Meals in a Social Context. Aspects of the Communal Meal in the Hellenistic and Roman World, 1998, 245 p., nbr. ill., rel. - -

Créateur d'unité sociale (familiale ou communautaire) de l'époque hellénistique jusqu'au règne de Constantin, le repas joue un rôle central dans les sociétés méditerranéennes de l'Antiquité. Ce recueil analyse les composantes de chaque culture sous ce rapport, les conflits d'étiquette entre Grecs et Romains, la situation des femmes dans les repas, les fêtes royales, l'architecture des salles à manger (andrôn, triclinium), et jusqu'à la diététique propre à chaque culture. This book gives an in-depth look at the role of meals in creating a sense of family and community in the Mediterranean world in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. By looking at the dining habits of Greeks and Romans, Jews and Christians, Essenes and Therapeutes, an international cadre of scholars provides insight into how social mores and etiquette were passed on to children, how family life increased in importance for Christians, the conflict in style when Greels and Romans met, and how meals attained ans sustained religious significance. Other topics include funerary banquets, the etiquette of a formal dinner, the position of women at meals ; royal feasts ; the development of the Eucharist as a separate ritual ; the architecture of the Greek andron and the Roman triclinium, early synagogues and temples, the diets of each culture. A separate chapter discusses the provision of food for the hungry and the public ownership of the sea, salt and fish. Contents : I. Nielsen, H. S. Nielsen, Introduction ; P. Orsted, Salt, Fish, and the Sea in the Roman Empire ; K. Bradley, The Roman Family at Dinner ; H. S. Nielsen, Roman Children at Mealtimes ; H. Lindsay, Eating with the Dead : the Roman Funerary Banquet ; K. Dunbabin, Ut Greaco More Biberetur : Greeks and Romans on the Dining Couch; I. Nielsen, Royal Banquets : the Development of Royal Banquets and Banqueting Halls from Alexander to the Tetrarchs ; D. Noy, The Sixth Hour is the Mealtime for Scholars : Jewish Meals in the Roman world ; P. Bilde, The Common Meal in the Qumran-Essene Communities ; G. Hallbäck, Sacred Meal and Social Meeting : Paul's Argument in 1 Cor. 11.17-34 ; L. M. White, Regulating Fellowship in the Communal Meal : Early Jewish and Christian Evidence.