Meals in the Early Christian World

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Hal E. Taussig

      Pages 1-5

3. The Typology of the Greco-Roman Banquet

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

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   2. A Typology of the Communal Meal

      • Matthias Klinghardt

      Pages 9-22

   3. The Greco-Roman Banquet as a Social Institution

      • Dennis E. Smith

      Pages 23-33

4. The Archeology of the Banquet

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 35-35

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   2. What Kinds of Meals Did Julia Felix Have?

      • Carolyn Osiek

      Pages 37-56

5. Who Was at the Greco-Roman Banquets?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57

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   2. Social and Political Characteristics of Greco-Roman Association Meals

      • Richard S. Ascough

      Pages 59-72

   3. Banqueting Values in the Associations: Rhetoric and Reality

      • Philip A. Harland

      Pages 73-85

   4. Women in Early Christian Meal Gatherings: Discourse and Reality

      • Angela Standhartinger

      Pages 87-108

   5. Remembering and Remembered Women in Greco-Roman Meals

      • Ellen Bradshaw Aitken

      Pages 109-122

   6. Present and Absent: Women at Greco-Roman Wedding Meals

      • Susan Marks

      Pages 123-148

   7. Evidence for Slaves at the Table in the Ancient Mediterranean: From Traditional Rural Festivals to Urban Associations

      • Nancy A. Evans

      Pages 149-164

   8. The Sex Trade and Slavery at Meals

      • Carly Daniel-Hughes

      Pages 165-178

   9. The Saturnalia in Greco-Roman Culture

      • Angela Standhartinger

      Pages 179-189

   10. Early Christian Meals and Slavery

       • Lillian I. Larsen

       Pages 191-203

   11. Slaves at Greco-Roman Banquets: A Response

       • Jennifer A. Glancy

       Pages 205-211

6. The Culture of Reclining: Corporeality, Sexuality, Intimacy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 213-213

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   2. Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest: Status, Corporeality, and the Negotiation of Power at Ancient Meals

      • Carly Daniel-Hughes

      Pages 215-227

This book provides three categories of investigation: 1) The Typology and Context of the Greco-Roman Banquet, 2) Who Was at the Greco-Roman Banquets, and 3) The Culture of Reclining. Together these studies establish festive meals as an essential lens into social formation in the Greco-Roman world.

• 15th century
• archaeology
• bibliography
• culture
• discourse
• mediterranean
• Ovid
• Research in English and American Literature
• rhetoric
• slavery
• slaves
• trade
• tradition
• typology
• women

"In the beginning was the meal - the most basic and pervasive of social formations in the ancient world. These studies take us into this intimate world to discover its customs, its culture, and its power to create community among companions. A critical contribution to the study of antiquity and the social world of early Christianity." - Stephen J. Patterson, Atkinson Professor of Religious Studies, Willamette University

"Meals in the Early Christian World is a splendid collection that engages the essential issues for understanding banqueting practices in the ancient world: the structure and social functions of the meal; materiality and the physical aspects of dining; the ideals of social 'equality' and the realities of hierarchical arrangement and servitude; and the semiotics of 'reclining'. Resisting the temptation to fragment dining practices into 'Jewish,' 'Greek' and 'Roman' meals, this volume makes a compelling case for seeing dining practices as a common and unifying feature of ancient Mediterranean culture." - John S. Kloppenborg, Professor and Chair, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto

"Dennis E. Smith and Hal Taussig, long known for groundbreaking work on the study of meals in the ancient world and early Christianity, provide in this collection of essays another fine contribution that will move the study of the Greco-Roman banquets into the future. By studying the typology, the archaeology, the participants, and the culture of these banquets, Meals in the Early Christian World moves forward the scholarship of the social settings of the banquets in dialogue with the pioneering works of Smith and Klinghardt, further broadening the shift their studies have championed." - Reimund Bieringer, Professor of New Testament Exegesis, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Richard S. Ascough, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Carly Daniel Hughes, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada Nancy A. Evans, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, USA Jennifer A. Glancy, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York, USA Matthias Klinghardt, Institut für evangelische Theologie, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany Lillian I. Larsen, University of Redlands, USA Susan Marks, New College of Florida, USA Carolyn Osiek, rscj, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, USA Jordan D. Rosenblum is Belzer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Dennis E. Smith, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Angela Standhartinger, Philipps-Universitaet, Marburg, Germany Hal E. Taussig, Union Theological Seminary in New York, USA

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