Though the Quaestiones Convivales may be considered a ‘minor work’, they nevertheless contain no less than nine books, in which Plutarch, following in the wake of Plato, Xenophon and others, collected in written form the most interesting of the learned conversations that took place during banquets. Since early times scholars have tried to determine whether this work mirrors conversations really held at the table and to what extent it was influenced by literary antecedents. A painstaking philological reading allows a glimpse into Plutarch’s method and leads to the conclusion that the several books should be dated at different times.