UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Feasting in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Aegean: Variability and Meaning A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences 2007 by Sarah Lima B.A., Indiana University, 2002 Committee: Jack L. Davis and Kathleen M. Lynch, Co-Chairs i ABSTRACT This thesis compares and contrasts how feasting operated in communities during the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Greece by examining archaeological data from sites in western Messenia and Euboea. Working under the assumption that feasting represents an expression of the social structure in which it functions, I argue that feasts sponsored by Mycenaean palatial administrators functioned diacritically, and served to legitimize and maintain control over resources, as well as to define a stratified social hierarchy. However, following the collapse of the Mycenaean palace systems in the LH IIIB period, banqueting was more generally oriented toward bringing individuals together and establishing unified group identities. Another observation of this study is that while feasts at LH IIIB palatial centers such as Pylos and Thebes appear similar in their forms and motivations, feasts at post-palatial sites such as Nichoria, Xeropolis, and Toumba show some variation when they are compared with one another. This characteristic of variability is also reflected in the different forms and motivations of feasts depicted in the Homeric epics, which seem to demonstrate that multiple modes of feasting would have been known in Iron Age Greece, serving a number of functions for the communities in which they circulated. ii Feasting in the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Aegean: Variability and Meaning Sarah Lima, M. A. University of Cincinnati, 2006 Copyright © by Lima, Sarah. All rights reserved. iii PREFACE The idea for this thesis arose as a result of my participation in a seminar on the symposium offered at the University of Cincinnati in the spring of 2005 by Kathleen Lynch and Barbara Breitenberger. My paper examined the question of whether or not prefigurations of the Archaic symposium were observable in depictions of feasting within the Homeric epics and in the material records of Iron Age sites. Within the scope of the Iliad and the Odyssey, I discussed how Homer’s portrayals of heroes’ feasting behaviors conveyed statuses and relationships of characters within the stories. Through this examination of literary and archaeological evidence, I discovered that there was not just one mode of Iron Age feasting, but many. The variety of “expressions” of feasting struck me as important, because it seemed to contradict the idea of a single, monolithic model for Iron Age social dynamics. Feasting also drew my attention to its flexibility as a social currency that allowed for the creation and confirmation of new relationships within a context of leisure. Kathleen Lynch recommended that I expand on this study to incorporate archaeological evidence from the Late Bronze Age. She and Jack Davis both helped me to refine my ideas on this topic, centered on this question: if feasting and commensality reflect particular forms of social organization, and the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the Aegean involves dramatic social restructuring of communities throughout Greece, then what happens to the role of feasting during this transition? Rather than incorporating evidence from many parts of the Aegean, I have compared data from a few well-published sites in order to explore modes of feasting behavior at various points within a span of time covering the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Sites that have been identified as settings for commensal behavior, including Pylos and Nichoria in western iv Messenia, were employed as examples of Mycenaean and Iron Age feasting, respectively. Observations about activities at these sites were compared and contrasted with data from Toumba and Xeropolis, both located at modern Lefkandi on Euboea. The “variability and meaning” in the title reflects the results of my exploration, which found that feasting displayed considerable variability following the waning of influence of the Mycenaean palaces at the end of the LH IIIB period. The process of composing this thesis has taught me a great deal about myself and about what motivates my scholarship. In light of the inextricable link that I see between food and identity, I have realized that it was the possibility of understanding people and my relationships with them that led me to this field and to this topic. As examples, I need look no further than instances of commensality that have formed identity, in various capacities, for me—lunches huddled around low tables in the graduate student tearoom in Blegen Hall, departmental cookouts, and the all-important institution of the coffee break. Therefore, it is no surprise that whenever I felt particularly stuck, I would imagine myself at the completion of this thesis, seated at the head of a long table like those in the great hall of Alcinous, celebrating at a lively feast with a room full of those who helped me as I researched and wrote. Surely the chine, the cut of honor across the backbone of the bull, would go to Kathleen Lynch and to Jack Davis. As co-advisors, the two of them have helped me to develop my ideas, to improve my writing, and to stay focused and motivated. Kathleen introduced me to this topic, and Jack steered me toward the site of Lefkandi, in addition to suggesting that I look at sites in Messenia as comparanda. Jack even helped me to obtain an advance copy of Lefkandi IV so that my data would be as current and solid as possible. Jack and Kathleen have pushed me to make v this work something that I can be proud of, and for the time, patience, and encouragement that they have offered to me, I thank them. In the seat beside me, as he has been from the beginning, would be Brian, my husband, who has been immensely understanding and patient as I wrestled with this process. He has endured my distracted presence and conspicuous absence on various occasions with grace, love, and kindness. Finally, I would fill the rest of the table with my comrades, people who have contributed to this work in any number of ways through encouragement, feedback, advice, friendship, humor, and even well-timed silence. All are students and friends of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Classics. What a rarity and a bit of good fortune it is to be surrounded by such people every day. I raise my glass to all of you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract............................................................................................................................. i Preface............................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. vi List of Tables..................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1. Introduction................................................................................................... 1 Approach of This Thesis..................................................................................................... 2 Past Scholarship on Feasting and Reciprocity.................................................................... 5 Bronze Age and Iron Age Feasting in Greece.................................................................... 10 Chapter 2. Models of Feasting from Messenia, the Homeric Epics, and Hesiod........ 14 A Mycenaean Model: Feasting at the Palace of Nestor at Pylos........................................ 14 The Linear B Tablets.................................................................................................... 15 The Architecture and Iconography............................................................................... 20 Faunal Remains and Ceramic Data............................................................................. 25 An Iron Age Model: Feasting at Nichoria.......................................................................... 26 Unit IV-1, Phase 1........................................................................................................ 28 Unit IV-1, Phase 2........................................................................................................ 31 Changes in the Form and Function of Unit IV-1.......................................................... 33 Post-palatial Variability: Hesiod, Homer and Iron Age Feasting....................................... 37 Agamemnon and Leadership Feasting in Wartime...................................................... 38 Alcinous and Leadership Feasting in Postwar Scheria...............................................