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82-424: At a Greek symposium , kraters were placed in the center of the room. They were quite large, so they were not easily portable when filled. Thus, the wine-water mixture would be withdrawn from the krater with other vessels, such as a kyathos ( pl. : kyathoi ), an amphora ( pl. : amphorai ), or a kylix ( pl. : kylikes ). In fact, Homer 's Odyssey describes a steward drawing wine from

164-581: A Celtic tomb in central France, is the largest known Greek krater , being 1.63 m in height and over 200 kg in weight. Others were in silver, which were too valuable and tempting to thieves to be buried in graves, and have not survived. Ornamental stone kraters are known from Hellenistic times, the most famous being the Borghese Vase of Pentelic Marble and the Medici Vase , also of marble. After rediscovery of these pieces, imitations became

246-424: A Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women were not allowed to attend. The wine was drawn from a krater , a large jar designed to be carried by two men, and served from pitchers ( oenochoe ) . Determined by the symposiarch, the wine was diluted to a specific strength and was then mixed. Slave boys would manage the krater , and transfer the wine into pitchers. They then attended to each man in

328-589: A Phrygian ruler there: Pteria's strategic location would have been useful in protecting the Lydian Empire from attacks from the east, and its proximity to the Royal Road would have made of the city an important centre from which caravans could be protected. Phrygia under Lydian rule would continue to be administered by its local elites, such as the ruler of Midas City who held Phrygian royal titles such as lawagetai (king) and wanaktei (commander of

410-583: A Phrygian state vassal to the Lydians which might have attempted to rebel against Lydian suzerainty and instead declare its allegiance to the new Persian Empire of Cyrus. Cyrus retaliated by intervening in Cappadocia and attacking the Lydians at Pteria in a battle in which Croesus was defeated. After this first battle, Croesus burnt down Pteria to prevent Cyrus from using its strategic location and returned to Sardis. However, Cyrus followed Croesus and defeated

492-605: A bare straw amount. According to Herodotus , Croesus encountered the Greek sage Solon and showed him his enormous wealth. Croesus, secure in his own wealth and happiness, asked Solon who the happiest man in the world was, and was disappointed by Solon's response that three had been happier than Croesus: Tellus , who died fighting for his country, and the brothers Kleobis and Biton who died peacefully in their sleep after their mother prayed for their perfect happiness because they had demonstrated filial piety by drawing her to

574-497: A campaign by Cyrus against Lydia around 547 BC during which he "marched against the country, killed its king, took his possessions, and put there a garrison of his own". However, the verb used in the Nabonidus Chronicle could be used both in the sense "to kill" and "to destroy as a military power", making any precise deduction of the fate of Croesus from it impossible. More recent studies have moreover concluded that

656-533: A centre of operations for military actions against the Cimmerians , a nomadic people from the Pontic steppe who had invaded Western Asia , and attacked Lydia over the course of several invasions during which they killed Alyattes's great-grandfather Gyges , and possibly his grandfather Ardys and his father Sadyattes . As governor of Adramyttium, Croesus had to provide his father with Ionian Greek mercenaries for

738-535: A daughter of Cyaxares might have been married to Croesus. Croesus continued these good relations with the Medes after he succeeded Alyattes and Astyages succeeded Cyaxares. Under Croesus's rule, Lydia continued its good relations started by Gyges with the Saite Egyptian kingdom, then ruled by the pharaoh Amasis II . Both Croesus and Amasis had common interests in fostering trade relations at Naucratis with

820-427: A festival in an oxcart themselves. Solon goes on to explain that Croesus cannot be the happiest man because the fickleness of fortune means that the happiness of a man's life cannot be judged until after his death. Sure enough, Croesus' hubristic happiness was reversed by the tragic deaths of his accidentally killed son and, according to Ctesias , his wife's suicide at the fall of Sardis, not to mention his defeat at

902-508: A figure of myth, who stood outside the conventional restraints of chronology." The name of Croesus was not attested in contemporary inscriptions in the Lydian language . In 2019, D. Sasseville and K. Euler published a research of Lydian coins apparently minted during his rule, where the name of the ruler was rendered as Qλdãns . The name Croesus comes from the Latin transliteration of

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984-455: A great empire" should he attack Cyrus. This answer of the Delphian oracle remains one of the famous oracular statements from Delphi . Likely legendary were also the responses of the oracles of Delphi and Amphiaraus telling Croesus to ally with the strongest of all Greeks, whom Croesus found out to be the state to which he had previously offered the gold which they had used for the gilding of

1066-414: A honorific name meaning "The noble Karoś". Croesus was born in 620 BC to the king Alyattes of Lydia and one of his queens, a Carian noblewoman whose name is still unknown. Croesus had at least one full sister, Aryenis , as well as a half-brother named Pantaleon, born from a Ionian wife of Alyattes. Under his father's reign, Croesus had been a governor of Adramyttium, which Alyattes had rebuilt as

1148-435: A krater at a banquet and then running to and fro pouring the wine into guests' drinking cups. The modern Greek word now used for undiluted wine, krasi ( κρασί ), originates from the krasis ( κράσις , lit.   ' mixing ' ) of wine and water in kraters. Pottery kraters were glazed on the interior to make the surface of the clay more impervious for holding water, and possibly for aesthetic reasons, since

1230-634: A military campaign against the Ionian city of Ephesus . The ruling dynasty of Ephesus had engaged in friendly relations with Lydia consolidated by diplomatic marriages from the reign of Gyges until that of Alyattes: the Ephesian tyrant Pindar, who had previously supported Pantaleon in the Lydian succession struggle, was the son of a daughter of Alyattes, and was thus a nephew of Croesus. After Pindar rejected an envoy by Croesus demanding Ephesus to submit to Lydia,

1312-473: A military campaign in Caria. During Croesus's tenure as governor of Adramyttium itself, a rivalry had developed between him and his step-brother Pantaleon, who might have been intended by Alyattes to be his successor. Following Alyattes's death in 585 BC, this rivalry became an open succession struggle out of which Croesus emerged victorious. Once Croesus's position as king was secure, he immediately launched

1394-607: A scientific conference. The equivalent of a Greek symposium in Roman society is the Latin convivium. The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for the progeny of respected families to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were frequently held to celebrate the introduction of youth into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests. Many archaic poetic sources were written by members of

1476-525: A staple of garden decoration in the Baroque and Neoclassical periods. The French artist and landscape designer Hubert Robert included the Borghese Vase, both alone and together with other stone kraters, in several of his works. Symposium In Ancient Greece , the symposium ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : συμπόσιον , sympósion or symposio , from συμπίνειν, sympínein , 'to drink together')

1558-408: A statue of the god Apollo, Sparta, shortly after its victory over its fellow Greek city-state of Argos in 547 BC. The claim of Herodotus that Croesus, Amasis, and Nabonidus formed a defensive alliance against Cyrus of Persia appears to have been a retroactive exaggeration of the existing diplomatic and trade relations between Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon. Croesus first attacked Pteria , the capital of

1640-429: A third. The handles were pulled separately. They were studied by archaeologist Tomris Bakır . These are among the largest of the kraters, supposedly developed by the potter Exekias in black-figure style, though in fact almost always seen in red. The lower body is shaped like the calyx of a flower, and the foot is stepped. The psykter -shaped vase fits inside it so well stylistically that it has been suggested that

1722-407: Is " Croesus and Fate ", a short story by Leo Tolstoy that is a retelling of the account of Croesus as told by Herodotus and Plutarch. Crœsus, King of Lydia , is a tragedy in five parts by Alfred Bate Richards , first published in 1845. To be " riche comme Crésus " is a popular French saying to describe the wealthiest of the wealthy, and gave its name to a TF1 game show Crésus , where the king

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1804-754: Is reimagined as a CGI skeleton, who has returned from the dead to give some of his money away to lucky contestants. On The Simpsons , the wealthy Montgomery Burns lives at the corner of Croesus and Mammon Streets. In The Sopranos season 4 episode 6, Ralph Cifaretto tells Artie Bucco “With what you take out of that bar, you must be sitting on money like King Croesus.” In Squidbillies season 6 episode 8, Dan Halen remarks that he paid Early Cuyler, who he said "left with cash in hand, rich as Croesus". In Ghosts (2019 TV series) season 1 episode 5, Julian Fawcett (played by Simon Farnaby ) compares Barclays Beg-Chetwynde (played by Geoffrey McGivern ) to Croesus, "Oh I remember this berk... rich as Croesus, loves

1886-563: The Greek Κροισος Kroisos , which was thought to be the ancient Hellenic adaptation of the reconstructed Lydian name 𐤨𐤭𐤬𐤥𐤦𐤮𐤠𐤮 Krowisas . Krowisas was also analyzed as a compound term consisting of the proper name 𐤨𐤠𐤭𐤬𐤮 Karoś , of a glide 𐤥 ( -w- ) and of the Lydian term 𐤦𐤮𐤠𐤮 iśaś , perhaps meaning "master, lord, noble". According to J. M. Kearns, Croesus's real personal name would have been Karoś , while Krowisas would have been

1968-613: The Midas myth because Lydian precious metals came from the river Pactolus , in which King Midas supposedly washed away his ability to turn all he touched into gold. In reality, Alyattes' tax revenues may have been the real 'Midas touch' financing his and Croesus' conquests. Croesus' wealth remained proverbial beyond classical antiquity: in English, expressions such as "rich as Croesus" or "richer than Croesus" are used to indicate great wealth to this day. The earliest known such usage in English

2050-555: The Persian daric . These late croesid coins bearing "bull and lion" images used under Cyrus differed from previous Mermnad croesids in that they were lighter and their weight was closer to those of the early golden darics and silver sigloi. According to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (c. 410–490s AD), who wrote a monumental History of Armenia , the Armenian king Artaxias I accomplished many military deeds, which include

2132-471: The 416 BC Dionysia . According to Plato's account, the celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the toast of the town, the young Alcibiades , dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium. The men at the symposium would discuss a multitude of topics—often philosophical or political. A symposium would be overseen by a "symposiarch" ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : συμπόσιάρχης  : symposiárchēs) who would decide how strong

2214-520: The Classical period the volute-type continued to be very popular along with the calyx-type, and beside the Corinthian workshop an Attic one was probably active. Exquisite exemplars of both volute- and calyx-kraters come from Macedonian 4th century BC graves. Among them the gilded Derveni Krater represents an exceptional chef d'œuvre of late Classical metalwork. The Vix bronze crater , found in

2296-718: The Graeco-Roman historians' traditional account of the Halys River as having been set as the border between the Lydian and the Median kingdom, which appears to have been a retroactive narrative construction based on symbolic role assigned by Greeks to the Halys as the separation between Lower Asia and Upper Asia as well as on the Halys being a later provincial border within the Achaemenid Empire . The eastern border of

2378-520: The Greek city-states on the islands and he instead concluded treaties of friendship with them, which might have helped him participate in the lucrative trade the Aegean Greeks carried out with Egypt at Naucratis . The Lydians had already conquered Phrygia under the rule of Alyattes, who took advantage of the weakening of the various polities all across Anatolia by the Cimmerian raids and used

2460-647: The Greek symposia; however, one major difference is that women of status participated more fully in this as in other realms of Etruscan society . Women were allowed to drink wine and recline with men at feasts. Some Etruscan women were even considered "expert drinkers". Additionally, Etruscan women were often buried with drinking and feasting paraphernalia, suggesting that they partook in these activities. The most apparent distinctions between Greek and Etruscan drinking parties appear in Etruscan art. Etruscan paintings show men and women drinking wine together and reclining on

2542-426: The Greek virtue of moderation, the symposiarch should have prevented festivities from getting out of hand, but Greek literature and art often indicate that the third- krater limit was not observed. Symposiums are often featured on Attic pottery and Richard Neer has argued that the chief function of Attic pottery was for use in the symposium. An amphora was used as a jug to hold the wine and usually one single cup

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2624-661: The Greeks, including with the Milesians who were under Lydian authority. These trade relations also functioned as an access point for Greek mercenaries serving the Saite pharaohs. Croesus also established trade and diplomatic relations with the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nabonidus , which ensured the transition of Lydian products towards Babylonian markets. Croesus also continued the good relations between Lydia and

2706-627: The Lydian armies, and the Cilicians , who had already been conquered by Neo-Babylonian Empire . Modern estimates nevertheless suggest that it is not impossible that the Lydians might have subjected Lycia, given that the Lycian coast would have been important for the Lydians because it was close to a trade route connecting the Aegean region, the Levant , and Cyprus . Modern studies also consider doubtful

2788-566: The Lydian army again at Thymbra before besieging and capturing the Lydian capital of Sardis , thus bringing an end to the rule of the Mermnad dynasty and to the Lydian Empire. Lydia would never regain its independence and would remain a part of various successive empires. Although the dates for the battles of Pteria and Thymbra and of end of the Lydian empire have been traditionally fixed to 547 BC, more recent estimates suggest that Herodotus's account being unreliable chronologically concerning

2870-569: The Lydian king started to pressure the city and demanded that Pindar leave it and go into exile. After Pindar accepted these terms, Croesus annexed Ephesus into the Lydian Empire. Once Ephesus was under Lydian rule, Croesus provided patronage for the reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis , to which he offered a large number of marble columns as dedication to the goddess. Meanwhile the Ionian city of Miletus had been willingly sending tribute to Mena in exchange for being spared from Lydian attacks because

2952-511: The Phrygian vassals had the duty to provide military support and sometimes offer rich tribute to the Lydian kingdom. This situation continued under the rule of Croesus, with one inscription attesting of the presence of Croesus's son Atys at the court of one local ruler of Midas City himself named Midas. At Midas City, Atys held the position of priest of the sacred fire of the mother goddess Aryastin, and through him Croesus provided patronage to

3034-726: The Seven Sages , in the Suda (entry "Μᾶλλον ὁ Φρύξ," which adds Aesop and the Seven Sages of Greece ), and by Tolstoy in his short story " Croesus and Fate ". In 550 BC, Croesus's brother-in-law, the Median king Astyages, was overthrown by his own grandson, the Persian king Cyrus the Great . In a likely legendary event recounted by Herodotus, Croesus responded by consulting the oracle of Delphi, who told him that he would "destroy

3116-485: The aforementioned locations as well as in Hacıtuğrul , Afyonkarahisar , and Konya , which would have provided to the Lydian kingdom access to the produce and roads of Phrygia. The presence of a Lydian ivory plaque at Kerkenes Daǧ suggests that Alyattes's control of Phrygia might have extended to the east of the Halys River to include the city of Pteria , with the possibility that he may have rebuilt this city and placed

3198-476: The armies), but were under the authority of the Lydian kings of Sardis and had a Lydian diplomatic presence at their court, following the framework of the traditional vassalage treaties used since the period of the Hittite and Assyrian empires, and according to which the Lydian king imposed on the vassal rulers a "treaty of vassalage" which allowed the local Phrygian rulers to remain in power, in exchange of which

3280-466: The body of the vase. Bell kraters were first made in the early 5th century, which meant that it came later than the three other krater types. This form of krater looks like an inverted bell with handles that are faced up. Bell kraters are red-figure and not black-figure like the other kraters. According to most scholars ceramic kraters imitated shapes designed initially for metal vessels; these were common in antiquity, but survivals are very rare, as

3362-468: The building of the religious monument in the city now known as the Midas Monument. The presence of Atys at the court of this Midas might have inspired the legend recounted by Herodotus, according to which Croesus had a dream in which Atys was killed by an iron spear, after which he prevented his son from leading military activities, but Atys nevertheless found death while hunting a wild boar which

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3444-436: The capture of Croesus and the conquest of the Lydian kingdom (2.12–13). References to Croesus' legendary power and wealth, often as a symbol of human vanity, are numerous in literature. The following, by Isaac Watts , is from the poem "False Greatness": Thus mingled still with wealth and state, Croesus himself can never know; His true dimensions and his weight Are far inferior to their show. Another literary example

3526-464: The city-state of Sparta , to whom he provided the gold they needed to gild a statue of the god Apollo after the oracle of Delphi told them they would obtain this gold from Croesus. Croesus is credited with issuing the first true gold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation, the Croeseid (following on from his father Alyattes who invented minting with electrum coins). Indeed,

3608-408: The column krater, but the handles are unique: to make each, the potter would have first made two side spirals ("volutes") as decorative disks, then attached a long thin slab of clay around them both forming a drum with flanged edges. This strip would then have been continued downward until the bottom of the handle, where the potter would have cut a U-shaped arch in the clay before attaching the handle to

3690-562: The dregs of their wine in a kylix , a platter-like stemmed drinking vessel, and flung them at a target. Another feature of the symposia were skolia , drinking songs of a patriotic or bawdy nature, performed competitively with one symposiast reciting the first part of a song and another expected to improvise the end of it. Symposiasts might also compete in rhetorical contests, for which reason the word "symposium" has come to refer in English to any event where multiple speeches are made. Etruscan art shows scenes of banqueting that recall aspects of

3772-791: The drinking of assigned quantities of wine, and the oversight of a master of the ceremonies appointed for the occasion from among the guests. Another Roman version of the symposium was the convivium . Women's roles differed in Roman symposia as well. Roman women were legally prohibited from drinking wine as a matter of public morality. Men were expected to control their own wine consumption, but women were not given this authority. Croesus Croesus ( / ˈ k r iː s ə s / KREE -səs ; Lydian : 𐤨𐤭𐤬𐤥𐤦𐤮𐤠𐤮 Krowisas ; Phrygian : Akriaewais ; Ancient Greek : Κροῖσος , romanized :  Kroisos ; Latin : Croesus ; reigned: c.  585  – c.  546 BC )

3854-469: The fall of Lydia means that there are currently no ways of dating the fall of Sardis ; theoretically, it may even have taken place after the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Croesus's fate after the Persian conquest of Lydia is uncertain: Herodotus , the poet Bacchylides and Nicolaus of Damascus claimed that Croesus either tried to commit suicide on a pyre or was condemned by the Persians to be burnt at

3936-538: The first rank, and were granted the permission to become Delphian priests. These exchanges of gifts for privileges in turn meant that strong relations of hospitality existed between Lydia and Delphi due to which the Delphians had the duty to welcome, protect, and ensure the well-being of Lydian ambassadors. Croesus further increased his contacts with the Greeks on the European continent by establishing relations with

4018-546: The governor of the city of Barene in Media. A passage from the Nabonidus Chronicle was long held to have referred to a military campaign of Cyrus against a country whose name has been largely erased except for the first cuneiform character which had been interpreted as Lu , extrapolated to be the first syllable of an Akkadian name for Lydia. This passage in the Nabonidus Chronicle would thus have referred to

4100-422: The guests. Among the instruments women might play was the aulos , a Greek woodwind instrument sometimes compared to an oboe . When string instruments were played, the barbiton was the traditional instrument. Slaves and boys also provided service and entertainment. The guests also participated actively in competitive entertainments. A game sometimes played at symposia was kottabos , in which players swirled

4182-486: The hands of the Persians. The interview is in the nature of a philosophical disquisition on the subject "Which man is happy?" It is legendary rather than historical. Thus, the "happiness" of Croesus is presented as a moralistic exemplum of the fickleness of Tyche , a theme that gathered strength from the fourth century, revealing its late date. The story was later retold and elaborated by Ausonius in The Masque of

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4264-515: The historical Croesus did in fact die on the pyre, and that the stories of him as a wise advisor to the courts of Cyrus and Cambyses are purely legendary, showing similarities to the sayings of Ahiqar . A similar conclusion is drawn in a recent article that makes a case for the proposal that the Lydian word Qλdãnś, both meaning 'king' and the name of a god, and pronounced /kʷɾʲ'ðãns/ with four consecutive Lydian sounds unfamiliar to ancient Greeks, could correspond to Greek Κροισος , or Croesus . If

4346-464: The identification is correct it might have the interesting historical consequence that king Croesus chose suicide at the stake and was subsequently deified. After defeating Croesus, Cyrus adopted the use of gold coinage as the main currency of his kingdom. The use of croesid coins under the Persian Empire would continue under Cyrus, and would end only after Darius the Great replaced them by

4428-475: The interior could easily be seen. The exterior of kraters often depicted scenes from Greek life, such as the Attic Late 1 Krater, which was made between 760 and 735 B.C.E. This object was found among other funeral objects, and its exterior depicted a funeral procession to the gravesite. At the beginning of each symposium a symposiarch ( συμποσίαρχος , symposíarchos , 'lord of the common drink'),

4510-467: The invention of coinage had passed into Greek society through Hermodike II . Hermodike II, the daughter of an Agamemnon of Cyme , claimed descent from the original Agamemnon who conquered Troy . She was likely one of Alyettes’ wives, so may have been Croesus’ mother, because the bull imagery on the croeseid symbolises the Hellenic Zeus —see Europa (consort of Zeus) . Zeus, through Hercules,

4592-602: The kingdom of Croesus would thus have instead been further to the east of the Halys, at an undetermined point in eastern Anatolia. Croesus continued the friendly relations with the Medes concluded by his father Alyattes and the Median king Cyaxares after five years of war in 585 BC, shortly before both their respective deaths that same year. As part of the peace treaty ending the war between Media and Lydia, Croesus's sister Aryenis had married Cyaxares's son and successor Astyages , who thus became Croesus's brother-in-law, while

4674-651: The lack of a centralised Phrygian state and the traditionally friendly relations between the Lydian and Phrygian elites to extend Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia. Lydian presence in Phrygia is archaeologically attested by the existence of a Lydian citadel in the Phrygian capital of Gordion , as well as Lydian architectural remains in northwest Phrygia, such as in Dascylium , and in the Phrygian Highlands at Midas City . Lydian troops might have been stationed in

4756-589: The metal was recyclable. Among the largest and most famous metal kraters in antiquity were one in the possession of the Samian tyrant Polycrates , and another one dedicated by Croesus to the Delphic oracle . There are a few extant Archaic bronze kraters (or often only their handles), almost exclusively of the volute-type. Their main production centres were Sparta , Argos and Corinth , in Peloponnesus. During

4838-571: The non-erased cuneiform sign was not Lu , but rather Ú , making untenable the interpretation of the text as talking of a campaign against Lydia, and instead suggesting that the campaign was against Urartu . The scholar Max Mallowan argued that there is no evidence that Cyrus the Great killed Croesus, in particular rejected the account of burning on a pyre, and interpreted Bacchylides' narration as Croesus attempting suicide and then being saved by Cyrus. The historian Kevin Leloux instead maintained

4920-460: The other mentioned peoples and the Lydian kings; moreover, given this was the situation detailed by Herodotus under the reign of Croesus, it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes. The only populations Herodotus claimed were independent of the Lydian Empire were the Lycians , who lived in a mountainous country which would not have been accessible to

5002-444: The overthrow of the city's last tyrants, Thoas and Damasenor, and the replacement of the tyranny by a system of magistrates had annulated the relations of friendship initiated by Alyattes and the former Milesian tyrant Thrasybulus . Croesus continued his attacks against the other Greek cities of the western coast of Asia Minor until he had subjugated all of mainland Ionia , Aeolis , and Doris , but he abandoned his plans of annexing

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5084-596: The peoples to the west of the Halys River - the Lydians , Phrygians , Mysians , Mariandyni , Chalybes , Paphlagonians , Thyni and Bithyni Thracians , Carians , Ionians , Dorians , Aeolians , and Pamphylians . However information only about the relations between the Lydians and the Phrygians is attested in both literary and archaeological sources, and there is no available data concerning relations between

5166-408: The reading of the Nabonidus Chronicle as referring to a campaign of Cyrus against Lydia to argue that Croesus was indeed executed by Cyrus. According to him, the story of Croesus and the pyre would have been imagined by the Greeks based on the fires started during the Persian capture of Sardis throughout the lower city, where the buildings were made largely of wood. In 2003, Stephanie West argued that

5248-513: The same cushions. The Sarcophagus of the Spouses , found in the Etruscan region dating to 520–530 BC, depicts a man and women lounging together in the context of a banquet, which is a stark contrast with gendered Greek drinking parties. As with many other Greek customs, the aesthetic framework of the symposium was adopted by the Romans under the name of comissatio . These revels also involved

5330-530: The sanctuary of the god Apollo in Delphi on continental Greece first established by his great-great-grandfather Gyges and maintained by his father Alyattes, and just like his ancestors, Croesus offered the sanctuary rich presents in dedication, including a lion made of gold and weighing ten talents. In exchange for the offerings of Croesus to the sanctuary of Apollo, the Lydians obtained precedence in consulting its oracle, were exempt from taxes, were allowed to sit at

5412-408: The second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. In keeping with

5494-418: The social elite communities, and so may not be completely representative of the whole local society. Symposia were usually held in the andrōn (ἀνδρών), the citizen quarters of the household. The participants, or "symposiasts", would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations, the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting

5576-455: The stake until a thunderstorm's rain water extinguished the fire after either his or his son's prayers to the god Apollo (or after Cyrus heard Croesus calling the name of Solon). In most versions of the story, Cyrus kept Croesus as his advisor, although Bacchylides claimed that the god Zeus carried Croesus away to Hyperborea . Xenophon similarly claimed that Cyrus kept Croesus as his advisor, while Ctesias claimed that Cyrus appointed Croesus as

5658-519: The symposium progressed smoothly and without drunken excess. This form originated in Corinth in the seventh century BC, but was taken over by the Athenians where it is typically black-figure . They ranged in size from 35 centimetres (14 in) to 56 centimetres (22 in) in height and were usually thrown in three pieces: the body/ shoulder area was one, the base another, and the neck/ lip/ rim

5740-465: The symposium with the pitchers and filled their cups with wine. Certain formalities were observed, most important among which were libations , the pouring of a small amount of wine in honour of various deities or the mourned dead. In a fragment from his c. 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus , Eubulus has the god of wine Dionysos describe proper and improper drinking: For sensible men I prepare only three kraters : one for health (which they drink first),

5822-565: The total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven (Oswyn Murray gives a figure of between seven and fifteen couches and reckons fourteen to thirty participants a "standard size for a drinking group"). If any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up. However, in Macedonian symposia, the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar. Food and wine were served. Entertainment

5904-554: The two might have often been made as a set. It is always made with two robust upturned handles positioned on opposite sides of the lower body or "cul". This type of krater, defined by volute -shaped handles, was invented in Laconia in the early 6th century BC, then adopted by Attic potters. Its production was carried on by Greeks in Apulia until the end of the 4th century BC. Its shape and method of manufacture are similar to those of

5986-449: The wine for the evening would be, depending on whether serious discussions or sensual indulgence were in the offing. The Greeks and Romans customarily served their wine mixed with water, as the drinking of pure wine was considered a habit of uncivilized peoples . However, there were major differences between the Roman and Greek symposia. A Roman symposium ( convivium ) served wine before, with and after food, and women were allowed to join. In

6068-565: Was John Gower 's in Confessio amantis (1390): Original text: That if the tresor of Cresus And al the gold Octovien, Forth with the richesse Yndien Of Perles and of riche stones, Were al togedre myn at ones, I sette it at nomore acompte Than wolde a bare straw amonte. Modern spelling: That if the treasure of Croesus And all the gold Octavian, Forth with the riches Indian Of pearls and of rich stones, Were altogether mine at once, I set it at no more account Than would

6150-421: Was elected by the participants. He would then assume control of the wine servants, and thus of the degree of wine dilution and how it changed during the party, and the rate of cup refills. The krater and how it was filled and emptied was thus the centerpiece of the symposiarch 's authority. An astute symposiarch should be able to diagnose the degree of inebriation of his fellow symposiasts and make sure that

6232-478: Was passed amongst the men. Cups used at symposiums were not as nearly intricate as amphoras. Pottery used at symposiums often featured painted scenes of the god Dionysus, satyrs, and other mythical scenes related to drinking and celebration. Poetry and music were central to the pleasures of the symposium. Although free women of status did not attend symposia, high-class female prostitutes ( hetairai ) and entertainers were hired to perform, consort, and converse with

6314-522: Was provided, and depending on the occasion could include games, songs, flute-girls or boys, slaves performing various acts, and hired entertainment. Symposia often were held for specific occasions. The most famous symposium of all, described in Plato's dialogue of that name (and rather differently in Xenophon's ) was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theater contest of

6396-460: Was ravaging Lydia, during which he was accidentally hit by the spear thrown by the Phrygian prince Adrastus , who had previously exiled himself to Lydia after accidentally killing his own brother. Croesus also brought Caria , whose various city-states had since Gyges been allied to the Mermnad dynasty, and from where Croesus's own mother originated, under the direct control of the Lydian Empire. Thus, according to Herodotus, Croesus ruled over all

6478-578: Was similar to alluvial deposits found in the silt of the Pactolus river (made famous by Midas ), which ran through the Lydian capital, Sardis . Later coins, including some in the British Museum , were made from gold purified by heating with common salt to remove the silver. In Greek and Persian cultures the name of Croesus became a synonym for a wealthy man. He inherited great wealth from his father Alyattes, who had become associated with

6560-471: Was the king of Lydia , who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC. According to Herodotus , he reigned 14 years. Croesus was renowned for his wealth; Herodotus and Pausanias noted that his gifts were preserved at Delphi . The fall of Croesus had a profound effect on the Greeks, providing a fixed point in their calendar. "By the fifth century at least", J. A. S. Evans has remarked, "Croesus had become

6642-458: Was the divine forefather of his family line. While the pyre was burning, it is said that a cloud passed under Hercules and with a peal of thunder wafted him up to heaven. Thereafter, he obtained immortality... by Omphale he had Agelaus, from whom the family of Croesus was descended... Moreover, the first coins were quite crude and made of electrum , a naturally occurring pale yellow alloy of gold and silver . The composition of these first coins

6724-545: Was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, or conversation. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues , Plato 's Symposium and Xenophon 's Symposium , as well as a number of Greek poems , such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara . Symposia are depicted in Greek and Etruscan art , that shows similar scenes. In modern usage, it has come to mean an academic conference or meeting, such as

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