Description:
Drawing on 80 years of excavation and scholarship, this volume is the first comprehensive study of the abundant pottery unearthed alongside the Athenian Tholos, the remarkable round building that served as dining hall and hostel for the fifty prytaneis of the Council of 500. Moving from architecture and furnishings to the broader social and religious world of Athenian public dining, the book culminates in a detailed catalogue of over 300 finds—the majority published here for the first time. Supported by hundreds of original photographs, drawings, and plans, the author’s analysis reveals how the Tholos dining vessels were intimately tied to the Athenian system of standard measures, transforming an institution that officially divided citizens by wealth into a space that instead enacted isonomia, the principle of equality among citizens central to Athenian democracy. The study also traces the erosion of this system in the 4th century BCE through changes in the commensal repertory in conjunction with the demise of the democracy. Specialist contributions comprise a study on ancient perceptions of vessel capacity (R. Bidgood), a revised interpretation of the nearby “broiling pits” based on rediscovered faunal remains (F. Dibble), and the first extensive fabric analysis of Attic black-glaze, household, and cooking wares from a securely dated public context (E. Kiriatzi et al.). Through these wide-ranging modes of inquiry, the volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of Greek dining culture, ceramic production, and the foundations of Athenian civic life.

About the Author: Ann Steiner is the Shirley Watkins Steinman Professor Emerita of Classics at Franklin and Marshall College.