At the time when Plato, the great philosopher, is said to have written his “Symposium” (416 BC), ancient Athens was at the apogee of its democracy and its citizens engaged in the entertainment and philosophical discourse that Attica’s symposiaoffered them. Perhaps at no other time did wine consumption produce such constructive thought. The symposia were social gatherings of friends. They included a sparse dinner and wine consumed after it had been mixed with water, on the basis of a predetermined protocol that was strictly adhered to. At the symposia, the oenochoe, who poured the wine, used symposium vessels of remarkable and exceptionally advanced craftsmanship which were reserved especially for wine.