Liba Taub Presents "Science at the Symposium"

Science at the Symposium

Ancient historians have devoted a great deal of work to studying the drinking and dinner parties known as symposia, using many types of historical evidence: epigraphical, archaeological, literary. I am intrigued by the setting of the symposium as a site of knowledge production, reception and negotiation, particularly as it relates to what we think of as ‘scientific’ knowledge. Was scientific knowledge being pursued or developed at symposia?  What does it mean to claim that science was being done in this particular social setting? For my talk, my chief informant is Plutarch, who in the Table-Talk (Quaestiones convivales) describes in detail a number of conversations on a broad range of topics, including some which might be classified as ‘science’, mathematics, and medicine. I will review some of the subjects discussed, asking what is accomplished by choosing the discursive and dialogic setting (especially as Plutarch used other genres to consider similar topics). I will then turn to Vitruvius, who describes objects which may have been designed for and used at symposia, and will briefly consider the writings of Hero of Alexandria as well as some archaeological evidence for devices that may also have featured at symposia.