Ancient Athenian Pleasures, Abuses and Passions

Two were the greatest passions in Athens of classical times, the partners and … the fish. But the pursuit of pleasure in the “model democracy” – or perhaps the model of the ubiquitous pursuit of pleasures? – did not stop there. Melanthios, for example, wished he had a stork-like neck to prolong the enjoyment of the food he swallowed. Philoxenos ate an octopus one meter long and almost died of indigestion, an anonymous alcoholic, who was immortalized by Aristotle, laid an egg under his mattress, sat on it and drank non-stop until he spun it. In this highly enjoyable scientific study that shows how much the ancient Athenians took pleasure seriously, we are informed, in addition to the ideology of nutrition, about their partners, their customers, their tariff, their repertoire of sexual attitudes, as well as for banquets and the ritual of wine drinking. Politics, the serious issues of democracy and totalitarianism, during the Athenian hegemony, but also the conquest of Philip of Macedonia are not omitted.