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{{Short description|Common meals for men and youths in social or religious groups in Ancient Greece}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Spartan Constitution}}
The '''syssitia''' ({{langx|grc|συσσίτια}} ''syssítia'', plural of {{lang|grc|συσσίτιον}} ''syssítion'')<ref>{{LSJ|sussi/tion|συσσίτιον|ref}}.</ref> were, in [[ancient Greece]], common meals for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in [[Crete]] and [[Sparta]], but also in [[Megara]] in the time of [[Theognis of Megara]] (sixth century BCE) and [[Corinth]] in the time of [[Periander]] (seventh century BCE).

The banquets spoken of by [[Homer]] relate to the tradition. Some reference to similar meals can be found in [[Carthage]] and according to [[Aristotle]] (''Politics'' VII. 9), it prevailed still earlier amongst the [[Oenotrians]] of [[Calabria]].<ref>This article relies heavily on the [[French language|French]] Wikipedia article, translated 13 June 2006, as well as (Smith 1870)</ref> The syssitia in the Carthginian constitution may have been called in the Phoenician origin "[[marzēaḥ]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carter |first=Jane B. |url=https://archive.org/details/newlightondarkag00unse |title=New Light on a Dark Age |publisher=University of Missouri Press |year=1997 |isbn= 978-0-8262-1099-9|editor-last=Langdon |editor-first=Susan |page=97 |chapter=Thiasos and Marzeaḥ}}</ref>

The origin of the ''syssítia'' is attributed to [[Rhadamanthus]], the legendary lawgiver of [[Knossos]] of Crete. This is explained by [[Cleinias of Crete]] in conversation with an Athenian and a Spartan, in Plato's dialogue [[Laws (dialogue)|the Laws]].  [[Lycurgus of Sparta]] certainly made use of the practice in Sparta.

== Sparta ==

In Sparta, where the system was most evolved, they were also called ''pheiditia'' ({{lang|grc|φειδίτια}}, {{cn span|text=from {{lang|grc|ἔδω}} ''edō'', to eat).|date=July 2020}} The term is probably a corruption of ''philitia'' ({{lang|grc|φιλίτια}}, "love-feast"),<ref>This should not be presumed to refer to a sexual nature; the connotation here is classical brotherly love.</ref> a word corresponding to the Cretan ''Hetairia''. It was a daily obligatory banquet comparable to a military [[mess]]. Before the 5th century BC, the ritual was also referred to as the {{lang|grc|ἀνδρεῖα}} ''andreia'', literally, "belonging to men". Obligation was total; no person, not even the [[kings of Sparta|two kings]], could be absent without good excuse, such as performance of a sacrifice. Lesser excuses, such as being away on a hunt, implied a requirement to provide a present to the table (Smith 1870).

The participation at the syssition was, as for other aspects of [[agoge]], obligatory for membership in the ''Homoioi'', the Peers. Spartans were admitted from the age of twenty after a ritual described by [[Plutarch]] in his ''Life of Lycurgus'' (ch 12):

{{quote|Each man in the company took a little ball of soft bread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter carried round upon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen dropped their ball into the basin without altering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it between their fingers, and made it flat; and this signified as much as a negative voice. And if there were but one of these pieces in the basin, the suitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all the members of the company should be agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the rejected candidate had a name thence derived.<ref name="Lycurg">Plutarch. ''Life of Lycurgus'' Online version [http://www.bostonleadershipbuilders.com/plutarch/lycurgus.htm] accessed 13 June 2006</ref>}}
It was also possible for the young man to be presented by his ''erastes'' (lover), a teacher figure who was the elder in a typically [[pederasty in ancient Greece|pederastic relationship]].

Each person was supplied with a cup of mixed wine, which was filled again when required, although drunkenness was not tolerated. Following a main meal of [[black soup]] ({{lang|grc|μέλας ζωμός}} ''melas zōmos''), an ἐπάϊκλον (''epaiklon'', or after-meal) was served, which consisted of game, fruit, poultry and other delicacies. [[Alcman]] (Frag. 31) tells, "at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men it was fit for the guests to sing the paean". The arrangements were under the supervision of the [[polemarch]].

Each member was required to contribute a monthly share to the common pot, the φιδίτης ''phidítes'', of which the composition has been noted by [[Dicaearchus]] (through [[Athenaeus]] and Plutarch ''ibid.'', 12): 77 litres of [[barley]], 39 litres of wine, three kilograms of cheese, 1.5 kilograms of figs, and ten [[Aegina]] [[obol (coin)|obols]], which served to purchase meat. That served to prepare the main dish, the black soup, of which Athenaeus noted the ingredients: pork, salt, vinegar and blood.

The ''kleros'', the allotment given to each Spartan and cultivated by [[helots]], was supposed to allow all citizens to pay their share. If that proved impossible, they were excluded from the syssitia. ([[Aristotle]], ''Politics'', II, 9).

The number of members in each syssition remains vague. According to Plutarch in ''Life of Lycurgus'', there were approximately 15 men in each syssition, but in his ''Life of Agis'', the king divides his 4,500 citizens into 15 ''phidites'' of 400 or 200 members, that is 7 ''phidites'' of 400, 7 of 200, and 300 [[hippeis]] (elite Spartan guards).

== Crete ==

The ancient Cretan name for the syssitia was also ''andreia'', the singular of which ({{lang|grc|ἀνδρεῖον}} (''andreion'') was used to denote the building or public hall in which they were given. The name {{lang|grc|ἑταιρίαι}} ''hetairiai'' was also used. As in Sparta, the meals were for male citizens and youths only. Based on at least one source, however, ([[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'', IX, 18), it is possible that in some of the Dorian states, there were also syssitia of young unmarried women. The citizens were divided into messes that originally appear to have been along kinship lines, but vacancies were later filled at the discretion of the members. Ζεὺς Ἑταιρεῖος (''Zeus Hetaireios'') was the presiding deity.

According to [[Dosiadas]], cited in [[Athenaeus]],<ref>The Deipnosophists, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Athenaeus/4B*.html Book 4 138–148].</ref> each town in Crete had two public buildings; one for lodging strangers (''koimeterion''), as well as the ''andreion'', where the syssitia took place. The upper part had two tables for foreign guests, tables for the citizen members and a third table to the right of the entrance for ''Zeus Xenios'', likely used for offerings and [[libations]].

Cretan syssitia were distinguished by simplicity and temperance. They always sat at their tables, even in later times, when the custom of reclining had been introduced in Sparta. The entertainment began with prayer to the gods and libations. Each of the adult citizens received an equal portion of fare, with the exception of the ''[[Archon]]'', or "Master of the Tables", who was perhaps in ancient times one of the ''[[Kosmoi]]'', the highest officials in Cretan poleis before the 3rd century BCE, and more recently a member of the ''[[Gerousia]]''. The ''Archon'' received four portions: "one as a common citizen, a second as President, a third for the house or building, a fourth for the furniture", which seems to imply that the care of the building and the provision of the necessary utensils and furniture were his responsibility. A free-born woman managed the tables and service; she openly took the best portion and presented it to the most eminent citizen present. She had three or four male assistants under her, each of whom again was provided with two menial servants. Strangers were served before citizens and even before the Archon. On each of the tables was placed a cup of mixed wine from which the messmates of the same company drank. At the close of the meal, it was replenished, but all intemperance was strictly forbidden by a special law.

Youths under eighteen accompanied their fathers to the syssitia, along with orphans. In some places, the youngest of the orphans waited on the men; in others, that was done by all the boys. When not thus engaged, they were seated near to the men on a lower bench and received only a half portion of meat: the eldest of the orphans appear to have received the same quantity as the men but of a plainer description of fare (Athenaeus IV, 143). The boys and the men had also a cup of mixed wine in common, but it was not replenished when emptied. The meals were generally cheerful, and accompanied by music and singing. It was followed by conversation, which was first directed to the public affairs of the state and afterwards turned on valiant deeds in war and the exploits of illustrious men, whose praises might animate the younger hearers to an honourable emulation. While listening to that conversation, the youths seem to have been arranged in classes, each of which was placed under the superintendence of an officer especially appointed for that purpose. The syssitia were thus made to serve important political and educational ends.

Unlike the Spartan format ([[#Sparta|see above]]), in most Cretan cities, <blockquote>...of all the fruits of the earth and cattle raised on the public lands, and of the tribute which is paid by the [[Perioeci]], one portion is assigned to the Gods and to the service of the state, and another to the common meals, so that men, women, and children are all supported out of a common stock.
 ([[Aristotle]] ''[[Politics]]'' II. 10; [[Bekker numbers|Bekker 1272a]])<ref>Aristotle, ''Politics'' trans [[Benjamin Jowett]]. [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html online] accessed 14 June 2006</ref></blockquote>

Based on Aristotle and Athenaeus, it appears that citizens received their share directly to pay part to the public table and another part to feed the females of the family. That practice, however, does not appear to have prevailed exclusively at all times and in all the cities of Crete. In [[Lyctus]], for instance, a colony from Sparta, the custom was different: the citizens of that town contributed to their respective tables a tenth of the produce of their estates, which may be supposed to have obtained in other cities, where the public domains were not sufficient to defray the charges of the syssitia. However, both at Lyctus and elsewhere, the poorer citizens were in all probability supported at the public cost.

The principal question is how one building would accommodate the adult citizens and youths of towns like [[Lyctus]] and [[Gortyna]]. Either the information is incorrect, and there was more than one ''andreion'' in larger towns, or the number of citizens in each town was small, a hypothesis supported by [[Xenophon]] (Hellenica, III, 3), who reported only 40 citizens in a crowd of 4,000 in Sparta.<ref>Xenophon ''Hellenica'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Xen.+Hell.+3.3.1 online] accessed 14 June 2006.</ref> Crete had similar massive numbers of noncitizens.

== Significance ==

The syssitia patently served to bring kinship groups together. In having those who would fight together eat together in peacetime, a strong bond was formed. The syssition effectively became an extended family in which all were "children of the state". They also ensured a separation between subject classes and citizens and, in Sparta, additional separation based on station and wealth and so were a strong tool for developing nationalism. [[Herodotus]] (I, 65) remarked that the Spartan syssition led to troops "who fought with more bravery and a keener sense of shame than would have been the case with chance comrades" (Smith 1870).

While the syssitia, as opposed to [[symposium|symposia]], were originally based on simplicity and sobriety, in Sparta, they gradually became more indulgent and luxurious. Some attempts were made by [[Agis IV]] to restore former discipline, but they ended in failure.

== See also ==
*[[Ancient Greek cuisine]]
*[[Azoria]], Crete (possible 6th century BC andreion recovered in excavations at the site)

== Notes ==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* {{SmithDGRA}}
* {{in lang|fr}} Edmond Lévy, Sparte : histoire politique et sociale jusqu’à la conquête romaine, Seuil, "Points Histoire" collection, Paris, 2003 ({{ISBN|2-02-032453-9}})
* {{in lang|fr}} Pauline Schmitt-Pantel, ''La Cité au banquet: histoire des repas publics dans les cités grecques'', École française de Rome, 2000.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syssitia}}
[[Category:Culture of ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Culture of Sparta]]
[[Category:Dorian Crete]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek cuisine]]
[[Category:Communal eating]]