The andrôn  was the site of an important social gathering for men in aristocratic circles called the symposium or 'drinking party'.  All attendees wore wreaths and reclined on couches, sometimes two to a couch.  Below we see an andrôn where  a symposium is taking place.  The symposiasts ('members of a symposium') are reclining one or two to a couch.  A female double-aulos player, who often was also an hetaira, in the center is entertaining the group.  She along with female slaves or other female entertainers (like dancers or acrobats) would be the only women who could be present among the men.  No respectable woman (like the host's wife) would be allowed to attend.  Note also the lyre hanging from the wall on the left.  In the course of the party, a symposiast might take the lyre down from the wall and accompany himself while he sang a song by one of the lyric poets.

The party started with a banquet, after which libations  were poured to the Agathos Daimôn ('Good Spirit') and then there was a triple libation to Zeus Olympios ('the Olympian'), the Heroes, and Zeus Sôter ('the Savior'), followed by a paean¹ sung to Apollo. The presiding deities of the symposium, however, were the three Graces (Charites).  Their names define the spirit of the symposium: Euphrosynê ('good cheer'), Thalia ('abundance', 'festivity'), and Aglaia ('beauty').  Any behavior at a symposium that might offend the gods or undermine the spirit of good will was frowned upon.  Xenophanes, the philosopher poet, warns that the ideals of good cheer and harmony with the gods could be undermined by acts of insolence (hybris ) involving verbal and physical abuse and the telling of stories of the Giants and Titans (revolts against the Olympian gods), of Centaurs (instigators of drunken battles) and of civil wars (conflict instead of good will among citizens).  Instead, the poet recommends stories of noble behavior so that virtue might be remembered and energetically praised (Frag. B1, 17-23).

Then the wine was mixed with water in a mixing bowl (kratêr). The members of the symposium made a decision about the proportion of wine to water and how much wine to drink.   All had to abide by this decision.  Wine was the Greeks’ drink of choice, but, for whatever reason, they considered the drinking of unmixed wine as barbarous. Often a leader of the symposium called basileus ('king') or symposiarch ('leader of the symposium') was elected to supervise the festivities.

Then the drinking began accompanied by the singing of songs by guests, sometimes improvised, sometimes from the poets, or discussions that ranged from athletics to philosophical issues.  Often professional musicians and performers such as acrobats and dancers were hired.  The symposium could also be highly charged sexually.  Sex could take place with hetairai (warning: this link to the Perseus Project will take you to a sexually explicit scene) or slaves of both sexes or with teenage male lovers, especially when they shared the same couch.  Often a symposium would end in a kômos or drunken procession of revelers through the streets in search of more fun, often involving rowdiness and sometimes even physical assaults on passersby.  The Greeks would have been amused by our puritanical view of such behavior, although no doubt many a reveler paid for his physical aggression by being sued by the victim.

 Notes

1. A hymn, usually to Apollo, but also used occasionally to honor other gods. Return to text.
 

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