Skeleton at the feast

• Skeleton at the feast is a phrase meaning a person or event that overshadows a celebration by their gloomy presence.
  • Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE), the Greek Biographer and Philosopher, wrote this in ‘The Dinner of Seven Wise Men’ in ‘Moralia’ (c.100 CE).
  • It was a reference to an Ancient Egyptian custom.

Back to Everyday Expressions that come from Ancient Rome