Symposium
The symposium was the ritualised Greek drinking party where men reclined on couches, mixed wine with water, and engaged in conversation, poetry, music, and philosophical debate.
The Meaning of Symposium
The symposium followed a strict format: first dinner, then the krater (mixing bowl) was prepared — Greeks considered drinking unmixed wine barbaric. A symposiarch was elected to set the ratio of wine to water and the rules of conversation. Drinking was communal from a shared kylix (cup). Conversation ranged from politics to philosophy to love poetry. Plato set his greatest dialogue at a symposium where guests give speeches about love. The symposium was where Greek culture happened — ideas were tested, alliances formed, poetry composed, and young men educated.
Symbols
Fun Fact
A modern "symposium" meaning an academic conference preserves the Greek practice — though the wine-to-water ratio has changed.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Symposium
💭 conceptLanguage and culture
An English word for an academic conference or meeting, derived from the Greek symposion, a formal drinking party where guests reclined on couches and discussed philosophy, poetry, and politics
Symposion
💭 conceptsocial institutions, philosophy
The drinking party — the formal institution of elite male socializing over wine that was simultaneously a vehicle for poetry, philosophy, music, and erotic display.
Symposium
💭 conceptPlato's dialogue on the nature of love
Plato's Symposium was a philosophical dialogue set at a drinking party where guests give speeches about Eros — including Aristophanes' myth that humans were once doubled beings split in two.
Methe
⚡ godDrunkenness, intoxication
The daimon of drunkenness who personified the power of wine to dissolve inhibitions and alter consciousness
God of Wine
💭 conceptWine, festivity, ecstasy, theatre, rebirth
Dionysus rules over wine, ritual madness, and the transformative power of theatre and celebration.
Dionysian Mysteries
💭 conceptReligion
Ecstatic ritual practices devoted to Dionysus involving wine, music, and spiritual liberation
Comus
⚡ godFestivity, revelry, nocturnal merrymaking
The god of festive celebration and the joyful excesses of the evening banquet
Bacchanalian
💭 conceptLanguage and culture
An English adjective meaning wildly intoxicated, riotous, or characterised by drunken revelry, derived from Bacchus, the Roman name for the Greek god Dionysus
Komos
⚡ godRevelry, the festive procession after a banquet
The spirit of the drunken revel and nocturnal celebration that followed the Greek symposium
Republic
💭 conceptLiterature
Plato's philosophical dialogue exploring justice, the ideal state, and the nature of the soul
Comedy
💭 conceptLanguage and drama
An English word for a humorous dramatic work, derived from the Greek komodia meaning "revel song," from the drunken processions honouring Dionysus
Theoxenia
💭 conceptFestival, hospitality, gods
Ritual feast where gods were invited as honoured guests to dine alongside mortals