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The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
author
Athenaeus of Naucratis Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
. It is a long work of
literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
,
historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
, and
antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
references set in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
at a series of banquets held by the protagonist for an assembly of grammarians,
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...
s,
jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
s, musicians, and hangers-on.


Title

The
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
title ''Deipnosophistaí'' () derives from the combination of ' (, "dinner") and ''sophistḗs'' (, "expert, one knowledgeable in the arts of ~"). It and its
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
derivative ''s'' thus describe people who are skilled at dining, particularly the refined conversation expected to accompany Greek
symposia ''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898. Species it contains six species in Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...
. However, the term is shaded by the harsh treatment accorded to professional teachers in
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's
Socratic dialogue Socratic dialogue ( grc, Σωκρατικὸς λόγος) is a genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works of Plato and Xenophon and all involve Socrates as the p ...
s, which made the English term ' into a
pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
. In English, Athenaeus's work usually known by its
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
form ''Deipnosophistae'' but is also variously translated as ''The Deipnosophists'', ''Sophists at Dinner'',
Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
]. [''Deipnosophistaí'', ''Sophists at Dinner''], century Trans. Charles Burton Gulick a
''Athenaeus'',
Harvard University Press (
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
), 1927. Accessed 13 Aug 2014.
''The Learned Banqueters'', ''The Banquet of the Learned'',
Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
]. Trans. C.D. Yonge a
''The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned''
Henry Bohn (London), 1854. Accessed 13 Aug 2014.
''Philosophers at Dinner'', or ''The Gastronomers''.


Contents

The ''Deipnosophistae'' professes to be an account, given by Athenaeus to his friend Timocrates, of a series of banquets held at the house of Larensius, a
scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...
and wealthy
patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
of the arts. It is thus a dialogue within a dialogue, after the manner of
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, although each conversation is so long that, realistically, it would occupy several days. Among the numerous guests, Masurius,
Zoilus Zoilus ( el, Ζωΐλος ''Zoilos''; c. 400320 BC) was a Greek grammarian, Cynic philosopher, and literary critic from Amphipolis in Eastern Macedonia, then known as Thrace. He took the name Homeromastix (Ὁμηρομάστιξ "Homer whip ...
,
Democritus Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...
,
Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
,
Ulpian Ulpian (; la, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus; c. 170223? 228?) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time and was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to be based according to ...
and
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
are named, but most are probably to be taken as fictitious personages, and the majority take little or no part in the conversation. If Ulpian is identical with the famous jurist, the ''Deipnosophistae'' must have been written after his death in 223; but the jurist was murdered by the
Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...
, whereas Ulpian in Athenaeus dies a natural death.
Prosopographical Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line an ...
investigation, however, has shown the possibility of identifying several guests with real persons from other sources; the Ulpian in the dialog has also been linked to the renowned jurist's father. The work is invaluable for providing fictionalized information about the Hellenistic literary world of the leisured class during the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. To the majority of modern readers, even more useful is the wealth of information provided in the ''Deipnosophistae'' about earlier Greek literature. In the course of discussing classic authors, the participants make quotations, long and short, from the works of about 700 earlier Greek authors and 2,500 separate writings, many of them otherwise unrecorded. Food and wine, luxury, music, sexual mores, literary gossip and
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
are among the major topics of discussion, and the stories behind many artworks such as the
Venus Kallipygos The ''Venus Callipyge'', also known as the ''Aphrodite Kallipygos'' ( el, Ἀφροδίτη Καλλίπυγος) or the ''Callipygian Venus'', all literally meaning "Venus (or Aphrodite) of the beautiful buttocks", is an Ancient Roman marble st ...
are also transmitted in its pages.


Food and cookery

The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an important source of recipes in classical Greek. It quotes the original text of one recipe from the lost cookbook by
Mithaecus Mithaecus (Ancient Greek: Μίθαικος) was a cook and cookbook author of the late 5th century BC. A Greek-speaking native of Sicily at a time when the island was rich and highly civilized, Mithaecus is credited with having brought knowledge of ...
, the oldest in Greek and the oldest recipe by a named author in any language. Other authors quoted for their recipes include
Glaucus of Locri In Greek mythology, Glaucus (; grc, Γλαῦκος, Glaûkos, glimmering) was a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, ...
,
Dionysius The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...
, Epaenetus, Hegesippus of Tarentum,
Erasistratus Erasistratus (; grc-gre, Ἐρασίστρατος; c. 304 – c. 250 BC) was a Greek anatomist and royal physician under Seleucus I Nicator of Syria. Along with fellow physician Herophilus, he founded a school of anatomy in Alexandria, where the ...
,
Diocles of Carystus Diocles of Carystus (; el, Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος; la, Diocles Carystius; also known by the Latin name Diocles Medicus, i.e. "Diocles the physician"; c. 375 BC – c. 295 BC) was a well-regarded Greek physician, born in Carystus, a ...
, Timachidas of Rhodes,
Philistion of Locri Philistion of Locri ( el, Φιλιστίων) was a Greek physician, medical and dietary author who lived in the 4th century BC. He was a native of Locri in Italy, but was also referred to as "the Sicilian." He was tutor to the physician Chrysippu ...
, Euthydemus of Athens, Chrysippus of Tyana,
Paxamus Paxamus, or Paxamos (Greek: Πάξαμος), was an ancient Greek author from the Hellenistic period.... He composed a cookbook titled ''On Cooking'' and a text on farming titled ''On Farming''. Athenaeus, another Greek writer, mentioned Paxamus o ...
and
Harpocration of Mende __NOTOC__ Valerius Harpocration ( grc-gre, Οὐαλέριος or , ''gen''. Ἁρποκρατίωνος) was a Greek grammarian of Alexandria, probably working in the 2nd century AD. He is possibly the Harpocration mentioned by Julius Capitolinus ...
. It also describes in detail the meal and festivities at the wedding feast of Caranos.


Drink

In expounding on earlier works, Athenaeus wrote that
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
"very improperly" introduces the Greeks to be "so drunk as to break their vessels about one another's heads":
This is the man who threw so well The vessel with an evil smell And miss'd me not, but dash'd to shivers The pot too full of steaming rivers Against my head, which now, alas! sir, Gives other smells besides macassar.


Homosexuality

In addition to its main focuses, the text offers an unusually clear portrait of
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
in late Hellenism. Books XII-XIII holds a wealth of information for studies of homosexuality in
Roman Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...
. It is subject to a broader discussion that includes
Alcibiades Alcibiades ( ; grc-gre, Ἀλκιβιάδης; 450 – 404 BC) was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last of the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War. He played a major role in t ...
, Charmides,
Autolycus In Greek mythology, Autolycus (; Ancient Greek: Αὐτόλυκος ''Autolykos'' 'the wolf itself') was a successful robber who had even the power of metamorphosing both the stolen goods and himself. He had his residence on Mount Parnassus and w ...
,
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...
and
Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
. Furthermore, numerous books and now lost plays on the subject are mentioned, including the dramatists
Diphilus Diphilus (Greek: Δίφιλος), of Sinope, was a poet of the new Attic comedy and a contemporary of Menander (342–291 BC). He is frequently listed together with Menander and Philemon, considered the three greatest poets of New Comedy. He wa ...
,
Cratinus Cratinus ( grc-gre, Κρατῖνος; 519 BC – 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. Life Cratinus was victorious 27 known times, eight times at the City Dionysia, first probably in the mid-to-late 450s BCE (IG II2 2325. 50), ...
,
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
, and
Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
and the philosopher
Heraclides of Pontus Heraclides Ponticus ( grc-gre, Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός ''Herakleides''; c. 390 BC – c. 310 BC) was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who was born in Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, and migrated to Athens. He ...
.


Survival and reception

The ''Deipnosophistae'' was originally in fifteen books. The work survives in one manuscript from which the whole of books 1 and 2, and some other pages too, disappeared long ago. An ''Epitome'' or abridgment (to about 60%) was made in medieval times, and survives complete: from this it is possible to read the missing sections, though in a disjointed form. The English polymath
Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 1605 – 19 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a ...
noted in his encyclopaedia ''
Pseudodoxia Epidemica ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Enquiries into very many received tenents and commonly presumed truths'', also known simply as ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' or ''Vulgar Errors'', is a work by Thomas Browne challenging and refuting the "vulgar" or common ...
'': :Athenæus, a delectable Author, very various, and justly stiled by Casaubon, ''Græcorum Plinius''. There is extant of his, a famous Piece, under the name of ''Deipnosophista'', or ''Coena Sapientum'', containing the Discourse of many learned men, at a Feast provided by Laurentius. It is a laborious Collection out of many Authors, and some whereof are mentioned no where else. It containeth strange and singular relations, not without some spice or sprinkling of all Learning. The Author was probably a better Grammarian then Philosopher, dealing but hardly with Aristotle and Plato, and betrayeth himself much in his Chapter ''De Curiositate Aristotelis''. In brief, he is an Author of excellent use, and may with discretion be read unto great advantage: and hath therefore well deserved the Comments of Casaubon and Dalecampius. Browne's interest in Athenaeus reflects a revived interest in the ''Banquet of the Learned'' amongst scholars following the publication of the ''Deipnosophistae'' in 1612 by the Classical scholar
Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two Fr ...
. Browne was also the author of a Latin essay on Athenaeus. By the nineteenth century however, the poet
James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
in 1867 characterized the ''Deipnosophistae'' and its author thus: :the somewhat greasy heap of a literary rag-and-bone-picker like Athenaeus is turned to gold by time. Modern readers question whether the ''Deipnosophistae'' genuinely evokes a literary symposium of learned disquisitions on a range of subjects suitable for such an occasion, or whether it has a satirical edge, rehashing the cultural clichés of the urbane literati of its day.


Modern edition(s)

The first
critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...
in accordance to the principles of
classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
was published by German scholar
Georg Kaibel Georg Kaibel (30 October 1849 – 12 October 1901) was a German classical philologist born in Lübeck. He was a leading authority of Greek epigraphy and epigrammatics He studied classical philology at the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn. At ...
in 1887–1890 in the ''
Bibliotheca Teubneriana The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collection published of ancient (and some medieval) ...
''; this three-volume set remained the authoritative text for about 120 years and the only complete critical text. Charles Burton Gulick translated the entire text into English for the ''
Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
''. In 2001, a team of Italian classical scholars led by
Luciano Canfora Luciano Canfora (; born 5 June 1942) is an Italian classicist and historian. Born in Bari, Canfora obtained his first degree in Roman History in 1964 at Pisa University. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Bari. His ...
(then Professor of Classical Philology, now Emeritus,
University of Bari The University of Bari Aldo Moro ( it, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro) is a state-supported higher education institution founded in 1925 in Bari, Apulia, in Southern Italy. The university is one of the most prestigious universities in ...
) published the first complete Italian translation of the ''Deipnosophistae'', in a luxury edition with extensive introduction and commentary. A digital edition of Kaibel's text, with search tools and cross-references between Kaibel's and Casaubon's texts and digitalized indexes and ''Dialogi Personae'', was put online by Italian philologist Monica Berti and her team, currently working at the Alexander von Humboldt University. In 2001, Eleonora Cavallini (Professor of Greek,
University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
) published a translation and commentary on Book 13. In 2010, Gabriele Burzacchini (Professor of Greek,
University of Parma The University of Parma ( it, Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is a public university in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is organised in nine departments. As of 2016 the University of Parma has about 26,000 students. History During the ...
) published a translation and commentary of Book 1 found among the unpublished studies of the late Enzo Degani (who was Professor of Greek in the University of Bologna); Burzacchini himself translated and commented Book 5 in more recent years. In 2006, American classical philologist S. Douglas Olson renewed Loeb's text thanks to a new collation of the manuscripts and the progression of critical studies on Athenaeus and newly translated and commented it; in 2019, the same started a new critical edition for the ''Bibliotheca Teubneriana'' inclusive of the ''Epitome'', also edited in parallel volumes.Apart from Kaibel's text for bks. I and II, the ''incipit'' of bk. III and parts of bk. XI, the ''Epitome'' was previously published only by Simon P. Peppink: ''Athenaei Dipnosophistae'', ex recensione S. P. Peppinki, II voll., Lugduni Batavorum apud casam C. T. E. J. Brill, 1936-39, vol. II: ''Epitome'', I-II, ''ibid.'' 1937-39. This edition was indeed useful (mainly because it was the first edition of the text), but also had some issues: it lacks the sections already edited by Kaibel (see above) and contains many errors and critically questionable choices due to the fact that Peppink, fallen ill, did not have the time to re-read his own work. See Annalisa Lavoro,
Per una nuova edizione critica dell'Epitome di Ateneo
', Ph.D. diss., Messina 2016, p. IV. Actually, Peppink ''did'' plan to publish a new edition of the entire work, but death came first. See Lavoro, ''Per una nuova edizione critica'', ''cit.'', p. 109.


References


Bibliography


Athenaeus restorations and translations

* * *
E. Harrison in ''The Classical Review''
"Peppink regards ''EC'' as representing a better manuscript than ''A'', on which the full texts of Kaibel and Gulick are based...." * *


Further reading

* * *
an
Siren Feasts full text
for editors to cross-check (site is legit for academic use) --> * (Translation of a passage from book 13.) * *


See also

* Characters of the Deipnosophistae


External links


The Digital AthenaeusCasaubon-Kaibel Reference ConverterThe original Ancient Greek text
presented online by th
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
with links to complete Greek original, a

with links to Greek original, a
various out of copyright translations of the work downloadable on archive.org
* From a reading of Athenaeus, British Museum Sloane MS no. 1827
Extracts from book 13 of the ''Deipnosophists'' concerning homosexuality
*[http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/athenee/ full Greek text and French translation at ''L'antiquité grecque et latine du moyen âge de Philippe Remacle, Philippe Renault, François-Dominique Fournier, J. P. Murcia, Thierry Vebr, Caroline Carrat''] {{DEFAULTSORT:Deipnosophistae 3rd-century books Ancient Greek works Greek literature (post-classical) Ancient Greek cuisine