PBP: S - Symposia

Not exactly a religious thing but Ancient Greek related none the less.

The Symposion, or the Symposium, is an artistic and intellectual gathering of influential citizens, artists and philosophers  usually all male, though several exceptional female guests may be present along with the hired flute girls and serving slaves. Although the conversation at the beginning of the evening may be elevated and refined, as the guests imbibe greater quantities of wine, the event becomes ever more riotous and bawdier, and it usually ends in the most licentious behaviour.

Symposia are often held in the official dining room of temples and public buildings, but if you wanted to see the event at its most typical , you would have to attend one in the andron (men's quarters) of a private house.

The host of the symposion, the symposiarch , acts as the master of ceremonies. He decides how much water to ass to the wine, and thereby how quickly his fellow symposiasts will become drunk. He sets the tone for the proceedings, which could be intellectual and elevated, or bawdy and licentious from the start.

Symposia are given for a variety of reasons such as to celebrate a victory in an athletic or dramatic contest or to introduce a young man into high society. The guests, as a rule, are all male, but notable women such as hetaira (high class courtesans) attend the symposia and discuss matters of state and philosophy with the men. Even when women guests are not present, female company is provided by 'flute girls', who, in addition to providing the musical accompaniments to songs and poems on the aulos, are also paid prostitutes.

Once the guests have assembled, the symposiarch offers a libation to the gods, and to Dionysos, god of wine, in particular. The guests recline singly or in pairs on couches arranged around the walls of the andron; though youths do not recline, but sit.

Naked boy slaves chosen for their looks mix the wine with water in the large central krater (mixing bowl) and serve it to each guest in a large, shallow cup known as a kylix, serve food - though the fare, as ever, is not always luxurious, consisting of bread and opson (all solid food served as an accompaniment to bread), and figs and sweet cakes for dessert.

The symposiarch suggests the topic of conversation and invites contributions from the guests; or,  if he has a more diverting evening planned, he may opt for party games instead. One of the popular is kottabos, in which players swish the dregs of their kylixes at a target on a small bronze statuette. Other games include singing and drinking contests, the aim of which is to get the guests as drunk as possible.

Source - Traveller's Guide to the Ancient World. Greece in the year 415BCE.

PBP: S - Sex in Ancient Greece

A brief overview.

Aphrodite and Eros were key deities of love and sexual delight, both gifting mortals and gods alike with desire as well as cursing them with burning passion. The ancient myths are filled with tales of nymphs and mortals being ravished by the gods and more beastly creatures such as Satyrs. (The subject of rape is a larger topic that I might address at some point.)

Sex and sexuality in Ancient Greece were more liberal than today in some ways and more strict in others. A male citizen could partake of a multitude of sexual acts, with both males and females, though female citizens were more restricted.

Women were the guardians of citizenship. An Athenian citizen had to make sure all his wife's children were his. To keep her away from temptation, she was locked away in the women's quarter and accompanied by a male when she went outside. If she were caught with another man in flagrante delicto, the man could be killed or brought to court. When the woman married she was a piece of property transferred from her father (or other male guardian) to her husband. In Sparta, the need for Spartan citizens was strong, but women were encouraged to bear children to a citizen who would sire well if her own husband proved inadequate. There she wasn't so much her spouse's property as the state's -- as were her children and her husband.


Prostitutes were despised then as they are today, although for slightly different reasons. They might have been looked upon as victims (of pimps), but they were also greedy and deceitful. Even if they were honest financially, they used makeup and other artifices to make themselves more attractive.

Sex between wife and husband was just one of many choices available -- at least to the male. There were slaves of both sexes, concubines, and hetairai, all of whom were available, if only for a fee. Men could also try to entice a young man just past puberty. These relationships were the ones celebrated on vases and in much of Athenian literature.

In Plato's Symposium (a treatise on Athenian eroticism) Aristophanes offers a colorful explanation for why all these sexual options existed. In the beginning there were three types of double-headed humans, varying according to sex: male/male, female/female, and male/female. Zeus, angered at the humans, punished them by splitting them in half. From then on, each half has forever sought out his other half.

Homosexuality was also more common, especially in Sparta where homosexual relationships were even encouraged to help form comradeship between soldiers. Pederasty was also practises, where a more middle aged man cultivated a relationship with a teenage boy in order to teach him the ways of men, usually philosophy, sex and war.