The proceedings at the symposium were generally as follows:—The servants in attendance removed the larger tables which had been used at dinner, and brought in instead other smaller tables, which were also three-legged, but had round tops. On these they arranged the drinking cups, bowls, and cooling vessels, plates with all kinds of dessert, and little dainties that would induce thirst. Then wreaths were given to the guests to adorn their heads, and sometimes to put round their necks, and sweet-scented ointments were handed round. While the guests were occupied in adorning themselves, the servants brought in the wine in large mixing bowls, generally three at the beginning of the feast, and later more, as occasion required. The customary drink at these feasts was a mixture of wine and water. Even at the present day southern nations seldom drink strong wine unmixed with water, and in ancient times unmixed wine was only drunk in very small quantities; at the symposium, when it was customary to drink deep and long, they had only mixed wine, sometimes taking equal parts of wine and water, and sometimes, which was even commoner, three parts of water to two parts of wine. Generally, at the beginning of every symposium, a president, or “Symposiarch,” was appointed by lot or dice to take command for the rest of the evening, and it was his duty to determine the strength of the mixture, for this might be of various kinds, as weak even as two parts of wine to five of water, or one to three, or even one part of wine to five of water, which last was certainly a somewhat tasteless drink, and was contemptuously called “frog’s wine.” In early times it was usual to put the water first into the mixing bowl and pour the wine upon it; afterwards the reverse proceeding took place.
Fig. 97.
The commoner sorts of wine were very cheap, and in consequence it was the universal drink, of which even the poor people and slaves partook; better kinds were more expensive, and the best came from the islands, especially Lesbos and Chios; Rhodian and
Fig. 98.
Thasian wines were also largely exported. Beer was by no means unknown to antiquity; in Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Thrace, etc., they brewed a malt liquor which must have had some resemblance to our beer, but the Greeks disliked this drink, and always spoke of it contemptuously. The gift of Dionysus remained the national drink of the Greeks, but it differed in many respects from our wines of the present day. Much of the ancient wine must have resembled in taste the resin wine of modern Egypt, since resin was added to it, and as the large clay casks in which the wine was exported were painted over internally with pitch, this must of necessity have given a taste to the wine. Nor did they know how to clear their wine; it was usually thick, and, in order to be made at all bright, had to be filtered through a fine sieve or cloth each time before it was used. To return to the symposium. Figs. [97] and [97], taken from pictures on the outside of painted cups, give representations of drinking parties. In Fig. [97] we see three bearded men with wreaths lying near one another; in front of them are two bowls, a wine can, a cooling vessel, a footstool, and a shoe. The man on the right holds a cup in his left hand and puts his right hand to his head, which is bent backwards; his open mouth shows that he is supposed to be singing. The guest in the middle is playing energetically on the double flute, the one on the right holds a lyre, and in his right hand the rod, but he is not striking the strings; near him, on the wall, hangs a flute-case. Fig. [98] also represents three men, and in front of them a bowl, a can, a cooling vessel, another vessel of curious shape, and three shoes. The man on the left is stretching out his right hand with a cup to a boy with a wine can near him; the one in the middle also holds a cup and turns in conversation to the one on the right, who in his right hand holds a goblet (σκύφος).
The symposium began with three libations, offered to the Olympian deities, the heroes, and to Zeus Soter; sometimes incense was burnt meantime, and if the flute girl, who as a rule did not make her appearance till afterwards, was present at the beginning of the symposium, the solemn proceedings were probably accompanied by flute playing. For these libations they used three mixing bowls which had previously been made ready, taking one libation from each; after the libation from the first, they sang in chorus a short hymn in praise of Dionysus (Paean), which was repeated if, as often happened, a new mixture had to be prepared in the course of the evening. The drinking, as well as the rest of the procedure was carried on according to certain fixed rules, which somewhat resembled those still practised by German students. If a president or symposiarch was chosen, he had to appoint not only the strength of the mixture, but also the kind of cup, whether large or small, from which it was to be drunk, and, in fact, generally undertook the direction of the conversation, the toasts, forfeits, etc. We generally find on the monuments flat, two-handled cups in use at the symposium, but sometimes also large, deep goblets, and after drinking for some time, it seems that they even occasionally drank from the capacious vessels, really destined for cooling the wine by means of snow-water, and that practised drinkers, such as Socrates and Alcibiades, could empty them at a draught. It was a very common custom to empty goblets thus, and many drinking cups were shaped in such a way that they must be emptied at once, as they could not stand upright. Every guest had to submit to the ordinances of the symposiarch; he exercised unlimited authority in the matter of drinking, unless, indeed, the arrangement had been made from the first that everyone should drink little or much, as he pleased, during that evening. Those who disobeyed the commands of the president had to submit to some punishment, which consisted either in drinking a certain quantity, or else was directed at some personal infirmity; thus, for instance, a bald man was told to comb his hair, a stammerer to sing, a lame man to hop, etc. This compulsion of submitting to the ordinances of the president naturally led to very deep drinking, and even the mixture of the water with the wine was insufficient defence against this practice. It was also very common to drink to one another, and propose the health of friends or popular girls. It was customary for the drinking to circulate to the right, and this practice was also kept up for all other performances which were expected from every guest, such as the singing of songs, guessing of riddles, etc.