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Syssitia
The syssitia (Ancient Greek: συσσίτια syssítia, plural of συσσίτιον syssítion) were, in ancient Greece, common meals for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in Crete and Sparta, but also in Megara in the time of Theognis of Megara (sixth century BCE) and Corinth in the time of Periander (seventh century BCE).
The banquets spoken of by Homer relate to the tradition. Some reference to similar meals can be found in Carthage and according to Aristotle (Politics VII. 9), it prevailed still earlier amongst the Oenotrians of Calabria. The syssitia in the Carthginian constitution may have been called in the Phoenician origin "marzēaḥ".
The origin of the syssítia is attributed to Rhadamanthus, the legendary lawgiver of Knossos of Crete. This is explained by Cleinias of Crete in conversation with an Athenian and a Spartan, in Plato's dialogue the Laws. Lycurgus of Sparta certainly made use of the practice in Sparta.
In Sparta, where the system was most evolved, they were also called pheiditia (φειδίτια, from ἔδω edō, to eat).[citation needed] The term is probably a corruption of philitia (φιλίτια, "love-feast"), a word corresponding to the Cretan Hetairia. It was a daily obligatory banquet comparable to a military mess. Before the 5th century BC, the ritual was also referred to as the ἀνδρεῖα andreia, literally, "belonging to men". Obligation was total; no person, not even the two kings, could be absent without good excuse, such as performance of a sacrifice. Lesser excuses, such as being away on a hunt, implied a requirement to provide a present to the table (Smith 1870).
The participation at the syssition was, as for other aspects of agoge, obligatory for membership in the Homoioi, the Peers. Spartans were admitted from the age of twenty after a ritual described by Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus (ch 12):
Each man in the company took a little ball of soft bread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter carried round upon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen dropped their ball into the basin without altering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it between their fingers, and made it flat; and this signified as much as a negative voice. And if there were but one of these pieces in the basin, the suitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all the members of the company should be agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the rejected candidate had a name thence derived.
It was also possible for the young man to be presented by his erastes (lover), a teacher figure who was the elder in a typically pederastic relationship.
Each person was supplied with a cup of mixed wine, which was filled again when required, although drunkenness was not tolerated. Following a main meal of black soup (μέλας ζωμός melas zōmos), an ἐπάϊκλον (epaiklon, or after-meal) was served, which consisted of game, fruit, poultry and other delicacies. Alcman (Frag. 31) tells, "at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men it was fit for the guests to sing the paean". The arrangements were under the supervision of the polemarch.
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Syssitia
The syssitia (Ancient Greek: συσσίτια syssítia, plural of συσσίτιον syssítion) were, in ancient Greece, common meals for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in Crete and Sparta, but also in Megara in the time of Theognis of Megara (sixth century BCE) and Corinth in the time of Periander (seventh century BCE).
The banquets spoken of by Homer relate to the tradition. Some reference to similar meals can be found in Carthage and according to Aristotle (Politics VII. 9), it prevailed still earlier amongst the Oenotrians of Calabria. The syssitia in the Carthginian constitution may have been called in the Phoenician origin "marzēaḥ".
The origin of the syssítia is attributed to Rhadamanthus, the legendary lawgiver of Knossos of Crete. This is explained by Cleinias of Crete in conversation with an Athenian and a Spartan, in Plato's dialogue the Laws. Lycurgus of Sparta certainly made use of the practice in Sparta.
In Sparta, where the system was most evolved, they were also called pheiditia (φειδίτια, from ἔδω edō, to eat).[citation needed] The term is probably a corruption of philitia (φιλίτια, "love-feast"), a word corresponding to the Cretan Hetairia. It was a daily obligatory banquet comparable to a military mess. Before the 5th century BC, the ritual was also referred to as the ἀνδρεῖα andreia, literally, "belonging to men". Obligation was total; no person, not even the two kings, could be absent without good excuse, such as performance of a sacrifice. Lesser excuses, such as being away on a hunt, implied a requirement to provide a present to the table (Smith 1870).
The participation at the syssition was, as for other aspects of agoge, obligatory for membership in the Homoioi, the Peers. Spartans were admitted from the age of twenty after a ritual described by Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus (ch 12):
Each man in the company took a little ball of soft bread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter carried round upon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen dropped their ball into the basin without altering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it between their fingers, and made it flat; and this signified as much as a negative voice. And if there were but one of these pieces in the basin, the suitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all the members of the company should be agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the rejected candidate had a name thence derived.
It was also possible for the young man to be presented by his erastes (lover), a teacher figure who was the elder in a typically pederastic relationship.
Each person was supplied with a cup of mixed wine, which was filled again when required, although drunkenness was not tolerated. Following a main meal of black soup (μέλας ζωμός melas zōmos), an ἐπάϊκλον (epaiklon, or after-meal) was served, which consisted of game, fruit, poultry and other delicacies. Alcman (Frag. 31) tells, "at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men it was fit for the guests to sing the paean". The arrangements were under the supervision of the polemarch.