Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

COENA. COENA. 303
at the house of their host, their shoes or sandals their fingers on pieces of bread, called 3&ro/cyacAtrt.
wre taken off by the slaves, and their feet washed (Pollux, vi. 93.) They did not use any cloths or
(luroA.Eiv and &7rovsiew.) In ancient works of napkins; the XetlpaKKrpa and elAaTyEZa, which
art we frequently see a slave or other person re. are sometimes mentioned (Pollux, 1. c.), were towels,
presented in the act of taking off the shoes of the which were only used when they washed their
guests, of which an example is given, from a terra hands.
cotta in the British Museum, in p. 308. After It appears that the arrangement of the dinner
their feet had been washed, the auests reclined on was entrusted to certain slaves. (Plato, Srnp. c. 3.
the altval or couches (Kal E ~o- E/ P 7rovi'oieLV by p. 175.) The one who had the chief management
7ra?%a,'ia KaTaKeoItro, Plato, Sy np. c. 3. p. 175). of it was'called rpaereCo7ro0ds or -'paerscodcJos
It has already been remarked that Homer never (Athen. iv. p. 170, e.; Pollux, iii. 41, vi. 13).
describes persons as reclining, but always as sitting It would exceed the limits of this work to give
at their meals; but at what time the change was an account of the different dishes which were inintroduced is uncertain. Muiller (Dorians, iv. 3. troduced at a Greek dinner, though their number
~ 1) concludes from a fragment of Alcmnan, quoted is far below those which were usually partaken
by Athenaeus (iii. p. 111), that the Spartans were of at a Roman entertainment. The most common
accustomed to recline at their meals as early as the food among the Greeks was the cxdCa (Dor. /aeSta),
time of Aleman. The Dorians of Crete always a kind of frumenty or soft cake, which was presat; but the Athenians, like the Spartans, were pared in different ways, as appears by the various
accustomed to recline. The Greek women and names which were given to it. (Pollux, vi. 76.)
children, however, like the Roman, continued to The /uacca is frequently mentioned by Aristophanes.
sit at their meals, as we find them represented in The qvra i j/d'a, of which Philocleon partakes on
ancient works of art. returning home from the courts (Aristoph. Vesp.
It was usual for only two persons to recline on 610), is said by the Scholiast to have been made
each couch. Thus Agathon says to Aristodemus, of barley and wine. The Edcia continued to the."u 5','ApI'rT87urlCe, 7rap''EpvtSLaxov KaTacXMvov: latest times to be the common food of the lower
and to Soerat:es, Ae7po,:4KpaTe-s, rap' 44~ Kaed- classes. Wheaten or barley bread was the second.Kceso (Plato, Syepin. c. 3, 4. p. 175). Also at a most usual species of food; it was sometimes made
banquet given by Attaginus of Thebes to fifty at horne, but more usually bought at the market of
Persians and fifty Greeks, we are told that one the &p ro7'CrhA or ppTo)7r6AMeYs. The vegetables
Persian and one Greek reclined on each couch. ordinarily eatenr were Inallows (/aa'aXV7), lettuces
In ancient works of art we usually see the guests (apiat), cabbages ()dcpasvo), beans (KUca/Lo),
represented in this way; bhut sometimes there is a, lentils ((paKa?), &c. Pork was the most favourite
larger number on one long KcAvrl: see the cut animal fbod, as was the case among the Romans;
under the article SyMPsosIUM. The manner in Plutamrch (Sip p. iv. 5. ~ 1) calls it' $&KOat6asl-roY
which they reclined, the oXJua/a 7'rs KaTaKieXLoEs, Kpeas. Sausages also were very commonly eaten.
as Plutarch (Syrup. v. 6) calls it, will be under- It is a curious fact, which Plato (De Rep. iii.
stood by referring to the woodcut already men- c. 13. p. 404) has remarked, that we never read
tioned, where the guests are represented reclining in Homer of the heroes partaking of fish. In later
with their left arms on striped piIlowvs (b1raeytcc6va), times, however, fish was one of the most favourite
and having their right free; whence Lucian foods of the Greeks, insomuch so that the name of
(Lexirph. c. 6) speaks of Eir' &ayscCvos 8ELMrseTE. 6ove was atpplied to it ieKa' oxftiV. (Athen. vii.
After the guaests had placed themselves on the p. 276, e.) A minute account of the fishes which
KsMvat, the slaves brought in water to wash their the Greeks were accustomed to eat, is given at the
hands (i3wp Kara Xelp6s e30'n). The subsequent end of the seventh book of Athenaeus, arranged in
proceedings of the dinner are briefly described in alphabetical order.
two lines of Aristophanes (J'esp. 1216), The ordinary meal for the family was cooked
VT8wp Scalar X:pG dse T&S Tpaeireas fE1Cp1ELV by the mistress of the house, or by the female
tE7zI~V5UEV /LO5 Ev5,.' -V 7rerS0jwEY. slaves under her direction; but for special occasions professional cooks (/yfyelpot) were hired, of
The dinner was then served up; whence we read whom there appear to have been a great number.
in Aristophanes, and elsewhere, of ia's rparrefas (Diog. LauIrt. ii. 72.) They are frequently meneeep'pesv, by which expression we are to under- tioned in the fragments of the comic poets; and
stand not merely the dishes, but thie tables them- those who were acquainted with all the refineselves. (Pliiloxen. up. Athen. iv. p. 146, f.) It ap- ments of their art were in great demand in other
pears that a table, with provisions upon it, was parts of Greece besides their aown country. The
placed before each Kcilv r: and thus we find in all Sicilian cooks, however, had the greatest reputaancient works of art, which represent banquets or tion (Plato, De Rep. iii. c. 13. p. 404), and a
symposia, a small table or tripod placed before the Sicilian book on cookery by one Mithaecus is
teMvV, and when there are more than two persons mentioned in the Gorgias of Plato (c. 156. p. 518.
on the itexvi, several of such tables. These tables Compare Maxim. Tyr. Diss. iv. 5); but the most
are evidently small enough to be moved with celebrated work on the subject was the ra-Tpaoease. Aoyfa of Archestratus. (Athen. iii. p. 104. b.)
In eating, the Greeks had no knives or forks, A dinner given by an opulent Athenian usually
but made use of their fingers only, except in eat- consisted of two courses, called respectively 7rp-rae
ing soups or other liquids, which they partook of rpA7r(eat and tsr'epat rpdirecat. Pollux (vi. 83),
by means of a spoon, called pvauTrIA1, cbo-rpov, or indeed, speaks of three courses, which was the
dumr'pos. Sometimes they used instead of a spoon, number at a Roman dflieer; and in the same
a hollowed piece of bread, also called /uv'eT'Ar/. way we find other writers under the Roman
(Pollux, vi. 87, x. 89; Aristoph. Equit. 1164; empire speaking of three courses at Greek dinSuidas, s. v. uuisl-.reA.) After eating they. wiped hers; but before the Roman conquest of Greece
x