Banquet and grave

Content and Aims: The motif of banquets and drinking feasts plays an important role in sepulchral art in many areas of the ancient Mediterranean world. The frequency of the motif in the funerary sphere, its different typological developments and combination with other picture themes are presumably in direct connection with the specific socio-political structure of the particular society or cultural group concerned. The project comprises the systematic and comprehensive analysis of all the banqueting and drinking feast scenes connected with funeral purposes grouped according to the individual landscapes in the Italic, Greek, Minor Asian and Levantine-Middle Eastern regions during the 1st millennium BC (especially the time span 8/7 th to 3rd c.BC). Based on numerous regional analyses the main goal of the project and absolute desideratum of modern research is a supra-regional comparison of all important areas in the ancient Mediterranean, thereby also including and considering the socio- political and religious historical backgrounds. The arising questions concerning cultural transfer and/or parallel developments are to be answered this way. Working procedure: The beginning of the project will be primarily devoted to the assembling of the entire relevant material in the Etrusco-Italic and Graeco-Minor Asian region according to common criteria. This represents the core area of the project. An appropriate database will need to be created here. In order to be able to trace the original concepts of the picture theme and possible development lines, Levantine and Middle Eastern evidence of the late 2nd and 1st millennium will need to be studied as well as the relevant finds from Egypt. This will be followed by a comprehensive regional analysis also considering other areas of human life and, finally, by a concluding supra-regional comparison. Existing Personnel: The applicant Univ.-Ass. Mag. Dr. Petra Amann (University of Vienna, Institute for Ancient History, Papyrology and Epigraphy, specialist area: Etruscology and Italic Ancient History and Archaeology) and the national research partner Mag. Dr. Peter Ruggendorfer (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Studies of Ancient Culture, specialist area: Asia Minor) are employed by the particular institutions which are also responsible for providing the infrastructure etc. Required Personnel: two contracts of employment for post doc personnel: Mag. Tina Mitterlechner (100%, for 3 years, particularly assembling and analysing the Etrusco-Italic material) and Mag. Anne Lykke (100%, for 2 years 10 months, particularly assembling and analysing the Graeco-Minor Asian material). The Levantine-Middle Eastern and Egyptian material will be examined on the basis of contracts for services (PD Dr. Ellen Rehm and N.N.).

The project focused on the study of banquet scenes in funerary or sepulchral contexts in the Mediterranean between the 8th and 3rd/2nd c. BC. For the first time, material from the whole Apennine peninsula was examined pari passu alongside evidence from Greece and Asia-Minor. Ancient Egypt and the Middle East were included into the study, in order to better understand earlier developments and potential iconographic precursers. Concentrating on the funerary context with its highly representative character, it was possible to evaluate the underlying social structures of each cultural landscape. Based on a standardised analysis of the iconographic material, which followed distinctive criteria inherent in the representations, such as number and gender of the banqueters as well as their posture (reclined or seated), four distinct types of banquet scenes could be identified: Einzelbankett (single banquet), Paarbankett (banqueting couple), Familienbankett (family banquet), Kollektivbankett (collective banquet). These types carry very different messages as regards self-representation and ideology: The single banquet focuses on the grave-owner who is represented as spherically elevated figure, while the banquet of couples further inserts the female element, shifting the emphasis towards fertility and the cycle of life and death. The family banquet by its inclusion of children underlines the well-organised oikos and the central role of the grave owner as founder and head of the family, whereas the collective banquet, which shows a number of compositional variations, defines association with a particular group and establishes the social status of the deceased. Most importantly, we were able to demonstrate the correlation between depicted banquet types and the social structure as well as socio-political background within the respective cultural regions. This might explain why we can observe similar developments in regions that are geographically far apart, but it also highlights differences, for instance between Etruria in central Italy and Lycia in southwestern Asia Minor. In antiquity dining and banqueting generally symbolised a peaceful and desirable state, that required certain economic means. The truly multifunctional motif could carry a whole range of different ideologic messages, which explains its continous popularity throughout antiquity. Prior to the Hellenistic period, though, banqueting scenes in a funerary context only played a significant role in the periphery of the Greek world: from the 7th-6th centuries BC in Etruria (counting by far the greatest number of banqueting scenes between the 7th-3rd centuries BC) and in Cyprus, from the later 6th century BC onward also in non-Greek Asia Minor (especially in its northern Persian satrapies, like Daskyleion, as well as in Lycia), from the 4th century BC onwards also in the monarchic societies of Macedonia and Thrace, although infrequently. In the pre-Hellenistic Greek world by contrast, and especially in Ionia and Attica, banqueting imagery can be found primarily in the context of sanctuaries and every day vase paintings. The newly defined typological criteria of this study (see above) enable us to gain new insights regarding the interpretation of non-funerary banqueting scenes as well, such as the group of the Attic Heroenmahlreliefs (often misleadingly termed Totenmahlreliefs).