A pranzo con Menandro. Considerazioni sul 'sistema' dei pasti nella commedia nuova

Plots and texts of Menander’s comedies, like Dyskolos and Epitrepontes, give us some hints that help our comprehension of Menander, fr. 83 (Hauton Timoroumenos) and fr. 625 (incertae fabulae), and even Alexis, fr. 296 (incertae fabulae). After lunch (aris-ton), men drink wine lying on coaches together with etairai and psaltriai: this situa-tion looks very like a symposium, so we can guess that they also eat some desserts. Sometimes lunch continues until the evening and even longer: a meal like this is not just a lunch but a “lunch-dinner”. These situations may be the evidences of some changing habits in (the late 5th and) 4th-century Athens.