Tag Archives: pasto rituale

Considerazioni in margine ad un deposito con resti di pasto dal Thesmophorion di Bitalemi a Gela

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In 1967 it was brought to light in the demetriac sanctuary of Bitalemi at Gela a significant deposit comprising 24 vessels, apparently left in place randomly. Under the pottery they were kept two stones reddened by fire and some bones of a pig. The discovery, known only by preliminary records, is still often quoted as a one of the clearest examples of ritual deposition of the remains of a banquet. On the occasion of the final publication of the excavation and findings of the archaic level of attendance of the sanctuary, it is proposed here an accurate reading of the deposit, which aims to define its date and significance in the overall context of the excavation. Taking a cue from this unique discovery will be lead some observations related to the way of carrying out ritual meals in the sanctuary, considering the identity and the possible number of participants, as well as food consumption attested by the banquet itself, particularly in relation to the worship paid in sacred area

Edifici pubblici e pasto rituale in Attica

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This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is now an updated version. The article concerns the issues related to ritual meal in Attica, especially by analyzing the function of several buildings showing an array of cases that has not been properly assessed yet. Each case’s specific features lead to the hypothesis that banquet building rooms’ plan and furniture, as well as the overall number of available seats, point to the existence of different usage methods reflecting coherent social and religious structures. Athens, Eleusis and Brauron are taken into account as examples of a functional system that autonomously organizes its own spaces on the basis of social and institutional needs.

Il pasto collettivo nei santuari dell’Egeo meridionale: struttura e forme di partecipazione

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This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is now an updated version.

The stoà of Camirus, on the Acropolis sanctuary dedicated to Athana and Zeus Polieus, is one of the most important urban monuments in the southern Aegean sea. Several epigraphic texts speak about his function and use inside the sanctuary and mention the organization of meetings and banquets inside the rooms of the building. The rooms behind the portico, in fact, are organized in tree-rooms complexes that could be interpreted as hestiatoria or banquet houses, very similar at Macedonian or Egyptian prototypes. The archaeological and textual evidence prove that the stoà is a multifunctional structure that serves to religious and political necessity of the polis. Perhaps, it is also possible to locate in the structure the hierothyteion, testified by epigraphic fonts, in which public meals were offered by the polis itself.

Hestiatoria nella tradizione rituale delle colonie d’Occidente

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This paper was presented at the International Conference Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli dei. Archeologia del pasto rituale, Piazza Armerina, 5-8 of May, 2005. This is an updated version.

The ritual collective meal is a widespread practiced aspect in the Greek background and its study concerns not just the exam of ritual practices, in the strict sense of the word, but also architectural structures, intended for the consumption, which were situated within the sanctuaries. In Magna Graecia this tradition finds significant examples, although in different chronological periods, in the extra-urban sanctuary of Aphrodite in Locri, (the so-called “U-shaped Stoà”, in the area of Centocamere, datable around the 6th century) as well as in the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia in Capo Colonna of Crotone (the so-called “H-building”, which dates back to the Hellenistic age). Starting from the examination of these two contexts, the study presents an outline of the documentation pertinent to the ritual meal tradition in Magno-Greek ambits, in order to propose a summing up of the data we have been gathering so far, which might sketch out evidences, reception modalities and possible developments of such a worship-practice in the Greek west.