In ancient Greece, men of the house regularly hosted a symposium, a drinking party, in a closed-off space, appropriately called andron, the men’s place. The symposium aimed primarily to promote bonds through common drinking, as its name suggests in Greek, and shared experiences. As witnessed in many vase scenes and accounts in literature, men and their friends drank, sang, talked, joked, played music and games, and entertained themselves, sharing among them not only wine, but also women; not their solemn wives, mothers, or daughters, who were excluded from these activities, but visiting women, hired to offer amusement or sex. These private banquets essentially brought the brothel into the house, offering liberal sexual pleasures, without violating the productive sexuality of respectable women of the house. Wine, always diluted with water, since only barbarians were thought to drink their wine straight, induced merrymaking and lubricated shared experiences.
In Athens, the symposium, originally reserved for the aristocratic elite, soon spread to the lower classes under the Athenian democracy. Serving as a microcosm of Classical Athenian society, the symposium reflected and shaped the social norms of Athens, promoting male companionship and political equality, and female control and submission.