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Wall text panel written for the Symposium exhibit case of the Greek and Roman Galleries of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. 

The objects in this case would have been used during a symposium, a social gathering where aristocratic Greek men drank and conversed. At the conclusion of an evening meal, the wives and daughters of the host and his guests left and the men remained. Libations to deities were poured, a hymn was sung, and the convivial symposium commenced. The men drank a mixture of wine and water as they reclined on couches. Participants recited poetry, sank drinking songs, played games, and shared riddles and stories. Some symposia, like those attended by Socrates and Aristotle and recorded by Plato, included highly philosophical discourse. Others were more frivolous, such as those that included hired female companions called hetairai. No matter how they were conducted, successful symposia liberated participants from the everyday restrains of Greek life within a carefully regulated environment.