A Study On Symposium Of The Greek City-State

Symposium was a cultural custom and a lifestyle which was popular with theupper strata of the society in ancient Greece. It was a privilege of the aristocrats and aexclusive world only open to males. Besides, the symposium was a special socialactivity, having a close relationship with the politics, economy, culture, art, andcustom of the ancient Geek city-state. Its formation and development reflected thechange of the relationship between aristocrats and the common people, betweenordinaries and elites, between males and females, and between adults and young. Byinvestigating the symposium, we could understand the ancient Greek society better.This essay has three parts: the introduction, the main body, the epilogue.The introduction mainly illustrates the purpose and the significance of thisarticle, the method used in this research, the novel points of this essay, and thetroubles met in the research process. Besides, the introduction also sets forth thesources and a total situation of the research on the symposium home and abroad.The main body of this essay is divided into five chapters.The first chapter: the origin of symposium. The origin of the symposium wouldbe traced to the banquet of the noble lords of the Homer Age. At that time, dependingon their superiority on ecnomy and warfare, the noble lords had a leading position inthe political affairs, and the banquet, their main activity in daily life, became theleading one in the public affairs. To the noble lords, the banquet was a symbol of theirnobility, a way to display their power, a means to establish alliance, and an importantplace to discuss the warfare and politics. Meanwhile, the banquet reflected the valuesof the aristocrat class, for example, pious, equal, sharing, helpful and honorable.Through frequent banquets, these values became a part of the common morality and aexcellent lifestyle. To the Ancient Greeks, these points of view were very important,which even turned into the base of their education system.The second chapter: the formation and development of the symposium. In theArchaic Age, the Greek city-state underwent a fundamental change. The growth of the demos and the development of the hoplites challenged the status of the aristocrats,and the symposium turned from a public affair of the noble leaders of the Homer Ageinto a private social activity, only for the noble class, which was also an importantarea of struggle between the aristocrats and the common people. In the Archaic Age,along with the recovery of the communication with the foreign world, some easterncustoms were brought in, making the Greek drinking custom changed. Drinking wasnot a part of the dinner. People began to drink reclining on couches. The place fordrinking had moved to "ardon"(man’s room). Some luxuries like perfume andgarland were used to create a better ambience. These changes can be seen as thesymbol of the formation of the symposium. As the eastern customs like Persian onesbrought in, and the development and maturity of the city-state, especially theestablishment and development of the democracy in Athens, some new featuresemerged. Symposiums were hold more frequently. More entertainments were added.A host was set up. All these meant a further development of the symposium. Inclassical Age, some new traits emerged. The negative effects were enhanced, thetraditional aristocratical color of faded, the atmosphere was more democratic, andduring drinking there were more and more philosophical connotation in the talk. Afterthe establishment of the Macedonian hegemony, the ritual and rules of the symposiummelt with the ones from Macedon and Persia. The new traits embodied in thesymposium, like equality, abstinence, and friendliness, were supplanted by those likeluxuries, indulgence, and hierarchies, which were belonged to the banquets held inthe palace. Although the symposium did existe in the Greek world, it was outdatedand was out off people’s sight, while the ostentatious banquets became more and morepopular to the upper strata, which were usually held by the kings, hierarchies, andrich slaveholders.The third chapter: the process and traits of the symposium. Greek symposiumhad a strict process and rituals, preparation must be done before the symposium. Forexample, the place and the drinking wares must be cleaned and the garland must bedistributed. After the symposium began, the first thing was the libation to deities,praying that they could protect the symposium to proceed well. At the same time,people should sing hymns. After that was the dilution. The purity of the wine was decided by the host. To make the symposium go orderly, the host played a role of themanager, deciding the way of drinking, the purity of the wine and the order of the talk.The principle was that the guests could enjoy the symposium while confusion anddispute should be avoided. Abstinence and good manners were criteria of a goodsymposium. During the symposium, guests would have some kinds of entertainments,like poetry singing, dancing, playing games and telling jokes. The most interestingthing was the philosophic talk.Symposium was a special social activity, which had some distinctive traits. First,symposium was a activity belonging to both public area of the city-state and theprivate area of people’s family life, which means that it was semi-public andsemi-private. To those who could participate the symposium, all the activities wereopen to them, which meant the symposium was a public one. But to those who wereout of the circle of the participants, it was exclusive to them and a private one. Second,symposium was a part of life of the upper strata, which needed big wealth, rich freetime and good literaryand, so only noble men and elites could host or participate. Asthe aristocrats lost their former position in political affairs and the gap between thearistocrats and the common people narrowed down in politics area, the symposiumbecame a main means to show people’s aristocratical identity and superiority. Evendeclining aristocrats needed to participate symposium to identify their nobility.Thirdly, during the symposium, all the activities like singing drinking songs, talkingabout philosophy, and playing games reflected the contending spirit and ability of thesocial elites. At last, symposium was a world of male. Even some female who had anoble identity was excluded, which reflects the sexism in the Greek city-state.However, some hetaera or femal performers were present to entertain the participants,which made the symposium a indulgent place.The forth chapter: symposium and the society. In ancient Greece, all the socialelements like politics, economy, culture, education and morality were more or lessaffected by the symposium. As a concealed political activity, it reflected theopposition and struggle between the aristocrats and the common people. Because itwas not open, it reflected some stasis in the city-state. Besides, the exclusion ofwomen, common people and slaves reflected the class differentiation. The grape planting and the pottery industry were the basement of symposium’s development, butas a consumption, the symposium also promoted the former’s development, whichmade a mutually beneficial circle. As a cultural activity, symposium provided a stagefor different cultures, promoting their improvement. As a means of education,symposium was a way to preserve and heritage the traditional values of the aristocrats,and it was also the first step for a young noble man to enter the community and thesocial circle of the male adults and a place to learn the social etiquette, to extent hispolitical experience, and to culture his morality. As a social activity, the principles ofthe symposium reflected the social values that supported by the city-state. the values,like self-discipline, moderation, morality and friendship, were not only the principleof the Greeks to live, but also their attitude to life.The fifth chapter: the effect of the Greek symposium on the Rome life. As a partof Greek culture, symposium’s effect not only existed in Greek city-states. During thecultural communication, Greek symposium was adopted by the foreign peoples as alifestyle and became a part of their culture on the aspects like food and entertainment.The most significant effect of the symposium was on the Roman life. The Romanfeast had a close relationship with the Greek symposium either on the form orprinciple. However, Roman feast and the Greek symposium were different in manyaspects. The Greek symposium followed the dinner, while the Roman feast was a partof the dinner. Symposium was under the principle of equality, while in the Romanfeast everything should be for the hierarchy. Symposium was a way to establishfriendship, while the Roman feast was to show the relationship between patrons andproteges. Greek symposium was world of men, while the Roman feast was open towomen. The symposium showed some Greek values like self-discipline and moralcultivation, while the Roman feast was a means for comparison and to displaypeople’s wealth, though there were some promotions for thrifty and some criticism onthe luxury and waste. These differences made the Greek symposium and the Romanfeast two social activities. They had a close relationship, but were essentiallydifferent.In the epilogue, by comparing the Greek symposium with the public banquet ofthe city-state, it seems that, although they had a many similarities, they were different essentially. Because of the difference between their participants, their effects on thecity-state were also different. The isolation between the elites and common people,caused by the symposium, was remedied through the public banquets.