You are invited to our 2025-26 Seminar series on ‘Domestic Life in the Ancient World’. This will be an hybrid event on Monday April 27th, 2026 at 19.00 pm (Greece time), 17.00 pm (Ireland time), 12.00 pm (EST), by Professor Kathleen Lynch (Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Cincinnati), on "No Plates or Bowls in the Cupboard: How did Archaic and Classical Athenians Set their Table".
Abstract
Athenian potters of the Archaic and early Classical periods produced extraordinary ceramic vessels, often decorated with figures, to facilitate the symposium, the communal wine-drinking activity. In contrast, they did not produce dishes and bowls for food consumption. This talk will explore this conundrum: we know ancient Athenians ate food - we have their cooking pots - but why did the potters not create equally complex sets of pottery for food consumption as they did wine consumption? The contrast being eating and drinking wine illuminates the importance of wine in cultural definition and may reflect and unusual confidence in the food supply.
Further information:
The IIHSA Seminar Series for 2025–2026 will explore various aspects of household life in the ancient world, including labour and production, gender roles, childhood, food practices, and broader issues of social structure and negotiation across different periods and regions. Designed for graduate students and anyone interested in engaging deeply with a topic beyond the traditional lecture format, the series offers participants an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas directly with experts in the field. Each seminar features a 30–40 minute presentation followed by an open discussion, co-led by the Assistant Director, to encourage active participation and dialogue. A brief bibliography is provided for those who wish to familiarize themselves with the seminar topic.
Bibliography
Douglas, Mary. 1997 [1972]. "Deciphering a Meal." In Food and Culture: A Reader, edited by C. Counihan and P. Van Esterik, 2° edition, 36-54.
Hastorf, Christine A. 2017. The Social Archaeology of Food: Thinking about Eating from Prehistory to the Present, Cambridge.
Lynch, K. M. 2011. The Symposium in Context: Pottery from a Late Archaic House near the Athenian Agora, Hesperia Supplement 46, Princeton, N.J.
Lynch, K. M. 2015. "Drinking Cups and the Symposium at Athens in the Archaic and Classical Periods," in Cities Called Athens, ed. K. Daly and L. Ricardi, Lewisburg, PA, pp. 231-271.
For online attendance please register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jASQ5mZBS0O29Sw9E2DDSw
To attend in person, please register by email: irishinstitutegr@gmail.com