A Drinking Party in Athens

The drinking party was a male aristocratic institution in private houses it's a kind of gentleman's club there would be various forms of entertainment often involving female pipe players who also danced and indeed offered skills beyond music and dancing. These these symposia could get quite boardy but also there was a very strong intellectual and cultural side so as well as the fun they could have intellectual and literary discussions about poetry or some philosophic discussion they could have competitions. A really important aspect of the symposium was to initiate the young teenage male into various social and cultural norms of Athens and into various political groupingsoften in the context of a male homoerotic relationship.

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