Athenaeus (Αθηναιος Athenaios; fl. ca. AD 200) was a Greek author. He is also called Athenaeus of Naucratis, since he was born and lived in Naucratis, Egypt. Little is known about him, except what can be gathered from the text of his surviving work. Athenaeus wrote at least two works that do not survive, but is remembered primarily for his compilation Deipnosophistae (The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned), written in the form of a dialogue in which a variety of characters debate a wide spectrum of topics. Luxury, diet, health, sexual relationships, music, humour and Greek lexicography all come under discussion, but the focus is on food, wine and entertainment. Without the works of Athenaeus much valuable information about the ancient world would be missing, and many ancient Greek authors (including Archestratus) would be entirely unknown. Book XIII is an important source for studies of sexuality in classical and Hellenistic Greece. Centuries: 2nd century - 3rd century - 4th century Decades: 150s - 160s - 170s - 180s - 190s - 200s - 210s - 220s - 230s - 240s - 250s Years: 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 Significant people Septimius Severus, Roman Emperor Categories: 200s ... Naucratis (nŏk´retĬs), was an ancient city of Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile, 45 mi (72 km) SE of Alexandria. ... The Deipnosophistes (deipnon “dinner” and sophistae, “the wise ones”) is variously translated as The Banquet of the Learned or Philosophers at Dinner or The Gastronomers is work of some 15 books (some complete and some surviving in summaries only) by the ancient Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis in Egypt, written... Archestratus (Archestratos) was a Greek poet of Gela, in Sicily, who flourished about 318 BC, and composed the humorous didactic poem Hedu-patheia (Good Cheer), supposed to describe a gastronomic tour round the then known world, with playful echoes of Homer and the dogmatic philosophers. ... The Deipnosophistes (deipnon “dinner” and sophistae, “the wise ones”) is variously translated as The Banquet of the Learned or Philosophers at Dinner or The Gastronomers is work of some 15 books (some complete and some surviving in summaries only) by the ancient Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis in Egypt, written...

The most valuable recent publication about Athenaeus and The Deipnosophists is Athenaeus and his world edited by David Braund and John Wilkins, (2000). The book is a collection of 41 essays by literary specialists and historians upon various aspects of the work.

References

• Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists ed. and tr. C. B. Gulick. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1927-41. 7 vols.
• Athenaeus and his world: reading Greek culture in the Roman Empire ed. David Braund, John Wilkins. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000.