Hom. Odyss. γ. 33, seq. Athen. xv. 23. Similar customs still prevail in the Levant: “When we visited the Turks we were received with cordiality and treated with distinction. Sweet gums were burned in the middle of the room to scent the air, or scattered on coals before us while sitting on the sofa, to perfume our moustachios and garments, and at the door, at our departure, we were sprinkled with rose-water.” Chandler, ii. 150. Footnote 743: Athen. ix. 77. Footnote 744: Cf. Hom. Odyss. δ. 43, sqq. Footnote 745: Aristoph. Vesp. 1208. Athen. v. 6, where the splendid roofs and ornaments of the court are mentioned. These ornaments, κρεκάδια, whatever they were, must have been worth looking at. See the note of Casaubon, Animadv. in Athen. t. viii. p. 27, seq. Consult likewise the note on Aristophanes in Bekker’s edition, t. iii. p. 606. ----- But the appetites of the gourmands had still to encounter another trial.[746] The Greeks were above all things a pious people, and regarded every banquet, nay, every meal, in the light of a sacrifice, at which the first and best portion should be offered as an oblation to the gods,[747] with invocations and prayer, after which it was considered lawful to attend to their own appetites. An altar, accordingly, of Zeus stood in the midst of every dining-room, on which these ceremonies were performed, and libations of pure wine poured.[748] This done, the guests took their places, in the earlier ages on chairs, but afterwards, when they had become familiar with the East, on rich sofas, arranged round the board.[749] Occasionally, however, even so late as the age of Alexander,[750] princes and other great men chose to adopt the ancient custom, and, on one occasion, that conqueror himself entertained four hundred of his officers, when seats of wrought silver, covered with purple carpets, were provided for all. ----- Footnote 746: Athen. v. 7. Cf. Plat. Symp. t. iv. p. 376, et Xenoph. Conviv. ii. 1. Schweigh. Animadv. in Athen. viii. p. 26, seq. Footnote 747: Casaubon mentions this as a thing _nota eruditis_. Ad Theoph. Charact. p. 232; but we must not on that account pass it over. Alexis poetically deplores the miseries of the half-hour before dinner. Athen. i. 42. Footnote 748: There was in great houses a person whose duty it was to assign each guest his place at table, ὀνομακλήτωρ, or nomenclator. Athen. ii. 29. Footnote 749: Plin. xxxiii. 51. xxxiv. 8. Footnote 750: At most sumptuous entertainments _tasters_ were employed who, as in the East, made trial of the dishes before the guests, lest they should be poisoned. These persons were called ἐδέατροι and προτένθαι. Athen. iv. 71. -----