MEALS AND SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS.
Banquets--The Various Courses--The Symposium--Its
Character--Conversation--Music--Entertainments--Jugglers--Flute-Girls--
Riddles--Games--Excessive Drinking.
At Athens, and probably throughout Greece--except, perhaps, at
Sparta--the chief meal of the day was taken in the evening. This was
not, however, the case in the Homeric period, when it was taken at
mid-day, and the evening meal was of less importance. The customs of the
heroic age differed in many respects from those of later times. In
particular, the practice of sitting on chairs at meals then prevailed,
and, in fact, there was no large common table used by all, but each
guest had his own little table before him, on which the attendants
placed the food which had been carved at a special board used for the
purpose. Another difference is that, though the Homeric heroes, in
accordance with the condition of their times, which laid special stress
on the pleasures of the senses, cared a good deal for plentiful food and
drink, and though full cups were continually circling at the meals,
still the regular drinking parties which were common in later times, and
which followed the meal itself, were quite unknown in the heroic age.
In considering the meals of the historical period, particularly at
Athens, we must remember that we are dealing specially with large common
banquets, which were very frequent among men, and not with the usual
family meal, which the master of the house took in the circle of his
family. We know very little of the proceedings at these family dinners,
and that only from works of art. On Greek reliefs on tombstones we often
find, from the classical to the Imperial period, representations of the
family meal, where the master of the house lies on his couch, his wife
sitting on it at his feet, for it was not considered correct for women
to lie down at meals as the men did, and when we see on works of art
women lying down along with the men, we may be certain that these are
hetaerae, who were not bound by the same rules of custom. The children
of the house sat round the table on chairs. But as a rule, the wife and
children only dined in the most intimate family circle; when guests were
invited they dined alone in the women’s apartments, and only on some few
occasions, especially weddings and family festivals, were the women
allowed to appear before the men.
The custom of entertainments for men alone was far more common in
antiquity than at the present day; for these banquets took the place not
only of our parties and other social gatherings, but they also gave the
men an opportunity, especially in the drinking which followed, while
sitting together over their wine, to discuss at their leisure both
serious and frivolous matters. There were also plenty of festive
occasions which gave opportunities for these common banquets; a public
or private sacrifice was a very common excuse, if only because the flesh
of the victim--of which, as a rule, only the entrails were burnt--could
be best made use of in this manner. There were also birthdays, funerals,
victories in some contest or game, departure or return from a journey of
a friend, etc.; all these occasions were celebrated by feasts, and
there were also great public banquets, which were usually of a simpler
character, owing to the number of guests and the fact that the expenses
were publicly defrayed. Besides these meals, to which individuals
invited their friends or relations, picnics were very common. Very often
all who participated sent baskets of provisions into the house of one
who gave up his rooms for the purpose; but it was even commoner for each
to contribute a certain share of money, and thus to defray the expenses
of the meal, which was taken at the house of one of the participants, or
of some obliging hetaera. We do not know what arrangement was made about
the wine, and whether the expenses of this were also defrayed out of the
general charge.
Generally speaking, in the fifth and fourth centuries there was a great
deal of simple and pleasant social intercourse; friends were invited
without any ceremony, during the course of the day, to come to the
evening meal. If they did not appear at the appointed hour, the meal
began without them, and if the guest put in his appearance later on,
this was regarded as a matter of course. It seems not to have been
unusual to go even uninvited to the meal or to the _Symposium_ which
followed it, and one of the speakers in Plato’s “Symposium” suggests the
following version of a line in Homer:--
“To the feasts of the good, the good unbidden go.”
Sometimes idle fellows, such as the parasites who were always hunting
for a dinner, made too liberal use of this hospitality, or persons made
their appearance who did not suit with the rest of the company and would
have disturbed the general harmony. In such cases the door keeping slave
received the order to send away certain persons, saying, “My master is
not at home,” or else, “He has already retired to rest.”
The usual course of proceedings at one of these banquets was as follows.
The invited guests, who according to custom had previously attended the
bath, first took their places sitting on the couches placed ready for
them. The slaves of the host, or even of the guests, who often brought
them to help wait at table, then took off their masters’ sandals or
shoes, and as the dust of the street might have soiled their feet, which
were but slightly protected by the soles, these were washed once more by
the slaves, a proceeding which was the more necessary, as in lying down
they often rested on couches covered with very valuable coverlets.
Hereupon they lay down, as a rule two guests on one sofa, but the
monuments often show us three or even more persons on a single couch,
and we cannot always determine with certainty whether the artist has
adhered to the actual practice or introduced arbitrary changes of his
own. In lying down they rested on their left elbow, or on numerous
cushions at their back; the right arm was left free, in order to take
the food from the table and reach it to the mouth; but plates, dishes,
cups, etc., were also taken in the left hand. When the guests had all
lain down and washed their hands in bowls handed round for the purpose,
the little three-legged dining tables were brought in, which were always
a little lower than the sofas. On these the food was arranged in dishes
or plates, and always cut up small, for forks were never used at table,
but only in the kitchen by the cooks for carving the meat, whilst the
guests made use, instead, of a spoon or sometimes of a piece of bread
hollowed out, and very seldom used a knife. Table cloths and napkins
were unknown; the place of the latter was taken by soft dough, on which
the fingers were rubbed. At large banquets, sometimes towels and water
for washing the hands were handed round between the courses, and this
was always done at the end of a meal. The practice of using the fingers
for eating made this indispensable.
Luxurious living, which was of course unknown at Sparta, was far less
common at Athens, too, than in many other Greek states, such as
Thessaly, and in particular Sicily and Magna Graecia. In these places
the gastronomic art was cultivated to a high degree, and there were
books in which the various kinds of joints and ragouts, fishes and
sweets, etc., were enumerated in verse, sometimes in a comic manner and
sometimes with due seriousness. The Boeotians, on the other hand, had a
bad name for consuming great quantities of food, and this of a coarse
description. At Athens, in the classic period, meals were, as a rule,
simple and modest. In the various descriptions of banquets handed down
to us by different writers, no mention is ever made of the cooking, and
the simplicity of Plato’s meals may be inferred from the somewhat
malicious remark commonly made that those who had dined with Plato would
be in excellent health next morning.
The meat most in use was that of the sacrificial animals, especially
oxen, sheep, goats, and swine; this last was very popular, both roast
and salted or smoked, and was also used for sausages. The ancients were
acquainted with various kinds of sausage; we find allusions to these
even in Homer; they were also acquainted with the practice of
adulterating them by introducing the flesh of dogs or asses. In poultry,
they had fowls, ducks, geese, quails, and also wild birds, such as
partridges and wood pigeons; the special favourites were thrushes,
which were a very popular dainty in the poultry market, where dishonest
poulterers blew the birds up in order to make them seem fatter and in
better condition. A favourite kind of game was hare, which is very
frequently mentioned; they even had a proverb, “To live in the midst of
roast hare,” which means to be in a land of plenty. Fish, too, was eaten
in great quantities. In the Homeric period the taste for it did not yet
exist, but in later times it was very much sought after. A special
delicacy was eels, from Lake Copais, which are often mentioned, and were
favourites with all the Athenian _gourmets_. Otherwise, sea fish was
preferred to fresh-water fish, and there seems no end to the various
kinds mentioned, which were also prepared in many different ways. The
inexhaustible wealth of the neighbouring sea permitted even the poor
people to have fish in plenty; in particular, the delicate sardines,
which were caught in the harbour of Phalerum, and which were cheap and
also quickly prepared, formed an important article of food for the
Athenians. There were also great quantities of salt and smoked fish,
which were prepared in the large smoking establishments of the Black Sea
and on the coast of Spain, and brought by traders to Greece. The salted
tunnies, herrings, etc., were excellent and also cheap, and therefore
very common as food for the people. In the houses of the richer classes
the finer kinds were also used--various sorts of fish sauces, caviar,
oysters, turtles, etc., which added to the variety of the bills of fare,
and could satisfy even the daintiest palates.
Under the heading of vegetable food, we must first of all consider bread
and porridge. The kinds of grain chiefly used were wheat and barley, as
well as spelt; rye was not cultivated in Greece, and rye bread was
regarded as food for barbarians. Bread was made chiefly of wheat, and
was white or brown, according to the greater or less addition of bran
and the finer quality of the flour. But the common people did not eat
much wheaten bread; the chief daily food of the poorer people was a kind
of barley cake, called _maza_, a sort of porridge, which was moistened
and dissolved in water, and of which there were various kinds with
different savoury additions. This porridge seems to have resembled the
_polenta_ still used in the south, but was probably not much eaten by
the richer classes. They had also green vegetables and salads,
asparagus, radishes, mushrooms, lentils, peas, lupins, etc. These
leguminous vegetables supplied nourishing fare for poor people, and were
therefore sold by street cooks hot from the fire, at a low price. We
find even in antiquity the fondness for onions and garlic still shown by
southern nations, and these were eaten raw with bread. Besides salt,
pepper, and vinegar, various spices were used to flavour the dishes,
such as sesame, coriander, caraway, mustard, etc., and also silphium,
which was much sought after, but very expensive, and was imported from
Cyrene, but could no longer be obtained at the beginning of the
Christian era. Olive oil was used for cooking.
The second course, which played an important part at large dinners,
consisted of cheese (butter was not in use for food), all kinds of
fruit, and cakes. Athens was especially distinguished for its cakes,
because the excellent honey of Hymettus supplied good material for it;
confectioners knew how to make the most various kinds of cakes, and
often produced them in the shapes of animals, human beings, and other
objects.
It is commonly supposed that the Greeks did not drink at all during
their meals, but this is an untenable opinion. The great number of salt
or highly-spiced dishes which they had, must of necessity have induced
thirst. In fact, many allusions in the writers show us that some
drinking went on during dinner, but in a very moderate degree when
compared with the symposium which followed the meal, and only with a
view to quenching thirst. In any case, when the last course was brought
in, they took a draught of unmixed wine in honour of the “good genius.”
Then the tables were taken away, and, if no drinking party followed, the
guests arose from their couches after once more washing their hands.
Usually, however, these banquets were followed by a symposium.
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.
[Illustration: 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
[Illustration: 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 98, 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.
Though the main object of the symposium was, undoubtedly, the drinking,
yet we must not compare the Greek symposia with the wild drinking bouts
customary in Germany during the middle ages, which continued till the
17th century. In consequence of the weakness of the mixture, it must
have taken some time for the intoxicating effects to make themselves
apparent. Moreover, there were various kinds of amusement which caused
the drinking to fall somewhat into the background, but these naturally
varied a good deal according to the degree of culture and character of
the guests. Symposia, such as those described by Xenophon and Plato, at
which there was very deep drinking, but also really intellectual
conversation and discussion of deep problems, are, of course, idealised;
and, even in Plato’s Symposium, the presence of the flute girl shows
that the sensual element was regarded as well as the intellectual
entertainment. As a rule, music played an important part at the
symposia. Even in the Homeric period, song was an important feature of
the banquet. The cunning singer, who sang the stories of gods and heroes
to the accompaniment of the “lyre,” and who was listened to eagerly by
all, was never absent from any banquet at which a great number of guests
were present. In historic times, the musical entertainment took a
different character, for the guests, instead of merely listening, took
part in it themselves, singing generally as well as playing. There were
three kinds of singing; choruses, sung by all together, such as the
_Paean_ already mentioned; part songs, in which all shared, not
together, but each in his turn; and solos, sung by those who had special
musical ability and education. These solos were especially popular; the
singer accompanied himself with the harp, and here, too, they adhered to
the custom of always passing to the right the harp and the myrtle bough,
which the singer had to hold in his hand during the performance. Of
especial importance among these solo songs, from a literary point of
view, were the “Scolia,” which were usually of a serious character,
either religious, patriotic, or of a general moral nature. A well-known
scolion sang the praises of the two conspirators who murdered the tyrant
Hipparchus; it began as follows:--
“In myrtle veiled, I will the falchion wear;
For thus the patriot sword
Harmodius and Aristogeiton bare,
When they the tyrant’s bosom gored;
And bade the men of Athens be
Regenerate in equality.
Beloved Harmodius, oh, never
Shall death be thine, who livest for ever.
Thy shade, as men have told, inherits
The islands of the blessed spirits,
Where deathless live the glorious dead,
Achilles, fleet of foot, and Diomed.”[E]
Other songs celebrated the praise of wine, the joys of love, the
happiness of friendship; there were also special drinking songs, some
composed by very great poets, such as Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon,
Simonides, Pindar, who composed them in various metres. A vase painting
shows us a reveller lying on a couch with a wreath on his head, holding
a lyre in his hand, and singing, while raising his head as though
inspired; the words written underneath by the vase painter show us that
he is singing an ode by Theognis in praise of a beautiful boy. Here,
too, changes in taste took place in the course of time; many of the old
songs were regarded as old-fashioned, even in the time of Aristophanes,
and he who when his turn came sang a song by Simonides, instead of some
grand air from Euripides, was regarded as quite behind the times.
Very commonly flute or harp girls were present at the symposium, and
entertained the guests by playing and singing, and probably also by
dancing. These girls were either specially invited and paid by the host
for the evening, or else entered of their own accord a house where they
imagined there was a merry company, or they were sometimes introduced by
guests who came late in the evening. Thus, in Plato’s Symposium we find
a flute girl present at the beginning; she accompanies the introductory
libation with her playing, but one of the guests suggests that they
should send her away, and let her either play to herself or to the women
in their own apartments, since men preferred to entertain each other by
sensible conversation. But Plato was almost alone in this opinion, which
he expresses far more strongly in another place, saying that educated
men did not require flute or harp girls or dancers, or any such foolish
entertainment while drinking. Most people regarded these playing girls
as equally indispensable at the symposium with the entertainments and
wreaths, and accordingly in Plato’s banquet, towards the end of the
evening, Alcibiades, coming from another drinking party, already in a
state of intoxication, is supported by a flute girl who accompanies him.
On the vase pictures these girls are seldom wanting; and these pictorial
representations, as well as other allusions to the symposia, show that
the presence of these girls was not due only to a desire for music. The
flute and harp girls were almost always hetaerae, and liberties of
various kinds were taken with them; for instance, a guest might be
ordered to carry the flute girl several times round the room, or she
might be put up for auction, and handed over to the highest bidder as
his property for the evening; and in consequence of the presence of
these girls the drinking parties often became veritable orgies, in which
Eros was honoured no less than Dionysus. The vase painters sometimes
give us a picture almost too truthful, though this degeneracy of custom
seems to have increased rather than diminished in later times.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.]
Other kinds of amusements were also offered to the guests at the
symposia. In the “Banquet” of Xenophon, at an early stage of the
proceedings, a Syracusan appears, who has been invited by the host, with
a flute girl, a dancing girl, and a beautiful boy who plays a harp and
dances. They play and perform pantomimic dances; in particular, there is
a full description of one such dance, which represents in very graceful
fashion the meeting of Ariadne with Dionysus. Conjurers, too, so-called
“Thaumaturgists,” show their skill on these occasions. The dancing girl
in Xenophon’s “Banquet” throws twelve rings into the air while dancing,
and catches them all in turn; then she performs a bold sword dance,
turning head over heels into a stand round which sharp knives are set,
and out again in the same fashion. We often find similar representations
on vase paintings; thus, Fig. 99 shows a girl walking on her hands and
performing a dangerous dance between sharp swords. In a similar posture
the woman represented in Fig. 100 shoots an arrow with her toes from a
bow held between her feet. The ancient jugglers seem to have known all
the many tricks which are still admired at fairs and other popular
festivals, such as swallowing swords, eating fire, etc.; a feat unknown
at the present day was writing on a quickly-revolving potter’s wheel, or
reading something written on it. It was very common to invite such
jugglers at weddings or after feasts, but it was undoubtedly a
confession of weakness to have recourse to such trivialities instead of
carrying on an intellectual and interesting conversation. On a similar
low level were the official “entertainers,” who in ancient times took
the place of the Court fools of the middle ages. The jokes of these
“entertainers,” who travelled from house to house, from meal to meal,
who were always hungry, and glad to supply their jokes in return for
entertainment and payment, were as a rule very poor and shallow, and
their chief point seems to have consisted in leading the young men to
make fun of each other, and to submit good-humouredly to jokes practised
upon them.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.]
On a higher level were those social entertainments which laid the
intelligence and wit of the participants under contribution. To begin
with, there was free conversation, dealing with the many questions of
the day, politics, literature, etc.; but they generally avoided serious
subjects, and Anacreon says:--
“That man hold I not dear, who drinking his wine from a full bowl,
Ever of conquest and war sings but the dolorous strain,
But who the glorious gifts of the Muses and fair Aphrodite,
Mingling together, recalls feelings of joy and of love.”[F]
They amused themselves with games requiring thought--riddles and
such-like--as, for instance, naming an object which contained a certain
god’s name, or singing a verse in which one particular letter must not
appear, or whose first and last syllables must have a particular
meaning, etc. In circles where the culture was above the average, a
definite subject was sometimes given the guests for oratorical
discussion. Here, as in the drinking and singing, the turns also went to
the right after the subject had been previously discussed and fixed by
all together. The appointed tasks were of various kinds. A favourite
amusement seems to have been to compare the guests present with
particular objects, such as mythical monsters, etc., and here
opportunity was given for showing wit and making innocent jokes.
Sometimes, when a professional “entertainer” was present, the task was
left to him, but as he was not always plentifully supplied with wit, it
often happened that the poor man, who practised his jokes from
necessity, grew quite sad at the disregard of his witticisms. A more
difficult task, and one making greater demand on the intellect, was to
make a little improvised speech on some set subject, to praise or blame
some particular thing, and this became especially common with the
development of the rhetorical art. Thus, in the “Banquet” of Xenophon,
each guest has to say what he is proud of, and to give his reasons; in
Plato’s symposium, the glorification of Eros is the task appointed. In
the ages of the Alexandrine learning, this even led to learned
discussions, in which scientific problems of all kinds were treated over
the cups. Those who were successful in these intellectual contests, who
solved difficult riddles, etc., were rewarded, receiving wreaths or
fillets, or sometimes kisses; on the other hand, the symposiarch
inflicted punishments on those who were unsuccessful, and these usually
consisted in drinking, at a draught, a whole cupful of unmixed wine, or,
which was worse, wine mixed with salt water.
There were also a great number of games played at the symposium, and
also at other times, chiefly by young people. The one which was the most
popular at the symposia, and which in consequence we find on numerous
monuments, was _Cottabus_, a game introduced from Sicily, which fell
into disuse during the age of Alexander’s successors, and was unknown to
the Romans, so that the accounts we have of it are somewhat confused.
This much is certain, that it consisted in skilfully throwing drops of
wine left in the cup at some definite goal, and producing a certain
effect in striking it. The cup was held, not by the foot, but by one
handle with the fingers, and they did not use the whole arm in throwing
it, but only the wrist, or, if the arm was bent, only the lower arm.
There were various ways of playing this game; for the commonest, they
seem to have used a stand something like a high candelabrum (see the one
represented in Fig. 101), the shaft of which could be screwed higher or
lower according to requirement. On the top of it was balanced, placed
loosely upon it, a little saucer or bowl of brass, and the wine which
was thrown had to fall with a ringing noise upon it, and throw down the
disc; it is clear, from various vase paintings, that this was not
fastened to the top, since we see girls in the act of laying the disc on
the top of the shaft. This, however, was not enough; various
complications were added to increase the difficulty. On some of the
cottabus stands they fastened the figure of a slave, called “Manes,”
made of brass, which must also be struck in throwing, and according as
it was fastened on the shaft, either first or last. Sometimes the disc
on to which the wine was thrown must, when struck, fall down on to
another small scale fixed a little lower down, and the sound then made,
according as it was strong or weak, was regarded as a kind of oracle in
love. In Fig. 101, the bearded man lying on the couch is in the act of
throwing the wine left in his cup, which he holds by the first finger of
the right hand, at the cottabus stand. Near him lies a youth with a
thyrsus, who is handing fruit, or something of the kind, to a woman with
a tambourine, sitting on a cushion in front of him. On the right is a
cup-bearer, a naked boy with a wine can. Sometimes they seem to have
spirited the wine from their mouths instead of from a cup; or they set
little saucers or nut-shells to swim empty on the water, and tried to
fill them by throwing in the wine drops and making them sink. This
occupation, in spite of the great popularity it seems to have had in the
fifth and fourth centuries, can but be regarded as a very unintellectual
one.
[Illustration: FIG. 101.]
We may deal at once with the other most important games, in which
grown-up people took part in their hours of leisure. Many of these were
also children’s games, in particular the game of ball, which we find
even in Homeric times, and it was very popular throughout the whole of
antiquity, especially in the hours of recreation after the bath or after
physical exercises in the gymnasium, and it was especially recommended
by physicians as healthy exercise. Some other games also bore a
semi-gymnastic character, and will therefore be mentioned afterwards
under the heading of gymnastics. Games of skill or chance, which were
played with boards, figures, dice, etc., were very popular. We meet with
these board games, which were already known to the Egyptians, even in
the Homeric period. In later times, too, they were a favourite
amusement, and we often find them represented on ancient monuments.
Among the various modes of playing these, some bore a great resemblance
to our modern games; the “game of towns” may be compared to our
draughts; two opponents played at a board divided into squares with
thirty stones apiece, which differed in colour, and the game was, by
enclosing a hostile stone, either to capture it or to prevent it from
moving. The terra-cotta group represented here in Fig. 102 probably
shows a game of this kind. A youth and a woman are playing together,
while a third person, a caricature, is looking on; the board is roughly
divided into forty-two squares, and there are twelve flat stones, but we
cannot from this draw any conclusion about the nature of the game.
In this game, as in chess or draughts, the victory depended entirely on
the skill of the player, but an element of chance was added when the
defence of the stones on their lines or squares depended on the
[Illustration: FIG. 102.]
throwing of dice, which was the case in the game of “five-lines”
(πεντέγραμμος). But even here there seem to have been modifications,
which would enable a skilful player to compensate himself for an
unfavourable throw, by the choice of various moves open to him. The
games played with knuckle-bones and dice were pure games of chance, and
were very often played for money. In playing dice they used several,
generally three, dice, corresponding exactly to those of the present
day, and a cup from which they threw them, and a board or a table with
a raised edge on to which they were thrown. The victory depended on the
number of points thrown. The best throw, three times six, was called the
“Coan,” the worst, three times one, was called the “dog,” but there were
various rules of the game dealing with particular combinations, such as
is still the case in dice-playing at the present day.
There were several ways of playing with astragals, or knuckle-bones,
which were really the ball of the ankle-joint of a lamb, or else were
artificially imitated in other material. One way of playing, chiefly
used by children, but also sometimes by grown-up people, was a real game
of skill, and consisted in throwing up a number, usually five, of
knuckle-bones, pebbles, beans, coins, etc., and catching them again on
the back of the hand, meantime picking up with the stretched-out fingers
those which had fallen down. Sometimes they only played “odd or even,”
and one of the players had to guess straight away whether the other had
an odd or even number of these astragals, which took the place of our
counters, in his closed hand. Sometimes they played with astragals in
the same way as with dice. In this case the four large sides of the
bone, on which it might fall, had a particular numerical value, which
was not written upon it, but depended on the shape of the bone, as each
side differed from the others. The convex narrow side counted as one,
the other, concave, narrow side as six, the broad convex side as three,
and the broad concave side as four; two and five were wanting
altogether, for the other little surfaces of the bone were not counted,
since it could never fall upon them. Four pieces were generally used for
playing, and they were treated just like dice; the best throw was that
in which each of the astragals lay in a different position, and thus
all values were represented, sometimes they counted according to the
highest number thrown. In works of art we very often see girls playing
astragal. One of the prettiest of these is the terra-cotta figure from
Tanagra, represented in Fig. 103.
[Illustration: FIG. 103.]
Another game of chance was “fast and loose,” which very closely
resembled the game still played at fairs
[Illustration: FIG. 104.]
by sharpers. A strap was folded double and wound round several times on
a table; the player then pricked it with a dagger or other pointed
instrument, and if, when the strap was unwound, it appeared that the
point had gone between the layers of the strap, he won; but he lost if
the strap could be entirely wound off. Another favourite game was
similar to _morra_, still popular in Italy. Two players quickly thrust
out their right hands with some fingers bent in and others stretched
out, and they have at one glance to notice and exclaim how many fingers
of both hands together are stretched out. This game is often represented
on ancient works of art; for instance, on the vase painting depicted in
Fig. 104. Here a youth and a girl are playing, both are seated, though
morra players of the present day stand; in their left hands they hold a
stick, the object of which is to prevent them in the excitement of the
game from using their left hands by mistake. Similarly the Italians put
their left hands behind their backs while playing. The youth is
stretching out four fingers, the girl two, so that the number to be
called out in this case is six. A Cupid seated above is handing a wreath
to the girl, and thus pointing her out as victorious.
[Illustration: FIG. 105.]
A popular amusement in Greece was cock and quail fighting, a pursuit
which played so important a part at Athens that even the great theatre
of Dionysus had to be used for the purpose, and the Athenians actually
maintained that this was a spectacle calculated to rouse the courage of
the citizens to brave deeds. Fighting cocks were trained at Tanagra and
Rhodes; both young and old men aimed at the possession of fighting cocks
or quails, carried them about for hours, and tried by all possible means
to excite their courage in order to obtain prizes. For this purpose they
were fed with garlic, and sometimes brazen spurs were even tied on them
in order to make the wounds they inflicted more serious. The
representations (compare the vase painting, Fig. 105) show
[Illustration: FIG. 106.]
that before the beginning of the fight each owner took his bird in his
hand, knelt down, and thus gradually approached the cocks to one another
in order to excite them from a distance; then they were sent against
each other, and the owners stood up again. Sometimes the hens were
present at the fight, because the cocks were more inclined to fight in
their presence. A curious custom is mentioned--namely, that the owner of
the defeated bird took it up as quickly as possible and shouted loud
into its ear; the object of this was supposed to be to prevent the
defeated cock from hearing the triumphant crow of his conqueror, and
thus being discouraged for future combats.
To return to the symposium. We have already mentioned that, in spite of
the custom of mixing the wine with water, the great quantities consumed,
since drinking went on far into the night, did often conduce to
drunkenness. The scenes which were sometimes enacted by the light of the
quivering oil lamps were not always very attractive or indicative of the
grace and moderation which we are apt to regard as the special qualities
of Greeks. The vase painting depicted in Fig. 106 shows us the immediate
consequences of excessive drinking: we see a youth vomiting his wine,
while a pretty girl is smiling and holding his head.
The official termination of the symposium was a libation to Hermes, but
even then they did not always set out on their homeward journey in
company with the slaves who were waiting for their masters with torches
or lanterns, but sometimes their excitement led them to wander noisily
through the streets with the flute girls and torch bearers in a Comus
(κῶμος), and they thus entered the houses of friends who were still
sitting at their wine, or carried on all manner of jokes and
absurdities. This naturally led to other scenes, such as fighting, etc.,
especially if one of the participants tried to obtain entrance to an
hetaera, when a quarrel often ensued between the rivals. The vase
painting depicted in Fig. 107 represents a scene from the Comus, the
chief person in which is the drunken Hercules, accompanied by satyrs,
but in reality it is only a scene from real life transported to the
heroic domain. The hero, who is lying dead drunk on the
[Illustration: FIG. 107.]
ground, appears to have demanded admittance at a door which remained
closed to him, and some old woman has poured water upon him from a
window over the doorway. Two young satyrs, adorned with fillets and
wreaths, of whom one bears a thyrsus and a basket of fruit and cakes,
the other a mixing-bowl and fillets, and a harp girl with a thyrsus
wand, and a flute player with a torch, are the attendants of this night
wanderer. These scenes furnish an unpleasant contrast to the conclusion
of the Platonic Symposium, when Socrates, who has been drinking hard all
night, but at the same time carrying on serious conversation with some
friends as staunch as himself, gets up at daybreak, while the rest of
the participants have fallen fast asleep, walks with steady step to the
well in the Lyceum, and then, as usual, proceeds to his day’s
occupations.