Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water). Culture: Greek, Attic. Dimensions: Overall: 22 3/16 x 27 1/4 in. (56.4 x 69.3 cm); diameter 23 1/16 in. (58.6 cm). Date: ca. 550 B.C..Obverse, Hephaistos on mule among satyrs and maenadsReverse, Dionysos among satyrs and maenadsThe symposium, conventionally interpreted as a drinking party, was a well-established feature of Greek--particularly Athenian-- society. For over a century, representations on vases document that wine, women, and song were central ingredients. Even more worthy of emphasis, however, is the importance of the symposium as an institution that permitted citizens to gather, to transact business, and--as Plato's dialogue makes clear--to engage in serious discussion. An essential piece of equipment for the symposium was the vase in which the wine was diluted with water and from which it was served.In black-figure vase-painting before the last quarter of the sixth century B.C., the decoration of large, elaborate