The reading of texts at the Graeco-Roman symposium and in the Christian gathering

Abstract

Classical scholars who researched the topic of the activities taking place at Graeco-Roman banquets, extensively described the artistic presentations that accompanied eating and drinking. They have paid much attention to the singing, dancing and dramatic performances given at banquets. Less attention has been given to the subject of public reading in the context of the after-dinner symposium. The custom of reading literary works at symposia is well attested in the symposiastic literature of the first and the second centuries CE. Plutarch’s Moralia are one of the more important sources that attest the reading of literature at the Graeco-Roman symposium. In the late 90s it has been argued by several scholars that the early Christian communities during their weekly gatherings followed the same pattern of Graeco-Roman dining. This paper seeks to argue that the reading of texts in the early Christian gathering is the historical counterpart of the reading of texts at the Graeco-Roman symposium.