The roots of symposia
Susan Bird posts about the origins of the word “symposium,” and how far we’ve gotten from its original meaning. From her post:
- In a museum of Etruscan artifacts in Cortona, Italy, I was struck by an exhibit that explained the word symposium comes from the Etruscan practice (weâre talking 7th Century, BC here) of gathering people to have a conversation about something important. It gave testimony, said the exhibit, to the need for a leader to reinforce the community of consensus on an issue, critical to the retention of the leaderâs power.
Does that sound anything like any seminar you’ve been to recently? Should it? I believe it still should be a conversation (not a lecture, a conversation) about something important, but not necessarily something to bolster a leader’s power. It’s interesting to ponder on this hot, hot afternoon, anyway.
Related Topics: Meetings and conventions
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I agree with Sue that significant conversations should not have as their end goal the empowerment of a particular person as leader. But it is a good thing that they reflect well on the convener for having gathered the group. That’s a kind of power I value. We talk about other aspects of conversation on my blog www.wf360.typepad.com/birdseyeview. You’ll see a great deal of Sue Pelletier’s wisdom reflected there.
Leave a Comment