Appetitive: Ancient Greek Drinking Parties

Symposia, or Ancient Greek drinking parties, were one of the mainstays of aristocratic society in classical Greece. I have mentioned Ancient Greek drinking songs in a previous post. Last night, while mourning the loss of some the Berkeley classes to which I wanted to listen, I came across a panel from the University of Warwick on iTunes U which discussed symposia. The podcast was quite enjoyable. The moderator was nt the most adept at phrasing or timing his questions, which was a little annoying, but overall it was both amusing and informative. For example, I did not know preciously that the original toasts at a symposium were consumed with unmixed wine or that the party was spoken of as a kind of journey into the excesses of drunken behavior. In the last few moments of the program, the group turns their attention to Plato's Symposium, which also proved to be quite an interesting topic. Enjoy!

Appetitive: Ancient Greek Drinking Songs for the Holidays

Music and wine for the holidays [1]! I have always liked the idea of Greek drinking songs, but only actually participated in the singing of them once. At one of the parties at our apartment, Cynthia brought out a Loeb and tried to have us sing one. Really the only adequate singer was Propertius II because my Greek pronunciation is terrible and Cynthia's voice does not quite have the robustness for drinking songs [2].

Anyway, I found some modern Greek musical interpretations of Ancient Greek lyric poetry on one of my searches for Ancient Greek drinking songs. From what Propertius II has told me of Ancient Greek music, this is far too melodious. However, I have only heard a little of it and it might be interesting. I also found an English translation of an Archilochus fragment that is one of the drinking songs at Extraface. I searched through an online archive of Archilochus for a while but I could not match it up to the Greek. I think I just was not looking hard enough because I was rushing. If someone figures out which fragment it is, please comment it or email me.

Perhaps I'll hunt down the Loeb in the library and see if I can find it after the holidays. Happy holidays, everyone!,

Endnotes

1. It is amusing that all of my holiday posts seem to be about booze, because I have almost no alcohol tolerance at all and do not drink very much. However, I like the idea of drinking and being merry, even though I mostly have to be merry without the drinking.
2. Her voice is much more suited to the indie songs that she sings with her ukulele.