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Red-figure bell krater

c. 440 B.C.
Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Inv. Stg. 281

 

Scene of symposium with four guests reclining on triclinium couches. In the foreground, a dancing girl with lance, shield and Attic helmet appears to be performing the pyrrica, a dance miming battle, often staged during banquets.

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.