The composers of the Convivial Songs are anonymous. The work originates from the 5th to 4th centuries BCE, the Classical period in which the Athenian symposium was a central cultural institution. The songs represent a genre of traditional drinking poetry, or skolia, that was performed orally at such gatherings before being recorded in writing.

The Convivial Songs are a collection of short lyric poems composed for symposia. The work survives fragmentarily, primarily through quotations preserved by later authors such as Athenaeus.

These songs are primary evidence for the atmosphere and popular culture of the Greek symposium. They reflect the values, proverbial wisdom, and political sentiments of aristocratic society, offering a collective poetic voice distinct from authored literary compositions. Their preservation in Athenaeus’s Deipnosophistae underscores their enduring interest as artifacts of convivial life.