Dionysos and the Symposium
Wine, Poets, and Performers in Ancient Greece
Dionysos, Greek, Classical or Hellenistic Period, about 340 BC. Marble (probably from the Greek island of Paros). Catharine Page Perkins Fund.
Close to Exekias, two-handled jar (amphora) (detail), Greek, Archaic period, about 540–530 BCE. Ceramic, black figure. Henry Lillie Pierce Residuary Fund and Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900
Portrait head of Socrates, Roman, Imperial Period, about 170–195 CE. Marble. Frederick Brown Fund.
The Brygos Painter, cup in the shape of a donkey's head, Greek, late Archaic period, about 480 BCE. Ceramic, red figure. Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900.
Unknown artist, bucket (situla) with double handles, Greek, South Italian, late Classical to early Hellenistic period, about 350–300 BCE. Bronze. Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900.
Dionysos, Greek, Classical or Hellenistic Period, about 340 BC. Marble (probably from the Greek island of Paros). Catharine Page Perkins Fund.
Close to Exekias, two-handled jar (amphora) (detail), Greek, Archaic period, about 540–530 BCE. Ceramic, black figure. Henry Lillie Pierce Residuary Fund and Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900
Portrait head of Socrates, Roman, Imperial Period, about 170–195 CE. Marble. Frederick Brown Fund.
The Brygos Painter, cup in the shape of a donkey's head, Greek, late Archaic period, about 480 BCE. Ceramic, red figure. Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900.
Unknown artist, bucket (situla) with double handles, Greek, South Italian, late Classical to early Hellenistic period, about 350–300 BCE. Bronze. Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1900.
God of wine, intoxicated ecstasy, and theater: Dionysos was, for good reason, the most popular of all Greek gods. He gave the ancients the gift of wine and, in his role as god of the grape harvest and wine making, ensured a key economic industry for many Greek cities. His worship took the form of celebration; festivals in his honor, often held outdoors, featured recitations, song, and dance, which developed into theater as we know it today. This gallery transports visitors to an era in which guests reclined on couches at elite symposia and where the images on jars, cups, and mixing bowls might provide topics for conversation: the heroic past, the day’s theatrical life, and, of course, the gods—especially Dionysos, whose image and spirit pervaded drinking and merriment in all its forms.
- Ancient Greece: Dionysos & Symposium Gallery (Gallery 215B)