Antichistica 8 Studi orientali 3 — Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian ERMIDORO Period Stefania Ermidoro Edizioni Ca’Foscari 8 Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period Antichistica Studi orientali Collana diretta da Lucio Milano 8 | 3 Antichistica Studi orientali Direttore scientifico Lucio Milano (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Comitato scientifico Claudia Antonetti (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Filippo Maria Carinci (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Ettore Cingano (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Joy Connolly (New York University, USA) Andrea Giardina (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italia) Marc van de Mieroop (Columbia University in the City of New York, USA) Elena Rova (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Fausto Zevi (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italia) Direzione e redazione Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venezia www.edizionicafoscari.unive.it/col/exp/40/Antichistica Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period Stefania Ermidoro Venezia Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing 2015 Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period Stefania Ermidoro © 2015 Stefania Ermidoro © 2015 Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing per la presente edizione Qualunque parte di questa pubblicazione può essere riprodotta, memorizzata in un siste- ma di recupero dati o trasmessa in qualsiasi forma o con qualsiasi mezzo, elettronico o meccanico, senza autorizzazione, a condizione che se ne citi la fonte. Any part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission provided that the source is fully credited. Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dorsoduro 3246 30123 Venezia http://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/ [email protected] 1a edizione dicembre 2015 ISBN 978-88-6969-058-7 (ebook) ISBN 978-88-7543-401-4 (print) Edizione a stampa a cura di Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina srl Progetto grafico di copertina: Studio Girardi, Venezia | Edizioni Ca’ Foscari Certificazione scientifica delle Opere pubblicate da Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing: tutti i saggi pubblicati hanno ottenuto il parere favorevole da parte di valutatori esperti della materia, attraverso un processo di revisione anonima sotto la responsabilità del Comitato scientifico della collana. La valutazione è stata condotta in aderenza ai criteri scientifici ed editoriali di Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. Scientific certification of the works published by Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing: all essays published in this volume have received a favourable opinion by subject-matter experts, through an anonymous peer review process under the responsibility of the Scien- tific Committee of the series. The evaluations were conducted in adherence to the scientific and editorial criteria established by Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. Abstract The purpose of this book is to investigate banquets and shared meals in the Neo-Assyrian period, providing the first complete and integrative research on this topic. While presenting a study on Neo-Assyrian commensality, investigated through an analysis of every textual and archaeological evidence available today, the research also aims to tackle the topic with a new approach, characterized by a tight connection between anthropology and history. The work opens with an overview of nutritional anthropology and presents the main theories developed by its major exponents. Then, Sumerian and Akkadian literary texts which describe feasts and shared meals are discussed. The third chapter investigates meals offered by the Neo-Assyrian king; then, the gods’ table is treated. Chapter five deals with the Protocol for the royal banquet, a document that fixed the rules for a ritualized meal of the Assyrian king with his sons and magnates. In the sixth chapter, more concrete aspects of feeding in Assyria are discussed. A few essential annexes complete the research: a Lexicon, whose purpose is to investigate the most important key words that occur in the sources considered, and two charts. The research is characterized by two main focal points. Firstly, there is the Neo-Assyrian practice of banquets, i.e. their concrete side, more directly connected with the actual consumption of food; secondly, the ideological and theoretical aspects of commensality are analysed. Feasting has revealed itself as a flexible activity, which could be adapted to a variety of settings and circumstances in order to fulfil multiple requirements. Being a meaningful instrument to transacting empowerment, Neo-Assyrian banquets were therefore an extraordinary vehicle of self-representation and of cultural exchange at the same time. Acknowledgements This book is a revised and improved edition of my PhD thesis, which I submitted to the Department of Humanities at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in 2013. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Lucio Milano: his constant advice has been of prime importance for my academic and personal growth. He supervised the research and writing of the original thesis and, afterwards, he proposed and supported the publication of this work in the series Antichistica of the Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. Likewise, I am deeply thankful to Dr. Paola Corò, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, who introduced me to Assyriology ten years ago and is still present today, offering me her guidance, assistance and friendship. During my doctoral years, I spent three semesters in the Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, Assyriologie, at the Ruprecht-Karls Universität in Heidelberg: I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Stefan Maul for having allowed me to feel at home in the Institute, and for his precious suggestions and constant advice throughout that period. Dr. Alasdair Livingstone, University of Birmingham, showed me his book on the hemerological texts before its publication, and discussed with me some fundamental passages: I thank him and Ms. Birgit Haskamp for the nice and productive time we spent together in Birmingham. I wish to express my gratitude also to Dr. Eleanor Robson, University College London, who kindly provided me with her opinion on my research and on the possible outcome of the study while I was still in the drafting phase of writing. Special thanks are due to Prof. Simonetta Ponchia, Verona University, as my examiner who gave detailed comments and constructive criticisms on my thesis. Later, during the preparation of this book, I spent two weeks at the Department of World Cultures of the University of Helsinki. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Simo Parpola, who discussed with me the rituals I included in my research, and allowed me to quote from his forthcoming volume of the State Archives of Assyria series. In Helsinki, Dr. Raija Mattila and Dr. Saana Svärd were both very helpful and kindly offered me their opinions on several issues discussed in the third and fourth chapters of this book. I am indebted to the Department of Middle East of the British Museum and particularly to Dr. Jonathan Taylor, Assistant Keeper of the cuneiform collections, who allowed me to study and collate the tablets of the rituals texts. I thank the two anonymous reviewers of this book, whose critical and stimulating feedback led to several corrections and improvements. Throughout the process of researching, writing, and preparing this work, I could count on the assistance and support from many colleagues and friends. I would like to thank them all, for their patience and encouragement. This work could have never been finished without the love, patience, backup and open-heartedness of my family. My deepest appreciation and gratitude go to Lidia, Gianfranco and Francesca. This book is dedicated to my father. Venice, October 2015 Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period Stefania Ermidoro Summary 0 Introduction 11 1 ‘Good to Eat’ Introduction to the Issue of Feeding 21 2 The Mesopotamian Banquet Themes and Literary Motifs 49 3 Eating with the King The Earthly Banquet 89 4 Eating with the Gods The Heavenly Banquet 121 5 Etiquette at the Dining Table Rules for a Banquet at Court 161 6 Sitting at the King’s Table Royal Food and Drink 191 7 Conclusions 237 8 Lexicon for Neo-Assyrian Banquets 247 9 Charts 263 10 Bibliography 273 11 Index of Sumerian and Akkadian Words and Expressions 301 12 Index of Textual Sources 305 Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period Stefania Ermidoro 0 Introduction Banqueting is a multilevel, expressive, meaningful communications me- dium. It is never just a matter of ingesting foodstuffs that have been ob- tained from the surrounding environment: on the contrary, it is a very complicated social fact. It is an experience which goes beyond the nutritive consumption, and its efficacy is due to the fact that it constitutes a social and a mnemonic tool at the same time – since while the body incorporates the food, at the same time the mind creates memories which link the event to the message it conveys. Despite admonishments and reprimands of philosophers and wise men who, ever since ancient times, have urged their contemporaries to «eat to live, and not live to eat»,1 human beings have always done their best to enjoy food as much as possible. Above all, they have devoted themselves to the research of the most agreeable possible way to share such food with their families, friends and companions. Ancient Mesopotamia