Meats at the Homeric banquet: historiography and poetry on the carnivorous food rites of Antiquity

Abstract

The following research aims to investigate the practices of animal husbandry for slaughter, carnivorous dietary consumption and the symbolic dimensions of meat in ancient Greece, using historiographical references as sources in contrast with the food representations in Homer's epic poetry. Based on the Iliad and the Odyssey, narratives central to the Hellenic social imaginary, the singular role of meat in Homeric banquets stands out as central elements for understanding the epic narrative and its social and religious dimensions in the Classical and Archaic Periods. It will be noted that historical and archaeological research presents evidence of animal husbandry and consumption on a more restricted scale compared to that represented in the epics, although the symbolic ritual elements and institutional meanings observed both in Homer's literature and in the historiographical bibliography remain.