After the Olympic Games had finished, I made some friends with some of the locals in the area and was invited to join them at their party. Curiosity got the best of me as I wanted to know how the citizen of Ancient Greece celebrated and enjoyed themselves. I was told that I will be taken to a symposium, a party held in a private home where Greek males gathered to drink, eat, and sing together. Many topics are discussed in the symposium, from their daily life issues to poetry, politics, and philosophy. The symposium was only open for males, luckily I fit the description being a male I was able to get in and enjoy a couple of drinks with the guys that I met at the Olympic Games. We played games, listened to and played music (lyre), shared stories, offered advise on day-to-day issues, discussed politics, and just enjoyed each other's company after eating and drinking. Readings of poetry were featured, especially those by the lyric poets Alkaios, Anakreon, Archilochos, and Theognis. Additionally, guests were invited to demonstrate their own creative and intellectual prowess through spontaneous recitals and banter, which was a common thing to do at the time. A hetaira was also invited to the symposium. Hetaira is an educated female prostitute and is the only female allowed in a symposium. Hetairas, besides their most obvious capabilities as a prostitute, were very educated and cultured, they knew how to sing, dance, read poems and play the flute. The prostitutes of Ancient Greece were divided into three main categories. Porne, which is usually a slave who only offered their bodies for pleasure. The concubine, who lives in a certain household, is usually a free woman. Finally, a hetaira, the high-class prostitute offered her education in music, general culture and dance.
I left before the Hetaira arrived, since I had travel back to the 21st century for my next site.
Attic red-figured bell-krater
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