01:190:205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Klinai, Symposium, Kottabos
Document Summary
The symposium as a social and political institution. Symposium: a dinner part among a limited, odd number of free men of the same age to recline (klinai on an andron) and eat/drink together and are entertained. They played kottabos: was something elites did helped create the elite culture (learned how to be an elite in a group) Important since people began forming alliances (city-states too) and the symposium became important like glue: point of transition greeks borrowed it from the east from about 600. Traced through sympotic pottery and face painting scenes. A lot of the political forms that greeks treasured was actually borrowed from the east and dives into their sense of community: established relationships between equals too, where you learned to be a part of a community. Alcohol and sex also linked to ideas of masculinity. Became very popular + wine watered down since it"s a social function (don"t want to get drunk fast)