Deipnosophistae

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Frontispiece to the 1657 edition of the Deipnosophists, edited by Isaac Casaubon, in
Greek and Jacques Daléchamps' Latin translation
The Deipnosophistae is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work (Ancient
Greek: Δειπνοσοφισταί, Deipnosophistaí, lit. "The Dinner Sophists/
Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek[1] author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is
a long work of literary, historical, and antiquarian references set in Rome at
a series of banquets held by the protagonist Publius Livius Larensis [de] for
an assembly of grammarians, lexicographers, jurists, musicians, and
hangers-on. It is sometimes called the oldest surviving cookbook.[2]
Contents
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External linksTitle[edit]
The Greek title Deipnosophistaí (Δειπνοσοφισταί) derives from the
combination of deipno- (δειπνο-, "dinner") and sophistḗs (σοφιστής,
"expert, one knowledgeable in the arts of ~"). It and its English derivative
deipnosophists[3] thus describe people who are skilled at dining, particularly
the refined conversation expected to accompany Greek symposia.
However, the term is shaded by the harsh treatment accorded to
professional teachers in Plato's Socratic dialogues, which made the English
term sophist into a pejorative.
In English, Athenaeus's work usually known by its Latin form
Deipnosophistae but is also variously translated as The Deipnosophists,
[4]
Sophists at Dinner,[2] The Learned Banqueters,[5] The Banquet of
the Learned,[4] Philosophers at Dinner, or The Gastronomers.
Contents[edit]

Deipnosophistae, 1535
The Deipnosophistae professes to be an account, given by Athenaeus to
his friend Timocrates, of a series of banquets held at the house of
Larensius, a scholar and wealthy patron of the arts. It is thus a dialogue
within a dialogue, after the manner of Plato,[6] although each conversation
is so long that, realistically, it would occupy several days. Among the
numerous guests,[7] Masurius, Zoilus, Democritus, Galen, Ulpian and
Plutarch are named, but most are probably to be taken as fictitious
personages,[8] and the majority take little or no part in the conversation. If
Ulpian is identical with the famous jurist, the Deipnosophistae must have
been written after his death in 223; but the jurist was murdered by the
Praetorian Guard, whereas Ulpian in Athenaeus dies a natural death.
Prosopographical investigation, however, has shown the possibility of
identifying several guests with real persons from other sources;[9] the
Ulpian in the dialog has also been linked to the renowned jurist's father.[10]
The work is invaluable for providing fictionalized information about the
Hellenistic literary world of the leisured class during the Roman Empire.
[citation needed]
To the majority of modern readers, even more useful is the
wealth of information provided in the Deipnosophistae about earlier Greek
literature.[11] In the course of discussing classic authors, the participants
make quotations, long and short, from the works of about 700 earlier Greek
authors and 2,500 separate writings, many of them otherwise unrecorded.
Food and wine, luxury, music, sexual mores, literary gossip and philology
are among the major topics of discussion, and the stories behind many
artworks such as the Venus Kallipygos are also transmitted in its pages.