The Symposium in Context: Pottery from a Late Archaic House near the Athenian Agora by Kathleen M. Lynch (review)

This is one of the two most important studies in the history of the symposion to have appeared in recent years (the other, of course, is the exemplary publication of the eighth-century deposit from the excavations at Methone in Pieria by M. Besios, G.Z. Tziphopoulos, and A. Kotsonas).¹ In both cases, the reason for their importance is the fact that they discuss closed deposits from living communities, rather than tombs, reflecting a precise moment in sympotic history.

Lynch’s monograph combines a revolutionary approach to her material with traditional care in presentation of the evidence. The form of her study is based on that of her mentor Susan I. Rotroff.² However, whereas the earlier publication relates to a public dining-room of the classical period, whose deposit dates perhaps to the earthquake of 426 bc, the new material was all found together in a well (J2: 4) that was filled in with debris soon after the Persian sack of Athens in 480–79 bc. Moreover, the surrounding architectural context is that of a private house in which the well was situated, and the homogeneous nature of the material suggests that it was all deposited at the same time and came from the immediate vicinity. Therefore, what we have is a collection of material derived from a household context of the late Archaic period.

The exemplary catalogue describes and analyzes the material as a whole, with full illustrations. Evidence for household artefacts, especially those used by women, seems under-represented, although there are some loom weights and other minor domestic objects. Lynch notes, for instance, in the category of unglazed water jars the numerical disparity between handles and bases, which will be a result of breakages while the well was in use, the handle being attached to a rope and drawn up, while the base of the jug fell to the bottom of the well. However, she does not comment on the significance of the preponderance of coarseware pottery in this class—unglazed pottery is still traditionally used in the Mediterranean for storing liquids in order to allow transpiration and consequent cooling of the stored water.

The most important part of the monograph, however, is the introductory seven chapters. Having established that the deposit is a closed one with boundaries limited in time and space and belonging to a domestic context, Lynch proceeds to discuss the dominant group of pottery represented (roughly 50 percent), comprising drinking cups in both Black Figure and Red Figure. These are mainly kylikes and skyphoi, and many of them belong to three or possibly four well-defined sets that are identified by her in relation to their similar shapes and decoration.

She offers a vivid analysis of the actual rituals of wine consumption in the symposion, using her material to good effect to create a concrete image that is especially good on the details of wine drinking. Thus, she points out that the presence of large numbers of “salt cellars” (of course, not necessarily used for salt) is not only a consequence of their comparative solidity but also suggestive of the number of bowls needed for individual tables placed before each couch. Similarly, the presence of lamps reflects the fact that symposia were largely an evening activity. She is rightly puzzled by the total absence of krater fragments (in contrast to the excessive number found in Rotroff’s mid-fifth century assemblage) and entertains the perhaps implausible view that the household may have used metal kraters. On the other hand, ladles and sieves were indeed in all probability metal ones, and fragments of at least three psykters survive.

Lynch offers many fascinating interpretations of individual cups, especially in relation to sympotic rituals. Sometimes these interpretations are a little strained, but I particularly liked her account of the Red Figure Pelike...