The Metropolitan Museum of Art The couch, or kline, was a form used in Greece as early as the late seventh century B.C.E.  Three types are distinguished by G.M.A. Richter – those with animal legs, those with “turned” legs, and those with “rectangular” legs,  two of which could be longer than the other, providing su...

Beautifully detailed Greek funerary banquet relief at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia. The afterlife as a banquet, as depicted here, was a popular image in fourth-third century grave-reliefs. The iconography, borrowed in archaic times from the ancient Near East, was based on everyday symposia. Generic elements in this relief include the deceased, represented as a banqueter (symposiast), who holds out a libation bowl (phiale). His wife sits at the foot of his couch. In front of the couch is a table on which food (perhaps fruit or cakes) has been placed. At left, a serving boy stands beside a volute-krater holding a jug and drinking vessel with long conical body and ram's head end (rhyton). The krater is depicted on a stand, indicating that the artist intended it to be understood as metal. The startling horse's head above the serving boy may have aristocratic associations (horse-breeding and racing was the preserve only of the wealthy); ...