2. “Hung here by the double doors, my garlands,
wait, and don't rustle too rashly your petals
that I drenched in tears (the eyes of lovers are a
storm),
but when the doors open and you see him,
pour my shower over his head, so at least
his blond hair can drink my tears.”
-Asclepiades
3. Plato’s Symposium
Interrupted by two Komoi
Commonplace
Alcibiades present
Attic cup in Munich ca. 490. Taking the Krater outdoors.
6. Komos
Komos (Comus)- God of revelry, son of Dionysus
and cup bearer
Hesiod’s Shield of Herakles
Brygos cup in Wurzburg ca. 480. Men throwing up with revelers.
7. The importance of Kraters
Attic cup in Munich ca. 490. Taking the Krater outdoors
12. “When Pittacus of Mitylene
ordained double fines for drunken
offenses, he was striking at the basis
of the power of Alcaeus and his fellow
aristocrats, whose symposia were the half
innocent excuse for anti-social behaviour,
which served to
reinforce their sense of power and unity
by terrorizing the innocent
demos: were the Penthelidai sober when
they roamed the streets beating people
up with clubs?”
-Murray, "The Greek Symposion in History"
13. “The violence of the
komos and its
defiance of the
community”
-O. Murray, "Forms of
Sociality"
15. “The violence of the komos and its
defiance of the community "could
lead to repressive legislation on the
part of the archaic polis. At
Mytilene, for instance, the lawgiver
decreed
double penalties for offences
committed when drunk;”
-O. Murray, "Forms of Sociality"
16. Brygos cup in Wurzburg ca. 480. Men throwing up with revelers.
17. “The fundamental potential for opposition
between drinking group and democracy is clear.
However much the fifth-century democracy might
try to provide public dining rooms and public
occasions for feasting, the symposion remained
largely a private and aristocratic preserve; but the
social attitudes which it existed to promote
required public display. This was provided by the
komos, the ritual drunken riot at the end of the
symposion, performed in public with the intention
of demonstrating the power and lawlessness of the
drinking group.”- O. Murray, “The Affair of the
Mysteries: Democracy and the Drinking Group”
18. Brygos cup in Wurzburg ca. 480. Men throwing up with revelers.
19. “While these preparations were going on it was found
that in one night nearly all the stone Herms in the city
of Athens had had their faces disfigured by being cut
about. These are a national institution, the well-known
square-cut figures, of which there are great numbers
both in the porches of private houses and in the
temples. No one knew who had done this, but large
rewards were offered by the state in order to find out
who the criminals were, and there was also a decree
passed guaranteeing immunity to anyone, citizen,
alien, or slave, who knew of any other sacrilegious act
that had taken place and would come forward with
information about it. The whole affair, indeed, was
taken very seriously, as it was regarded as an omen for
the expedition, and at the same time as evidence of a
revolutionary conspiracy to overthrow the
democracy.” -Thucydides 6.27-28
20. The Trial of Alcibiades
Sicilian Military Expedition
Athenian fleet under suspicion
Attack on the democratic system of Athens
Sentenced to Death
Fled to Sparta
Democracy gave way to Oligarchy
21. “The polis was forced to legistlate
against these activities because
they were more than mere drunken
high spirits; they were an expression of
the sympotic social ethos with its
disdain for the common man...The
mutilation of the Hermae was not
regarded as an innocent example of
upper class high spirits, and it was
thought so typical of Alcibiades and
his fellow aristocrats that it focussed on
him the pent-up dislike of ordinary
Athenians for the aristocratic sympotic
style of life.”
-(Thuc.8.54.4)
22.
23. Photos
Euphronios volute Krater (Herakles vs Amazons) ca.
510 from Arezzo. Dancing revelers.
Skyphos by Brygos in Louvre ca. 480. Komasts with
hetairas.
Brygos cup in Wurzburg ca. 480. Men throwing up
with revelers.
Chous from Malibu ca. 470 with Komast Peeing into
a wine jug.
Attic cup in Munich ca. 490. Taking the Krater
outdoors.
Francois Vase by Kleitias in Florence ca. 570
24. Sources
Aristophanes Wasps vv.1300 ff
Asclepiades (1st half of the 3rd cent. B.C.), G-P 12 = AP 5.145
Plato, Symposium 212c-223 b
Thucydides 6.27-28
O. Murray, "The Greek Symposion in History" p.268
O. Murray, “The Affair of the Mysteries: Democracy and the Drinking Group”, in
Sympotica (Oxford 1990) 149-161
Aristotle, Politics 5 1313b1-5
[O. Murray, "Forms of Sociality" p.232 and p 269
Aristotle, Constitution of the Naxians (cited by Athenaeus 8.348b-c):
Thucydides 6.27-28 (during the launching of the Sicilian Expedition in 415 B.C.):
“Komos.” Wikipedia. Web 2 April 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komos
“COMUS: Satyr Demi-God of Festivity & Merrymaking: Greek Mythology, Komos,”
COMUS: Satyr Demi-God of Festivity & Merrymaking. Web 1 April 2015.
http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosKomos.html
