Poesia ‘simposiale’ nell’Egitto greco-romano: tra Kreuzung der Gattungen e tradizioni popolari

The history of the Greek symposium implies that this complex cultural phenomenon evolved over a long period, with peculiar developments during the Hellenistic and Imperial eras. The reconstruction of the sympotic practice in these late phases, with special attention to the poetry used at convivial occasions, is a task that can be achieved by following both indirect evidence, above all the account of Athenaeus, and direct evidence, in particular the anthological selections transmitted on papyri. Taking these combined sources into account, it is possible to observe the development of the symposium as a fertile moment for the crossing of genres between various types of poetical forms as well as a fruitful situation for the contact between popular and erudite poetry.