In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century ad) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

The Loeb Classical Library® is a registered trademark of the Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

S. Douglas Olson is Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota.

Read More by Athenaeus:

• The Deipnosophists, V, Books 11-12: Books 11-12
• The Deipnosophists, VI, Books 13-14.653b
• The Deipnosophists, VII, Books 14.653b-15
• The Learned Banqueters, I, Books 1-3.106e
• The Learned Banqueters, II, Books 3.106e-5
• The Learned Banqueters, IV, Books 8-10.420e

Read More by S. Douglas Olson:

• The Learned Banqueters, I, Books 1-3.106e
• The Learned Banqueters, II, Books 3.106e-5
• The Learned Banqueters, IV, Books 8-10.420e