Symposium - Encyclopedia Britannica 1911

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

SYMPOSIUM (Gr. 6vgrrovcov, a drinking party, from cm/naval), to drink together, (rim, with, and Iriveu', to drink, root 7ro, cf. Lat. potare, to drink, poculum, cup), the convivial drinking which took place after a great banquet, accompanied by intellectual or witty conversation, and by music or dancing performed by slaves or attendants. The term has been applied in modern usage, due to Plato's Symposium, to a collection of opinions of different writers on a given subject.