ANHS1600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Conspicuous Leisure, Lyric Poetry, Iron Age
15 May 2018
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Lecture 7 – The Symposium: Sailing the Wine Dark Sea
22/03/16
- Realising that you can lose your position in status if you don’t behave accordingly.
- The ancient aristocrats were apart of warrior societies but also apart of complex and
sophisticated societies.
Lecture components looks at:
- Context of aristocratic – and eventually the wider elite – display / conspicuous leisure + ideologies
behind it
- The equipment of Greek Symposium → Look at how they are engaged with
- What the Symposium was
Symposium (drinking party) is the descendant of early iron age and bronze age feasting. At some
point during the iron age the feasting side of things sides off, and the focus and development of the
drinking party becomes more prominent.
There is a lot of overlapping of dates → Emphasises that there is no clean cut breaks in dates.
This lecture will look at the classical symposium (6th to 4th century) as it was a very specific way of
drinking for a specific group of people. Also looks at Athenian symposium (because sources have
given us an Athenian distortion).
Drinking politics is different in different parts of Greece as Greece was not a unified country.
Furthermore, by the time of the Hellenistic Symposium after everything is conducted in a different
way.
Conspicuous leisure: Symposium → Drinking together. (ESSENTIAL DEFINITION)
An elite group that is united drinking together but they are different. It is a fundamental social
institution (Social + ritual codes). It is also a part of the social exchange of male members of the elite
(highlights political dimensions + training of men). It is an important cultural performance (exercise
various skills → Lyric poetry)
Status and belonging through participation:
- Fundamental aspect
- You are essentially competing for your friends. It is important to demonstrate belonging and
exercising your excellence through competition. You need to participate in the entertainment – the
‘symposiats’ themselves are the poets and singers. To earn esteem, it is about dexterity and skill.
Overall, it is fundamentally a male institution → Emphasises equality among the elite men of this
select group.
Religious Realm:
- Dionysos (God of Wine – His gift to humanity). To identify him he holds a specific cup (Dionysos’
cup), often bearded, has vines, also carries what’s known as a thersis (Stick with a pinecone on it)
with his followers the Maenads and Satyrs (who often have bestial faces)
-There are a lot of rites, rituals and apotropaic imagery (Warding or protecting imagery). This is all
about harnessing the power of something mythically fearsome and ferocious. It’s about protecting
the wine and being protected from the wine. There are many libations but never to Dionysus. The
Document Summary
Lecture 7 the symposium: sailing the wine dark sea. Realising that you can lose your position in status if you don"t behave accordingly. The ancient aristocrats were apart of warrior societies but also apart of complex and sophisticated societies. Context of aristocratic and eventually the wider elite display / conspicuous leisure + ideologies behind it. The equipment of greek symposium look at how they are engaged with. Symposium (drinking party) is the descendant of early iron age and bronze age feasting. At some point during the iron age the feasting side of things sides off, and the focus and development of the drinking party becomes more prominent. There is a lot of overlapping of dates emphasises that there is no clean cut breaks in dates. This lecture will look at the classical symposium (6th to 4th century) as it was a very specific way of drinking for a specific group of people.
