Aspasia at the table

The classic Greek meal is divided into two parts: the deîpnon, the main evening meal where one eats the sîtos (barley or wheat bread, the foundation of the meal) accompanied by the opson (everything that 'relishes' the bread: olives, fish, vegetables, cheese); then the symposion, the refined drinking party where wine mixed with water is consumed amid philosophical conversations, accompanied by tragḗmata (sweet or savory snacks). Aspasia, whose salon gathered Socrates and the finest minds, lived at the heart of this second scene.

Two treasures of Athens: olive oil, the green gold of Attica that perfumes and binds all dishes, and the thyme-scented honey from the bees of Mount Hymettus, which sweetens cakes and softens wine. They are the hallmark of the 5th-century Athenian table.