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Red-figure bell krater

360-330 B.C.
Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Inv. 82582

 

Languidly occupying the same kline, three banqueters, semi-reclining according to a practice borrowed from oriental customs, raise their arms to garland themselves with flowers. The head of the personage on the left lolls backwards, probably due to having drunk too much.

APPROFONDIMENTI

The symposium: forms of conviviality

Around wine there gradually developed a form of conviviality that included dining. The term symposion indicates "drinking together", a kind of private drinking party. From the 5th century B.C. on, the whole group of activities centred around eating and drinking assumed a symbolic value, allusive to a condition of celestial beatitude.