Among the ancient Greeks, the meal was organized around the sitos (the staple food: bread or barley cake) accompanied by the opson (what is eaten "with it," from cheese to sacrificial meat). The main meal, the deipnon, was followed by the symposion, the time for drinking wine mixed with water. They did not speak of appetizers, main courses, or desserts: they spoke of what nourishes (sitos), what enhances (opson), and what is drunk. For a king at war, sacrificial meats and barley bread dominate the table.

Barley (krithê) is the everyday grain of the Greeks, the basis of maza and kykeon, far more common than wheat. Olive oil binds, browns, and perfumes everything, from bread to roasted meats. These are the two pillars of a Boeotian king's table.