Eudaimonia and the corruption of excess

"Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments." - Plato

In the case of drinking to excess, this change could result in the loss of virtue and well-being or, as the Greek philosophers termed it, Eudaimonia. Plato believed that individuals naturally feel unhappiness when they do something they know and acknowledge to be wrong.

Plato's student, Aristotle, agreed that although the pursuit of virtue, excellence, and the best within us was necessary to achieve eudaimonia, virtue in itself was not sufficient alone.  

"Aristotle believes that happiness and well-being come from how we live our lives,"   explains psychologist Catherine Moore, "And that's not in pursuit of material wealth, power, or honor."

Aristotle expounds upon ways to achieve the happy life in his work "Nichomacean Ethics."

"To be honest, a lot of Nichomacean Ethics is about what happiness isn’t," Moore points out, "Satisfying appetites is akin to a “life suitable to beasts." The pursuit of political power, material wealth, even fun and leisure, he (Aristotle) saw as “laughable things”, inferior to “serious things."

"Instead, happiness is an ‘intermediate’, or a ‘golden mean’ between deficiency and excess. One example of virtue as a mean between two extremes is courage – as a virtue, it’s halfway between recklessness and cowardice."

“He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life.” – Aristotle, Nichomacean Ethics, Book I, Chapter 10

So, although Aristotle acknowledged  fate or luck does play a role in happiness, he believed an individual's disposition and talent could still be used to achieve it.

Which virtues does Plato value?  In his work "Republic" Plato describes a discussion among friends as to what a just republic would look like and four virtues are revealed:

Temperance (moderation) – or self-regulation, to avoid the vices and corruption caused by excess.

Courage (or fortitude) – to stand up for what we believe is right and good.

Justice – a social consciousness that plays a key part in maintaining societal order, and

Wisdom (practical wisdom, or prudence) – the pursuit of knowledge.

Again we see a reference to excess. These ideas were being exchanged at symposia of the 4th century BCE both in Greece and in the Greek colony of Magna Graecia in southern Italy. Plato, in his work "Gorgias", written about 380 BCE describes Magna Graecia as a place where discussion of the human soul abounded amid religious and philosophic speculation. Its proximity to and trade relations with Etruria would have also been a strong influence on Etruscan potters and may have served to inspire moralistic themes in art of the period. One possible example is a red-figured terracotta rhyton found in a tomb at Tarquinia.

"This unusual 4th century BCE vessel is composed of two mold-made faces set back to back: the upper one a bearded Greek warrior with curly hair and wearing a Corinthian helmet pushed up on top of his head, the lower one a caricature of a bearded man, perhaps a Syrian or Phoenician, with a broad nose, almond eyes, and thick, smiling lips." - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

As is characteristic of many Janiform representations, it may portray two contrasting aspects of a single individual - the friendly face of the Greek warrior rendered realistically that is transformed into a caricature of a belligerent barbarian once the guest overindulges - a subtle caution about the corruption of excess. I think the fact that the barbarian visage is rendered as a caricature points to the artist's metaphorical intent.

Read more about Eudaimonic Well-Being here: 

https://positivepsychology.com/eudaimonia/

Images:  Etruscan rhyton attributed to the Bruschi Group, Late 4th century BCE - Late Classical or Early Hellenistic Period, now in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, images courtesy of the museum.

Images:  Etruscan rhyton attributed to the Bruschi Group, Late 4th century BCE - Late Classical or Early Hellenistic Period, now in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, images courtesy of the museum.

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Deciphering Iconography of a late Classical Period Etruscan sarcophagus

The sarcophagus of Etruscan priest Laris Partunus found in the Tarquinian necropolis was produced in the late Classical Period.  This exquisite sarcophagus crafted of Parian marble is painted with scenes of the Amazonomachy.  The Greeks are shown in hoplite armor while the Amazons are wearing chitons. Surprisingly, the Amazons are depicted winning most of the paired battles instead of an equal number of victories as depicted on the Amazon sarcophagus also from Tarquinia.

The Partunus sarcophagus also depicts blue-skinned demons, but unlike the fearsome blue demons seen in the Tomb of the Blue Demons, also in Tarquinia, these figures appear to be gently guiding an aristocratic lady to her family like Greek psychopomps,  creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. 

The painting on the long side of the sarcophagus depicts the execution of Trojan prisoners. They too are accompanied by winged blue-skinned demons who symbolize their impending deaths and journey to the underworld.  Such inclusion of mythical beings may have also served a heraldic or apotropaic function.

"This scene has inappropriately been seen as influenced by the sacrifice of Roman captives by the Tarquinians in 358 BCE (Livy 7.15.10-11), and the subsequent slaughter of Tarquinian prisoners by the Romans in 353 BCE (Livy 7.19.2-3), points out Allison Weir in her PhD thesis "Footsteps of the Dead: Iconography of Beliefs about the Afterlife and Evidence for Funerary Practices in Etruscan Tarquinia", "There are, though, many significant problems with the attempt to connect a mythological scene in a tomb with an alleged historical event. It goes without saying that the historical accuracy of Livy’s account cannot be taken for granted, especially for an episode alleged to have occurred in the 4th century. The uncertain dating of the sarcophagus aside, there is nothing in the scene to suggest a human sacrifice, rather, the scene depicts the execution of prisoners of war. Therefore, the decoration on the sarcophagus should be seen for what it is: a mythological scene fused with local Etruscan chthonic demons. "

Weir also discounts the implausible suggestion that the presence of victorious female fighters on the sarcophagus indicate the women of Tarquinia in the 4th century were emancipated.

The image of Laris Partunus lying fully flat on the lid of the sarcophagus reflects the style of the  mid 4th century BCE where sarcophagi had either a fully reclined image or no image of the dead at all. It reminded me of tomb effigies I have photographed from the medieval period - no dogs or lions at their feet, though!

"As the Hellenistic period progressed, the pose of the figure on the lids of sarcophagi and cinerary urns became progressively more upright," Weir observes.

This is illustrated by the sarcophagus of Laris' son, Velthur Partunus, also found in the same family tomb. He is depicted in a position halfway between that of his father and the upright pose of sculptures on later sarcophagi.

To read more about Funerary Practices in Etruscan Tarquinia, check out Allison Weir's full thesis at:

  https://dt01-s1.123dok.com/pdf/123dok_us/pdf/2020/01_22/xz7brd1579688774.pdf?X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=94NFDWF3B17T3R35S85K%2F20210721%2F%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210721T142719Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=600&X-Amz-Signature=f74d1bc7e60980fd614ff8d6657d6575700ba08a66b213b762843827335c0d8d

Images: Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Fully recumbent effigy of Etruscan pries Laris Portunus on the lid of his sarcophagus found in the necropolis at Tarquinia, Italy, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Scenes of the Amazonomachy including prisoners and blue demon-like beings acting as guides to the underworld on the Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

A bound prisoner on the Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Closeup of one of the blue-skinned demons acting as a psychopomp on the Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

A winged blue-skinned demon preparing to take a dying warrior to the underworld on the Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

A blue-skinned demon preparing to guide a soldier to the underworld on the Sarcophagus of Laris Portunus, priest, depicting scenes from the Amazonomachy and the Trojan War, Parian Marble, 350 BCE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum at Tarquinia, Italy, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

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From Etruscan Lasa to Roman Lare

Although art historians are not certain whether a Lasa was a major or minor Etruscan deity, it is thought the domain and purpose of the lasa morphed into a being known as a Lar to the Romans. Lares are thought to have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgamation of these.

Roman writers sometimes conflated the Lares with domestic Penates but the Lares had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state, and its military were all under the protection of their particular Lar or Lares. Those who protected local neighborhoods (vici) were housed in the crossroad shrines (Compitalia), which served as a focus for the religious, social, and political lives of their local, overwhelmingly plebeian communities. Their cult officials included freedmen and slaves, otherwise excluded by status or property qualifications from most administrative and religious offices. Despite official bans on non-Christian cults from the late fourth century CE onwards, unofficial cults to Lares persisted until at least the early fifth century CE. 

Although the Etruscan Lasa could be female, Roman Lares were described by Plutarch as  two small, youthful, lively male figures clad in short, rustic, girdled tunics – made of dogskin. They take a dancer's attitude, tiptoed or lightly balanced on one leg. One arm raises a drinking horn (rhyton) aloft as if to offer a toast or libation, the other bears a shallow libation dish (patera). 

Traditional Roman households owned at least one protective Lares figure, housed in a shrine along with the images of the household's penates, genius image and any other favored deities. Their statues were placed at table during family meals and banquets. They were divine witnesses at important family occasions, such as marriages, births, and adoptions, and their shrines provided a religious hub for social and family life. Care and cult attendance to domestic Lares could include offerings of spelt wheat and grain-garlands, honey cakes and honeycombs, grapes and first fruits, wine, and incense. They could be served at any time and not always by intention - in addition to the formal offerings that seem to have been their due, any food that fell to the floor during house banquets was considered theirs.

By the early Imperial period, household shrines of any kind became known generically as lararia (s. lararium) because they typically contained a Lares figure or two. In households of modest means, small Lar statuettes were set in wall-niches, sometimes merely a tile-support projecting from a painted background. In wealthier households, they tend to be found in servant's quarters and working areas. The sumptuous House of the Vettii in Pompeii had two lararia.  One was positioned out of public view, and was probably used in private household rites. The other was placed boldly front-of-house, among a riot of Greek-inspired mythological wall-paintings and the assorted statuary of patron divinities.

Domestic Lararia were also used as a sacred, protective depository for commonplace symbols of family change and continuity. In his coming-of-age, a boy gave his personal amulet (bulla) to his Lares before he put on his manly toga (toga virilis). Once his first beard had been ritually cut off, it was placed in their keeping. On the night before her wedding, a Roman girl surrendered her dolls, soft balls, and breastbands to her family Lares, as a sign she had come of age. On the day of her marriage, she transferred her allegiance to her husband's neighborhood Lares (Lares Compitalici) by paying them a copper coin en route to her new home. She paid another to her new domestic Lares, and one to her husband.

The city of Rome itself was protected by a Lar, or Lares, housed in a shrine (sacellum) on the city's ancient, sacred boundary (pomerium). Each Roman vicus (pl. vici – administrative districts or wards) had its own communal Lares, housed in a permanent shrine at a central crossroads of the district. These Lares Compitalicii were celebrated at the Compitalia festival (from the Latin compitum, a crossroad) just after the Saturnalia that closed the old year. In the "solemn and sumptuous" rites of Compitalia, a pig was led taken in celebratory procession through the streets of the vicus, then sacrificed to the Lares at their Compitalia shrine. According to Plutarch, Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome who was assassinated in 579 BCE, is credited with the founding of the Lares' public festival. 

Etruscan Lasa, once the support for a patera, bronze with silver inlays, 3rd - early 2nd century BCE, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, image courtesy of the museum.

Dancing Roman Lare holding a rhyton and a patera. Bronze statuette, First century CE, in the collections of the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Figurine of a Lar, 0-200 CE, at the Gallo-Roman museum, Tongeren, Belgium, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sam Donvil.

Frescoed and columned lararium in the house of Marco Epidio Sabino in Pompeii watercolor by Luigi Bazzani. Currently housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Watercolor of a red Pompeii interior with lararium by Luigi Bazzani that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons

Lararium of the House of Dioscuri at Pompeii, 1902 watercolor by Luigi Bazzani that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Lararium in the Casa degli Amorini Dorati (House of the Golden Cupids) in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Lararium from the Casa del Efebo in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Pompeii lararium courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor ho visto nina volare.

An elaborate Lararium with niche from Pompeii, Roman, 1st century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Claus Ableiter.

Lararium in the peristyle of the Villa Romana del Casale courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro.

Lararium in the Casa del Criptoportico (1.6.2), Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Maltaper

Kitchen lararium in Pompeii courtesy of Pompeii in Pictures (https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/index.htm)

Another niche lararium from the south wall of a garden area in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Stanley A. Jashemski.

Niche lararium from the west wall of a garden area in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Stanley A. Jashemski and Pompeii in Pictures.

Lararium niche on west wall of peristyle garden in Pompeii courtesy of Pompeii in Pictures

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Ancient Amber

 Despite fanciful descriptions by some ancient sources like Nicias (470-415 BCE) that amber "is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun, and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon the shores of Germany", Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder cited sources who were well aware of amber's actual origin from tree resin.

In Book 37, section XI of Natural History, Pliny wrote:

"Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from the cherry, and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened [...] Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of "succinum" and one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus, is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns, when ignited, with the odour and appearance of torch-pine wood."

Pliny says that the German name of amber was glæsum, "for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus Caesar commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glæsaria, which by the barbarians was known as Austeravia". 

As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt over a period of thousands of years. The oldest trade in amber in antiquity originated from Sicily. The Sicilian amber trade was directed to Greece, North Africa and Spain. Sicilian amber was also discovered in Mycenae by the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. This amber also appeared in sites in southern Spain and Portugal and its distribution is similar to that of ivory, so it is possible that amber from Sicily reached the Iberian Peninsula through contacts with North Africa. After a decline in the consumption and trade of amber at the beginning of the Bronze Age, around 2,000 BCE, the influence of Baltic amber gradually took the place of the Sicilian one throughout the Iberian peninsula starting around 1000 BCE. 

From at least the 16th century BC, amber was moved from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean area. The breast ornament of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen (c. 1333–1324 BCE) contains large Baltic amber beads. Amber was also sent from the North Sea to the temple of Apollo at Delphi as an offering.

In Roman times, a main route ran south from the Baltic coast (modern Lithuania), the entire north–south length of modern-day Poland (likely through the Iron Age settlement of Biskupin), through the land of the Boii (modern Czech Republic and Slovakia) to the head of the Adriatic Sea (Aquileia by the modern Gulf of Venice). Along with amber, other commodities such as animal fur and skin, honey and wax were exported to Rome in exchange for Roman glass, brass, gold, and non-ferrous metals such as tin and copper. As this road was a lucrative trade route connecting the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, Roman military fortifications were constructed along the route to protect merchants and traders from Germanic raids.

Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after. As amber ages, however, it often becomes opaque and crackled. 

Amber has been crafted into jewelry and pendants since the Stone Age, from 13,000 years ago. Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs.  However, it has also been used in folk medicine for its purported healing properties. Hippocrates and other ancient physicians used amber extracts for a wide variety of treatments. In ancient China amber was heated under specific conditions to produce oil of amber that, when combined with nitric acid, was used to produce artificial musk.

 

Amber head of a woman or goddess, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figurine of a dog, Roman, from a tomb in Aquileia, 90-110 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber ring with the form of a female bust, 1st century CE, in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figural sculpture from a tomb in Aquileia, 90 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figural sculpture of a woman with a melon hairstyle from a tomb in Aquileia, 90 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber head of a satyr, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber sculpture of winged figures, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Carved amber bow of a fibula depicting a couple reclining on a couch, with attendant and bird at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While numerous details are Etruscan, it is impossible to identify where the artist came from and whether the figures are mortal or divine.

Amber pendant in the form of a sphinx, from south Italy, Taranto, late 6th century BCE now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Weight with Ram and Tiger, Early Western Han Dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BCE, Bronze inlaid with gold silver and amber that I photographed at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum.

Amber amulet depicting a boar between two lion heads, Italic, 500-400 BCE, that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber Amulet depicting a Boar's Head, Italic about 500 BCE that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber amulet depicting a woman holding a child (Kourotrophos), Italic or Etruscan, 500-400 BCE, that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber pendant in the form of a Satyr Head in profile, Etruscan, 525-480 BCE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

Amber bead and pendant necklace, Italic, 700-475 BCE, BCE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

Amber Gorgoneion (Medusa Head), Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

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Symposia and drunken women

The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for men of respected families to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were frequently held to celebrate the introduction of young men into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests.

Symposia were usually held in the andrōn - the men's quarters of the household. The participants, or "symposiasts", would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations, the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven.  If any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up. However, in Macedonian symposia, the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar.

A symposium would be overseen by a "symposiarch" who would decide how strong the wine for the evening would be, depending on whether serious discussions or sensual indulgence were in the offing. In his play "Dionysus," Eubulus  has the god of wine Dionysus describe proper and improper drinking:

"For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour. The fifth is for shouting. The sixth is for rudeness and insults. The seventh is for fights. The eighth is for breaking the furniture. The ninth is for depression. The tenth is for madness and unconsciousness."

The Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans all held such gatherings but there were major differences between the Etruscan, Roman and Greek symposia. Both Etruscans and Romans  served wine before, with and after food, and women were allowed to join in. In a Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women were not allowed to attend.  Some Etruscan women were even considered "expert drinkers" and drinking and feasting paraphernalia have been found in the tombs of Etruscan women, suggesting that they partook in these activities. 

Although Roman symposia included women, scholars seem to disagree on whether  women attending such a drinking party could drink wine. Classicist Brigette Ford Russell, in her paper "Wine, Women, and the Polis : Gender and the Formation of the City-State in Archaic Rome" states early Roman Republican women were legally prohibited from drinking wine as a matter of public morality.  Apparently, they were perceived as too weak to control their impulses toward inappropriate behavior. 

She cites passages from Aulus Gellius writing in the 2nd century CE referring to statements by the 2nd century BCE moralist Cato the Elder. 

"Marcus Cato reports that women were not only judged but also punished by a judge no less severely if they had been guilty of drinking wine than if they had been guilt of unchastity and adultery." (NA 10.23.3)

The punishment according to Cato could be as severe as death.  So apparently, in addition to exhorting his fellow Romans to destroy Carthage, Cato the Elder railed against the dangers of drunken women.

This taboo was also recognized during the ritual of the Bona Dea.  Although the ceremony included a libation of wine to the goddess and, in all likelihood its consumption by the women present, Macrobius tells us that the wine was carried in a vessel called a honeypot and the forbidden wine itself was referred to as milk.

According to Plutarch, Bona Dea herself was the wife of the god Faunus, who caught her drinking wine and beat her to death for her transgression.

"Of significance also is the instrument of the interperate woman's punishment," observes Russell, "a branch of myrtle, the tree sacred to Venus, thus suggesting a connection between the woman's drinking and sexual impropriety."

Although society was content to let men use their own judgment to moderate their consumption of wine, women were thought, both in Greece and later Rome, to be less able to control their own unruly desires than were men.  Another classicist, Sandra Joshel, viewed this social control of women by men as an attempt at safeguarding the purity of the Roman state itself.

However, the archaeological record appears to contradict the enforcement of this restriction.  Like the Etruscan burials of elite females, burials excavated in Latium of the seventh century BCE contained such grave goods as wine mixing bowls on folding bronze stands and Punic amphorae containing imported Sardinian wine. These may symbolize the female's role as simply a hostess at sumptuous banquets but cast doubt on their own abstemiousness.

Even the legendary tale of the chaste example of a Roman matron, Lucretia, includes a description of the other women socializing at sumptuous banquets with their friends, sharing food, wine, and conversation. 

Another interesting aspect of this prohibition was the sanction to allow male relatives to kiss a woman on the lips to see if she was in compliance with the wine restriction. This "right to kiss" was known as the ius osculi. This custom (doubted by some scholars) allowed not only the husband, but the father, brothers and cousins (to the sixth degree) ​​of an “honest” woman to kiss her on the mouth upon greeting her to ensure that her breath did not smell of wine. By the late Republic, though, such hard-nosed conservatives  as Cato the Younger, in his "De Agri Cultura," began recommending wine consumption for both sexes as a health measure, even for slaves.

Two banqueters and an hetaera sitting on a klinê, detail. Terracotta from Myrina, Mysia, ca. 25 BCE now in the collections of The Louvre in Paris, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Terracotta group of Hetaera and young man with a naked slave boy as cupbearer at a symposium 4th century BCE now in the collections of the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich, courtesy Wikimedia Commons contributor Matthias Kabel.

A drunk man vomiting, while a young slave is holding his forehead. Brygos Painter, 500-470 BCE National Museum of Denmark. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Stefano Bolognini.

Sculpture of funerary banquet found in a the chamber tomb known as the "Banquet" in 1978 in Egnazia, Italy, 4th-2nd centuries BCE now in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Egnazia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Xinstalker. 

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Greek-Punic frescoed funeral shrine, with scene of a banquet. Roman imperial period, from Marsala. On the jambs, the symbol of the Phoenician goddess of fertility Tanit. The writing, which defines the deceased as "agathòs" (of good memory), is in Greek. Palermo Regional Archaeological Museum, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Giovanni Dall'Orto. (removed color cast)

A female aulos-player entertains men at a symposium on this Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 420 BCE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Banqueting scene in a burial chamber of the Tomb of the Leopards at the Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia in Lazio, Italy courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor, AlMare.

Another Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti (House of the Chaste Lovers) (IX 12, 6-8) in Pompeii (PD

Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti (House of the Chaste Lovers) (IX 12, 6-8) in Pompeii. A man drinks from a rhyton. His female companion wears a sheer garment and a golden net over her hair. A female servant attends to the couple, proffering a small box. The table in front holds a set of silver vessels for mixing wine. The whole scene represents an idealized Greek drinking party, a pleasurable sight for the guests of this first century CE Roman household (PD)

Gravestone depicting a symposium. Sicily. Archaeological Museum of Syracuse, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Zde.

Statuette of a Banqueter (one of three) bronze, from northern Greece, 550-525 BCE, now in the collections of the Getty Villa, image courtesy of the museum.

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