In Ancient Greece, the drinking table was not merely a space for drinking and entertainment; it was also a ritual stage for art, eroticism, philosophy, identity play, and social hierarchies. The symposion was a “banquet theater” where both individual and collective identities were shaped, and where even speech and silence followed strict codes. In this session, we will discuss the multilayered nature of the symposion — from drinking vessels to games, poetry to flute players.

• The structure of the symposion: pre-drinking meal (deipnon) and post-meal wine ritual
• Participants: male citizens, flute girls, and slaves
• Spaces of the symposion: andron layout and seating order
• Functions and aesthetic language of vessels like kylix, krater, and oinochoe
• The game of kottabos and erotic competition
• Music in the symposion: songs and dance with aulos accompaniment
• Poetry and speech: the influence of Anacreon, Alcaeus, and Sappho
• Philosophy as a topic of discussion: Plato’s *Symposion*
• Degrees, measure, and proportion of wine: the concept of *metrios*
• Drunkenness and control: the shadow of Dionysos
• Symposion in vase imagery:
  • Erotic scenes hidden on the inner surface of kylixes
  • Wine-serving slaves and the ritual of service
  • Flute girls and the politics of gaze