As with today's festivals, drinking games were part of the additional entertainment of the participants at the symposium. The so-called Kottabos game was very popular, in which the rest of the wine in the drinking bowl had to be hurled at a target standing in the room or bowls floating in a pool of water had to be sunk. Here, the drinker let his bowl rotate by the handle around the outstretched index finger and then hurled the rest of the wine out with a quick jerk.
In the 6th century BC, the game of Kottabos began its triumphal march from Sicily to Greece, where it also enjoyed great popularity during the 5th century BC, as can be seen from the many depictions in Attic vase painting. (AVS)
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