![UC Classics professor Kathleen Lynch holds up a painting of an ancient vase in her office.](https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2021/04/n20999347/jcr:content/image.img.cq5dam.thumbnail.500.500.jpg/1618435199190.jpg)
NYT: UC professor explains ancient Greeks' drinking parties
Classics professor Kathleen Lynch will give public lecture on Greek symposium
Long before "Sex and the City" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" popularized day drinking, there was the ancient Greek symposium — a gathering of men who discussed the issues of the day over the finest vintages.
University of Cincinnati Classics professor Kathleen Lynch will give a public Zoom lecture on the topic at 1 p.m. Thursday, April, 15, to the Archaeological Institute of America. Titled "A Toast to Ancient Greek Wine Drinking," the lecture will explain the social customs of the symposium.
"The ancient Greeks took their wine drinking seriously," Lynch says in her lecture description. "The symposium was a drinking party for men with rules and expectations. They kept the group small so that all could participate in a single conversation, and the wine flowed, but watered down so that the drinkers stood on the edge of tipsy and drunk."
The New York Times publicized the event in its Food section's popular Front Burner column this week.
The lecture is free, but registration is required here.
Lynch is the author of the 2011 book “The Symposium in Context: Pottery from a Late Archaic House Near the Athenian Agora,” winner of the prestigious James R. Wiseman Book Award. In it she examines pottery from the Athenian agora or marketplace, including the vessels used during the symposium.
“Each person had his own cup. Everyone drank in rounds so nobody got more drunk than their neighbor,” she said. “The whole point was to get everyone to that happy, tipsy level where tongues are loosened and good times are had but not go over the edge.”
Read more about Lynch's research in UC News.
Featured image at top: UC Classics professor Kathleen Lynch. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand
UC Classics professor Kathleen Lynch will give a lecture to the Archaeological Institute of America on Thursday, April 15 at 1 p.m. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand
Related Stories
Mural by UC grad honors U.S. military history
![Local 12 logo](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/wkrc-logo-dark.png)
July 17, 2024
Local 12 highlighted a new mural by University of Cincinnati graduate and artist Brandon Hawkins that pays tribute to U.S. military history.
Social media fuels extreme political rhetoric
![Local 12 logo.](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/wkrc-logo-dark.png)
July 17, 2024
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Jeffrey Blevins tells Local 12 that online algorithms fuel political polarization on social media.
NIS program opens new horizons for international student
July 17, 2024
In his pursuit of physics and a taste for research, Akash Khanikor ventured from his hometown in India's Assam to the University of Cincinnati, drawn by the promise of hands-on exploration early in his undergraduate career as a NEXT Innovation Scholar.