Athenaeus was a native of Naucratis, a Greek city in Egypt, and he wrote the Deipnosophists in the early part of the 3rd century A.D. It is a long and extremely diffuse work, which is presented as a series of erudite discussions over dinner. Athenaeus includes frequent quotations from earlier authors, especially from the writers of comedies, which give us a fascinating glimpse of a wide range of ancient Greek life and literature that would otherwise be unknown. Naturally, food and drink are the most common topic of conversation throughout, but often that is merely the starting point for long digressions.
The Deipnosophists is traditionally split into fifteen books, some of which have survived only in an abbreviated form. All of these books are available in translation online, either in the the translation by C.B.Gulick (1927-1930) on the LacusCurtius website, or in the translation by C.D.Yonge (1854) on this website. Because the individual books are quite long, most of them have been split into several different parts for reading on the web, as shown in the following table.
→ Go to page number (in range 1 - 702): |
GULICK | YONGE | ||
Book 1 | 1-11 | Introduction; food in Homer | |
Book 1 | 12-24 | Banquets and entertainments in Homer | |
Book 1 | 24-34 | Types of wine | |
Book 2 | 35-47 | Wine and water | |
Book 2 | 47-60 | Fruit and nuts | |
Book 2 | 60-71 | Salads | |
Book 3 | 72-85 | Fruit | |
Book 3 | 85-94 | Shell-fish | |
Book 3 | 94-106 | Meat; seafood | |
Book 3 | 106-116 | Types of bread | |
Book 3 | 116-127 | Salt-fish | |
Book 4 | 128-138 | Macedonian and Greek dinners | |
Book 4 | 138-148 | Spartan and Cretan dinners | |
Book 4 | 149-160 | 145-155 | Dinners of other nations |
Book 4 | 160-170 | Extravagance and prodigality | |
Book 4 | 170-184 | Musical instruments | |
Book 5 | 185-193 | Symposia in Homer | |
Book 5 | 193-203 | 193-203 | Royal processions |
Book 5 | 203-209 | 203-210 | Enormous ships |
Book 5 | 209-215 | 210-222 | Degenerate philosophers |
Book 5 | 215-222 | Faults of philosophers | |
Book 6 | 222-228 | Fishmongers | |
Book 6 | 228-234 | 229-234 | Silver and gold |
Book 6 | 234-248 | 234-248 | Parasites |
Book 6 | 248-262 | 248-262 | Flatterers |
Book 6 | 262-275 | 262-275 | Slaves |
Book 7 | 275-281 | Pleasure-lovers | |
Book 7 | 281-288 | Catalogue of fish | |
Book 7 | 288-294 | Fish (continued) | |
Book 7 | 294-306 | Fish (continued) | |
Book 7 | 306-319 | Fish (continued) | |
Book 7 | 319-330 | Fish (last part) | |
Book 8 | 330-337 | Stories about fish | |
Book 8 | 337-347 | Fish-eaters and epicures | |
Book 8 | 347-352 | Anecdotes about Stratonicus | |
Book 8 | 352-358 | Types of meat | |
Book 8 | 358-365 | Festivals and feasts | |
Book 9 | 366-376 | Meat and vegetables | |
Book 9 | 376-383 | Erudite cooks | |
Book 9 | 384-398 | Edible birds | |
Book 9 | 399-403 | Types of meat | |
Book 9 | 403-410 | Boastful cooks; washing of hands | |
Book 10 | 411-422 | Gluttons | |
Book 10 | 422-429 | Toasts ; drunkenness | |
Book 10 | 429-440 | Famous drinkers | |
Book 10 | 440-448 | Drunken behaviour | |
Book 10 | 448-459 | Riddles | |
Book 11 | 459-469 | Cups and bowls : intro and A-D | |
Book 11 | 469-484 | Cups and bowls : E-K | |
Book 11 | 484-496 | Cups and bowls : L-P | |
Book 11 | 496-509 | Cups and bowls ; malignity of Plato | |
Book 12 | 510-528 | Luxury of states | |
Book 12 | 528-544 | Luxury of individuals | |
Book 12 | 544-554 | Hedonism and obesity | |
Book 13 | 555-571 | Women and love | |
Book 13 | 571-589 | Prostitutes and courtesans | |
Book 13 | 589-599 | Mistresses of famous men | |
Book 13 | 599-612 | Love of boys | |
Book 14 | 613-628 | Entertainers and musicians | |
Book 14 | 628-638 | Dance; musical instruments | |
Book 14 | 639-649 | Desserts and cakes | |
Book 14 | 649-664 | Fruit; fowls; cooks | |
Book 15 | 665-680 | Kottabos; garlands | |
Book 15 | 680-692 | Perfumes and unguents | |
Book 15 | 692-702 | Drinking songs and parodies |