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...

In her book, Animals in Roman Life and Art, the late professor Jocelyn Toynbee explains that the appearance of animals in Greco-Roman art, especially funeral art, are not allusions to a particular occupation or favorite food item but symbolize the existence of idyllic peace and plenty in paradise, either existing within the home or in the anticipated afterlife.  The Greek word for paradise derived from the eastern term "paradeisos" was first used by Xenophon to describe the extensive parks of the Persian kings that were planted with luxuriant flora and stocked with a variety of wild creatures. This symbolism extends back as the Chalcolithic period.  Scholars have noted a marked preference for askoi of zoomorphic forms on Cyprus suggesting that, at least there, askoi had a cultic and ritual use.  They point to the vessel's ancient name reflecting an object made of animal leather as proof of further assocation with animals, enough so that the term is now primarily used to s...

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); ...