Trimalchio's Dinner Party

Some thought it was super natural, others thought it was only for gods. Around 3150 BCE one of the earliest Egyptian Kings was buried with seven hundred jars of wine. Keep in mind that these jars had to transported, and it wasn’t cheap! On the other hand around 825 BCE, the Assyrians had wine drinking established to a formal social ritual. In Greece it was drunk at many formal drinking parties and believed that, “To rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease.” (Page 53) Wine obviously contained alcohol, so many judged others by how they conducted themselves after drinking it. The Greeks always mixed their wine with water, opposed to the Scythians and Thracians who never mixed their wine with water. Wine as well had its own game! The name of the game was kottabos. It was played in certain rooms involving flicking the last drop of wine on targets. Now a days, it seems crazy, but back then it was considered to help with concentration. This section was filled with so many wonderful quotes from poets and philosophers that stuck in my head through-out the reading of this book. A Greek poet by the name of Aeschylus said, “Bronze is the mirror of the outward form; wine is the mirror of the mind.” (Page 56) Another quote comes from a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes, “Wine reveals what is hidden,” (Page 62) Wine can still today “reveal what is hidden” that brings us to modern day

The stock character of the leno, or brothel-keeper or pimp, is a character that many, if not all, Romans would have immediately recognized. The leno is represented in Plautus’ Pseudolus by a character named Ballio. He owns the love interest of Calidorus, master of Pseudolus, and is known for his greed and physical harshness towards his slaves. He is seen in the play constantly beating his slaves, and he calls them names such as “whip-spoilers” (139), which indicates that Ballio beats them so much that his whip becomes spoiled. Ballio fits the classic definition of a leno, as he is extremely greedy and only cares about money. He compromises his morals constantly in order to make more money, and he almost seems proud to accept his bad character. The most important example of this is when he sells Phoenicium, Calidorus’ love interest, to a

Wine has been a part of Western history since the Neolithic Period (8,500-4,000 B.C.), when cultures first started to develop permanent communities, and stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers (U. Penn, 2000). One of the earliest written records of the consumption of wine is recorded in the Bible and the impact of wine on Mediterranean cultures became more pronounced over the years as the geopolitical situation stabilized in the region under the Roman Empire. Roman Imperialism helped to spread the production of wine across most of the countries in the Empire, which included most of North Africa and Southern Europe (Britannica, 2000). During that same era, wine became ingrained in the Christian faith and is still used in Christian mass today. The close tie between wine and the Christian faith aided to the spread of wine production and wine consumption across Europe

1. Wine was more of a classy drink, drank by the wealthy in ancient Greece and Rome. Those who drank wine were commonly wealthier and higher in class than those who

If I could host a dinner party and I could invite anyone. I would invite Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey P. Newton. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and also in the 1960s Malcolm X was a national minister and spokesman of the Nation of Islam and Huey P. Newton led Black Panther Party in 1966 through 1987. I would invite these three men because they led different organizations to gain equal rights for African-Americans in the 1960s. They had different views on getting equal rights. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. believed in peaceful protesting and turning the other cheek but Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton believed by any means necessary that means they will do anything and everything to get equality. I would ask questions about how did they organization’s start and how they overcome all of the naysayers. I would serve roasted chicken and water served as a drink. We would talk about their deaths and did they felt they could have done more before they died. Also, we would talk about the current situations with African-Americans. I feel like we could use different tactics to get the job done. I think they will be upset how blacks are treated by society today. They probably thought after their deaths African Americans will be treated with more

Chapter two, The Dinner, is centralized around two main issues: the nation’s debt and where to locate its new capitol. While the issues were concerns of essentially every individual with political say, the three main problem-solvers presented in this chapter are James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. These three individuals became involved with each other when Jefferson noticed Hamilton looing like an exhausted mess outside of George Washington’s office. Hamilton shared his concerns that his plan to solve the nation’s deficit had reached a stalemate in congress against James Madison’s faction. Jefferson then hosted a dinner between the three in an attempt to solve the stalemate because he feared a deadlock.

Wine was originally very scarce and exotic, meaning the only people to really drink it were very powerful, prestigious, and privileged people. It was mainly drunk during public meetings and debates, or symposia’s, to express one’s self much more freely. While beer was known to have medicinal benefits, wine was known to clean wounds.

In addition, Romans had amazing food and dining utensils that they used for their dinner parties and elaborate meals. During Ancient Rome, “Romans waited until the main meal of the day, the cena, (Tingay and Marks 38) to truly eat. The cena came in three courses, the appetizers, the main course, and the secundae mensae. When the food was served, it came with plenty of wine. This was because Romans had two hundred varieties or more from all over the empire. In the cena, “Food was served on dishes. Most were made of glass or pottery, but if the family was very rich there would also be ornate platters of gold and silver (Tingay and Marks 39). The Romans had spoons and knives but they preferred eating with their hands and fingers. As the slaves brought the food out on various dishes they would also pour the wine from the amphorae into a jug for easy pouring during meals. At many of the meals the host would normally have three couches, the summus, medius, and imus. (Top, middle, bottom). “The diners were seated according to their social status” (Tingay and Marks 39). When the guest arrived at the host’s house for the dinner party there would be couches surrounding the tables and musicians, jugglers, acrobats, dancers, and conjurers performing. The hosts hired entertainers to the meal to make it more enjoyable and entertaining. The first course was mainly consisting of salads, seafood, eggs, and mulsum. (Wine sweetened with honey). Next, “the main

Montresor sat alone feeling isolated and lonely in his empty house, and just thought about his life. He lost the love of his life, his career, success, and his wealth. Sitting on the floor in his dark, gloomy, disheveled living room, he then decided to make a change. He pounced up, ran to the kitchen and got rid of all the alcohol in his home and he declared he would never drink another day in his life! Alcohol was the one thing that ruined everything for him and he hated it and himself for giving it that power. Montresor began to withdraw from his friendship with Fortunato slightly because of his use of alcohol. It had been a while since they hung out and Fortunato wanted to introduce Montresor to the new girl he’d fallen in love with. Montresor heard a knock on his door, when he opened it he was shocked at what he had

It was exotic and expensive. The author says “So fine was the calibration of wine with status that drinkers at a Roman banquet, or convivium, would be served different wines depending on their positions in society.” The richest drank the finest wines while poorer citizens drank lesser vintages and so on the social ladder. Wine was also religious. Wine influence on the history of the society started in ancient Greece, wine became the main export of a vast seaborne trade, helping to spread Greek culture abroad. It was a form of currency. I agree with the author’s assessment on the impact of wine. I agree because without wine it probably wouldn’t been involved with religious activities unless it was discovered later down the

Over the summer I read Tom Standage’s nonfiction novel, A History of the World in Six Glasses. Standage analyzed and depicted the tremendous impact these fluids had on the development of our present day society. The discovery of beer caused a change in the lifestyle of mankind as hunter gatherers settled down in larger villages and began farming wheat and barley. Starting in 10,000 BCE, beer was an everyday staple in Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. It was safer to drink than water and soon became a form of payment. Beer was even used in religious ceremonies, fertility rites and funerals by the Sumerians and Egyptians. The next drink discussed by the author, wine, was a symbol of sophistication and was directly

We are incredibly happy to host Moldova Mission Night dinner second year in a row. The event will be held at JCJC Baptist Student Union, starting from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. We organize this event in hopes of introducing Moldovan culture and traditional food to our American friends. Last year's event turned out to be a huge success. We felt motivated to continue the tradition and serve you with a delicious Moldovan dinner, while you get a chance to listen to life changing testimonies, hear about our ministry plans for this summer and witness a professional Taekwon-Do demonstration. Your $10 donation for a dinner plate will go towards the English and Taekdon-Do ministry that our family will lead this summer. We hope you choose to spend the night

The Satyricon, like many other works written in the time of early Ancient Rome, is a narrative whose author is not known definitively.   However, the best candidate from the time was Titus Petronius (Arbiter).The story, looking especially from the scene “Dinner with Trimalchio,” is a satiric masterwork of the pragmatic and materialistic attitude of the time, soon to be replaced by Christianity. “Dinner with Trimalchio” tells a tale from the perspective of Encolpius, a vagabond student of the master Agamemnon, who is invited along as a pupil of Agamemnon to a banquet. The host of the banquet is Gaius Trimalchio, who was once a slave but now a freedman millionaire, who worked hard to attain his power and wealthy status. Trimalchio is known

Beer and wine might have been one of the first drinks that caused humans to civilize and create a great community. In fact Tom Standage introduces us to this idea of these early drinks shaping human culture in his book A History of a World in Six Glasses. As Standage informs us about how beer was one of the causes in early settlement, and why farming was led to a great success because of the use of beer. Standage also mentions a start in traditions and a formation of government due to these drinks. Although beer being very important, Standage also introduces us to wine as a form of a class status that helped man distinguishing barbarism to a world of high standards and manners allowing for the community to become more cultured and

In the United States alone the drinking patterns throughout history have changed dramatically to reflect the times. Starting out in colonial times the usage of alcohol use was seen as a blessing, and harmless to society. It was acceptable to drink while at work, and during social events, however drinking alone was highly frowned upon. Many early religions believed that alcohol was a gift from God, “man should partake of God’s gift with out wasting or abusing it”#. To enhance and encourage the social