Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

And in former times the possession of drinking-cups was reckoned a very honourable thing. Accordingly, Achilles had a very superb cup as a sort of heirloom:—

  1. But, mindful of the gods, Achilles went
  2. To the rich coffer in his shady tent,
  3. (There lay the presents of the royal dame;)
  4. From thence he took a bowl of antique frame,
  5. Which never man had stain'd with ruddy wine,
  6. Nor raised in offerings to the pow'rs divine,
  7. But Peleus' son; and Peleus' son to none
  8. Had raised in offerings but to Jove alone.[*](Iliad, xvi. 225, Pope's version.)
And Priam, when offering ransom for his son, amid all his most beautiful treasures especially offers a very exquisitely wrought cup. And Jupiter himself, on the occasion of the birth of Hercules, thinks a drinking-cup a gift worthy to be given to Alcmena; which he, having likened himself to Amphitryon, presents to her:—
  1. And she received the gift, and on the bowl
  2. Admiring gazed with much delighted soul.
And Stesichorus says that the sun sails over the whole ocean in a bowl; in which also Hercules passed over the sea, on the occasion of his going to fetch the cows of Geryon. We are acquainted, too, with the cup of Bathycles the Arcadian, which Bathycles left behind him as a prize of wisdom to him who should be pronounced the best of those who were called the wise men.

And a great many people have handled the cup of Nestor;

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for many have written books about it. And drinking-cups were favourites even among the Gods; at all events—
  1. They pledged each other in their golden cups.[*](Iliad, iv. 3.)
But it is a mark of a gentleman to be moderate in his use of wine, not drinking too greedily, nor drinking large draughts without drawing one's breath, after the fashion of the Thra- cians; but to mingle conversation with his cups, as a sort of wholesome medicine.

And the ancients affixed a great value to such goblets as had any story engraved upon them; and in the art of engraving cups in this manner, a high reputation was enjoyed by Cimon and Athenocles. They used also drinking-cups inlaid with precious stones. And Menander, somewhere or other, speaks of drinking-cups turned by the turning-lathe, and chased; and Antiphanes says—

  1. And others drain with eager lips the cup,
  2. Full of the juice of ancient wine, o'ershadow'd
  3. With sparkling foam,—the golden-wrought rich cup,
  4. Which circled round they raised: one long, deep draught
  5. They drain, and raise the bottom to the skies.
And Nicomachus says to some one—
  1. O you, who . . . . . and vomit golden . . .
And Philippides says—
  1. Could you but see the well-prepared cups,
  2. All made of gold, my Trophimus; by heaven,
  3. They are magnificent! I stood amazed
  4. When I beheld them first. Then there were also
  5. Large silver cups, and jugs larger than I.
And Parmenio, in his letter to Alexander, summing up the spoils of the Persians, says,
The weight of goblets of gold is seventy-three Babylonian talents, and fifty-two mitæ.[*](The Attic talent weighed within a fraction of fifty-seven pounds and the Babylonian talent was to the Attic as seven to six; but Boeckh considers the Babylonian talent as equal to the Aeginetan, which was about eighty-two pounds and a quarter. The Attic mina was not quite a pound; the Aeginetan not quite one pound six ounces, being always one-sixteenth part of a talent.) The weight of goblets inlaid with precious stones, is fifty-six Babylonian talents, and thirty-four minæ.

And the custom was, to put the water into the cup first, and the wine afterwards. Accordingly, Xenophanes says—

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  1. And never let a man a goblet take,
  2. And first pour in the wine; but let the water
  3. Come first, and after that, then add the wine.
And Anacreon says—
  1. Bring me water -bring me wine,
  2. Quick, O boy; and bring, besides,
  3. Garlands, rich with varied flowers;
  4. And fill the cup, that I may not
  5. Engage in hopeless strife with love.
And before either of them Hesiod had said—
  1. Pour in three measures of the limpid stream,
  2. Pure from an everflowing spring; and then
  3. Add a fourth cup of sacred rosy wine.
And Theophrastus says—
The ancient fashion of the mixture of wine was quite opposite to the way in which it is managed at the present day; for they were not accustomed to pour the water on the wine, but the wine on the water, in order, when drinking, not to have their liquor too strong, and in order also, when they had drunk to satiety, to have less desire for more. And they also consumed a good deal of this liquor, mixed as it was, in the game of the cottabus.

Now of carvers of goblets the following men had a high reputation,—Athenocles, Crates, Stratonicus, Myrmecides the Milesian, Callicrates the Lacedæmonian, and Mys; by which last artist we have seen a Heraclean cup, having most beautifully wrought on it the capture of Troy, and bearing also this inscription—

  1. The sketch was by Parrhasius,—by Mys
  2. The workmanship; and now I represent
  3. The lofty Troy, which great Achilles took.

Now among the Cretans, the epithet κλεινὸς, illustrious, is often given to the objects of one's affection. And it is a matter of great desire among them to carry off beautiful boys; and among them it is considered discreditable to a beautiful boy not to have a lover. And the name given to the boys who are carried off in that manner is παρασταθέντες. And they give to the boy who has been carried off a robe, and an ox, and a drinking-cup. And the robe they wear even when they are become old, in order to show that they have been κλεινοί.

  1. You see that when men drink, they then are rich;
  2. They do whate'er they please,—they gain their actions,
  3. They're happy themselves, and they assist their friends.
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For amusing oneself with wine exalts, and cherishes, and elevates the mind, since it inflames and arouses the foul, and fills it with lofty thoughts, as Pindar says—
  1. When the sad, laborious cares
  2. Flee from the weary hearts of men,
  3. And in the wide, expansive ocean
  4. Of golden wealth we all set sail,
  5. Floating towards the treacherous shore.
  6. E'en he who is poor, is rich when he
  7. Has fill'd his soul with rosy wine;
  8. And he who's rich. . . .
And then he goes on—
  1. becomes elated
  2. Beneath the glad dominion of the vine.

There is a kind of drinking-cup also called ancyla, or curved; a kind especially useful for the play of the cottabus. Cratinus says—

  1. 'Tis death to drink of wine when water's mix'd:
  2. But she took equal shares, two choes full
  3. Of unmix'd wine, in a large ancyla:
  4. And calling on her dear Corinthian lover
  5. By name, threw in his honour a cottabus.
And Bacchylides says—
  1. When she does throw to the youths a cottabus
  2. From her ancyla, stretching her white arm forth.
And it is with reference to this ancyla that we understand the expression of Aeschylus—
  1. The cottabus of th' ancyla (ἀγκυλήτους κοττάβους).
Spears are also called ἀγκύλητα, or curved; and also μεσάγκυλα, held by a string in the middle. There is also the expression ἀπʼ ἀγκύλης, which means, from the right hand. And the cup is called ἀγκύλη, from the fact that the right hand is curved, in throwing the cottabus from it. For it was a matter to which great attention was paid by the ancients—namely, that of throwing the cottabus dexterously and gracefully. And men in general prided themselves more on their dexterity in this than in throwing the javelin skilfully. And this got its name from the manner in which the hand was brandished in throwing the cottabus, when they threw it elegantly and dexterously into the cottabium. And they also built rooms especially designed for this sport.

In Timachides there is also a kind of drinking-cup mentioned, called the æacis.

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There is another kind also, called the ἄκατος,or boat, being shaped like a boat. Epicrates says—

  1. Throw down th' acatia,
(using here the diminutive form,)
  1. and take instead
  2. The larger goblets; and the old woman lead
  3. Straight to the cup; . . . the younger maiden . . . .
  4. . . . . . . . fill it; have your oar
  5. All ready, loose the cables, bend the sails.
Among the Cyprians there is also a kind of cup called the aotus, as Pamphilus tells us: and Philetas says, this is a cup which has no ears (ὤτους).

There is also a kind of cup called aroclum, which is mentioned by Nicander the Colophonian.