Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Private Life 151
Scene at a symposium. From Religion and the Greeks by Robert
Garland (Bristol, U.K.: Bristol Classical Press, 1994).
Reprinted by permission of Duckworth Publishers.
an oinochoê or jug for pouring wine, and a hydria or jug for pouring
water. The pottery was frequently decorated with figured scenes,
often of very refined artisanship. As noted, these scenes provide a
major source of information about conduct at these gatherings.
Although the proportion of wine to water varied from symposium
to symposium, there was usually a preponderance of water.
Homer praises a much-diluted blend, and Hesiod went so far as to
recommend three parts of water to one part of wine.
Games
One of the most popular symposiastic entertainments was the
capping game. The rules were as follows: either the first player
recited a well-known line from poetry and the second had to cap it
by quoting the verse that followed, or, alternatively, the first player
recited a whole passage of poetry and the next had to deliver a similar
passage from a different poet on the same theme. Other variants
are also known, such as having to quote a line of poetry that
begins with the same letter as ended the line of the one previously
quoted.
The Greek equivalent to darts was called kottabos. A piece of
wood or bronze was fixed into a depression in the floor or attached