PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHOS’S SYMPOSION TENT (ATHENAIOS 5, 196A: SEE FIGURE 127)

Kallixeinos of Rhodes … in his fourth book, On Alexandria, described the procession put on by that best of all kings, Ptolemy Philadelphos. He says: “Before I begin, I will describe the pavilion erected within the citadel, apart from the reception area for the soldiers, artisans, and foreigners. For it was exceptionally beautiful and worth hearing about.

“It was big enough to hold a hundred and thirty couches placed end-to-end, and decked out as follows. There were wooden columns at intervals, five on each long side, each fifty cubits [seventy-five feet] high, and one fewer on its short side. They supported a square epistyle that held the whole weight of the roof above the symposion. This roof was draped with a scarlet, white-fringed canopy; and on each side it had beams concealed by tapestries with white stripes, tower-fashion, between which were a set of painted panels. Of the columns, four resembled palm trees, while those in the middle looked like thyrsoi. Around its exterior on three sides stood colonnaded porticoes with vaulted roofs where the diners’ attendants would stand. Its interior was surrounded with purple curtains, and in the intercolumniations pelts of animals were hung, marvelous in their variety and size.