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[German version] A. General observations and sources In the wider sense, table culture refers to all practices linked to nutrition, to concrete activities as well as their symbolic representations. This new comprehensive approach to ancient TC owes a lot to the advances in anthropology since Claude Levi-Strauss; anthropological research has revealed astonishing interconnections between the TCs of the societies under examination. The task is no longer merely to list the foods produced and consumed, to k…

[German version] I. Near East and Egypt Although there is copious epigraphical and graphic evidence for a highly developed  table culture at the courts of oriental rulers in antiquity, cooking recipes are known to us so far only from Mesopotamia: 34 from the 18th cent. BC (gathered from three clay tablets), one from the 6th/5th cents. BC. They offer practical instructions in the manner of medical prescriptions. The reason why the recipes were preserved in writing is not clear. They deal predominantly with stewed poultry and other meat, together with two recipes…

[German version] Generally, a sacrificial offering in food form, raw (the first fruit of harvest, a cup of wine) or cooked (such as a pot of porridge or the πανσπερμία/ panspermía, a mixture of first fruit or seeds), dedicated to the gods or the dead. The term comprises the offering of consecrated meat, cereals and other vegetarian foodstuffs (vegetables, fruit, cake, cheese), as well as different liquids (wine, milk, honey-based drinks etc.); it includes also the offering of whole meals ( theoxénia ) and animal sacrifice (sacrifice). Offerings of vegetaria…

Plebeian family name (in MSS frequently confused with  Coelius), attested from the 2nd cent. BC. (ThlL, Onom. 24-26). I. Republican Age [German version] [I 1] C., C. praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC praetor or propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina in 90 BC (Liv. per. 73; MRR 2,25). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] C., C. see C.  Coelius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 3] C., M. People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC People's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC, against whom Cato -- perhaps as censor in 184 BC -- directed a speech (ORF I4 46-48) [1. 86]. Elver…

[German version] I. Egypt and the ancient Orient The central Egyptian sources of information regarding banquets are the depictions of the funerary banquet in the tombs of Theban officials dating from the 18th dynasty (15th -14th cents. BC). The early pictures show the tomb's occupant with his spouse as the host in front of a table loaded with dishes of food and faced by their guests in several rows. Servants adorn them with flowers and bring wine and food, pleasant-smelling ointments and utensils for ha…

[German version] The Greek term μάγειρος ( mágeiros) covers three different functions: that of the sacrificing priest who slices the throat of the sacrificial animal, that of the butcher who cuts the sacrificial animal up and that of the cook who prepares a meal. In the Homeric and archaic periods the culinary function cannot be distinguished from the others. In the classical period the term mágeiros describes a culinary specialist, a cook, and mágeiroi are found cooking at State, i.e. public, sacrifices, e.g. at the Posideia festivals ( Poseidon) on Delos ( mágeiroi are mentioned in …

[German version] A. Origins The art of cooking, which is the search for a balance of flavours, the preference for certain kinds of wine etc., in short, good taste in matters of nourishment, probably always existed in the ancient world but only became the subject of scientific discourse in the classical period. (This impression is based on the current state of documentation.) In antiquity the development of a true art of cooking was considered in a contradictory way both a sign of a high degree of ci…

[German version] Semicircular dining sofa, named after the later form of the Greek letter , which in the Roman world gradually took the place of the triclinium and took over entirely in the 4th and 5th cents. AD. Exactly when the s. established itself among the Romans cannot be determined. The first archaeologically attested sígmata, which are identifiable from floor mosaics, can be dated to no earlier than the end of the 2nd cent. or the beginning of the 3rd cent. Already before that, however, this semicircular arrangement had been used for meals in the open air, under the term stibadium (στ…

(Ἡρακλείδης; Hērakleídēs). Famous persons: the politician and writer H. [19] Lembus, the philosopher H. [16] Ponticus the Younger, the doctor H. [27] of Tarentum. I. Political figures [German version] [1] Spokesman on behalf of Athens at the Persian court, end of 5th cent. BC H. of Clazomenae (cf. Pl. Ion 541d) was in the service of the Persians and probably called basileús for that reason. Thus, he was able to perform valuable services for Athens at the Persian court in 423 BC for which he received Attic citizenship soon after moving there (after 400, Syll.3 118). To move the Athenians …

[German version] (κλίνη; klínē, bed). The kline was used for sleeping, and in Greece from the 7th/6th cents. BC (later in Rome) also for dining. The kline was the most important object of luxurious interior decoration; it had its place in private houses as well as in all rooms in which people ate ( Banquet, Prytaneion, Ritual feasts). As to public rooms in which klinai were used for banquets, one must distinguish between halls designated specifically for meals, in which the furniture could stay in place, and rooms used for meals only sporadically, for which the klinai, like all other furni…

(Ἀνθίμος; Anthímos). [German version] [1] Greek doctor Greek doctor who soon after AD 511 wrote a brief Latin treatise in letter form about dietetics, De observatione ciborum ad Theodoricum regem Francorum epistula. As a medical treatise and book of remedies, the work offered a description of the dietary customs of a Germanic tribe. It is written in a language associated with one of the colloquial languages of the people of his time, and his region (vulgar Latin). Schmitt-Pantel, Pauline (Paris) Bibliography Ed.: E. Liechtenhan, 1963 (CML VIII 1). [German version] [2] Bishop of Trap…

(Ἀρχέστρατος; Archéstratos). [German version] [1] Actor and Tragedian With his tragedy Antaios, an unknown actor triumphed at the Soteria in Delphi between 267 and 219 BC (DID B 11, 5). He is probably not to be identified with the A. mentioned in Plut. Aristides 1,3 (318e). Pressler, Frank (Heidelberg) Bibliography Mette, 198 TrGF 75. [German version] [2] Author of a gastronomic poem from Gela, 4th cent. BC Citizen of Gela who lived in the 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC. 62 fragments (more than 300 verses) of his gastronomic poem, written c. AD 330, have been preserved by Athenaeus. Its …

[German version] (τρικλίν[ι]ον; triklín[i]on). Roman dining room, or in the narrower sense, a group of three couches (Latin lectus; klínē ), on each of which three guests could take their places. Their arrangement around a central round or rectangular table was the typical Roman furnishing for the dining room (cf. ill.). The couches could be built of stone, so that their location is recognizable in the floor plan of the house; however, they were frequently movable. Mattresses, cushions and blankets provided the necessary comfort. Where there was no constructed substructure, a triclini…

[English version] A. Anfänge Die Kochkunst, also die Suche nach der Ausgewogenheit der Geschmackskomponenten, die Bevorzugung bestimmter Weinsorten, kurz: der gute Geschmack auf dem Gebiet der Nahrungsaufnahme, hat in der ant. Welt wahrscheinlich immer existiert, wurde aber (diesen Eindruck vermittelt zumindest der derzeitige Überlieferungsstand) erst in klass. Zeit Gegenstand eines wiss. Diskurses. Außerdem wurde die Entwicklung einer wirklichen Kunst des Kochens in der Ant. auf widersprüchliche We…

[English version] (κλίνη, Bett). Die K. diente zum Schlafen, seit dem 7./6. Jh. in Griechenland (in Rom später) auch zum Speisen. Die K. war das wichtigste Objekt kostbarer Inneneinrichtung; sie gehörte ins Privathaus sowie in alle Räume, in denen gegessen wurde (Gastmahl, Prytaneion, kult. Bankette). Bei den öffentlichen Räumen, in denen K. für Bankette dienten, muß man allerdings unterscheiden zw. speziell für Mahlzeiten bestimmten Sälen, in denen das Mobiliar an Ort und Stelle verbleiben konnte…

[English version] A. Grundsätzliches und Quellen Im weiteren Sinne bezeichnet E. die Gesamtheit der Tätigkeiten, die mit der Ernährung verbunden sind, sowohl konkrete Handlungen als auch ihre symbolischen Darstellungen. Der neue übergreifende Zugang zur ant. E. verdankt viel der Anthropologie seit Claude Levi-Strauss, die die erstaunlichen Zusammenhänge unter den E. der untersuchten Gesellschaften nachgewiesen hat: Es geht nicht mehr nur darum, die angebauten und verzehrten Nahrungsmittel aufzulisten,…

Plebeischer Familienname (in den Hss. häufig mit Coelius verwechselt), seit dem 2.Jh. v.Chr. bezeugt (ThlL, Onom. 24-26). I. Republikanische Zeit [English version] [I 1] C., C. (Pro-)Praetor in Gallia Cisalpina 90 v.Chr. praetor oder propraetor in Gallia Cisalpina 90 v.Chr. (Liv. per. 73; MRR 2,25). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [English version] [I 2] C., C. s. C. Coelius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [English version] [I 3] C., M. Volkstribun im 2.Jh. v.Chr. Volkstribun im 2.Jh. v.Chr, gegen den Cato vielleicht als Censor 184 v.Chr. eine Rede hielt (ORF I4 46-48) [1. 86]. Elvers, K…

[English version] [1] griech. Arzt, lat. Autor über Diätetik nach 511 Griech. Arzt, der bald nach 511 n. Chr. eine kurze lat. Abhandlung in Briefform über Diätetik schrieb, De observatione ciborum ad Theodoricum regem Francorum epistula. Als medizinische Abhandlung und Rezeptbuch zugleich bietet das Werk die Beschreibung der Ernährungsgewohnheiten eines german. Volkes. Verfaßt ist es in einer an die Umgangssprache der Menschen seiner Zeit und seiner Region angelehnten Sprache (vlat.). Schmitt-Pantel, Pauline (Paris) Bibliography Ed.: E. Liechtenhan, 1963 (CML VIII 1). …

[English version] Der griech. Begriff μάγειρος ( mágeiros) bezeichnet drei verschiedene Funktionen: die des Opferpriesters, der dem Opfertier die Kehle durchschneidet, die des Metzgers, der es zerteilt, und die des K., der ein Gericht zubereitet. In homer. und archa. Zeit kann die kulinarische Funktion nicht von den anderen unterschieden werden. In klass. Zeit bezeichnet der Begriff mágeiros einen Spezialisten der Kochkunst, einen K., und man findet mágeiroi, die im Rahmen von Staats-, d.h. öffentlichen Opfern kochen, z.B. im Rahmen der Posideia-Feier (Poseidon) auf Delos ( máge…

[English version] I. Alter Orient und Ägypten Obwohl es zahlreiche inschr. und bildliche Zeugnisse für eine hochentwickelte Eßkultur an den Höfen altoriental. Herrscher gibt, sind Kochrezepte bisher nur aus Mesopot. bekannt: 34 aus dem 18. Jh.v.Chr. (gesammelt auf 3 Tontafeln), eins aus dem 6./5. Jh. Es handelt sich dabei um praktische Handlungsanleitungen im Stil von medizinischen Rezepturen. Der Zweck, für den die Rezepte schriftl. festgehalten wurden, ist unklar. Sie betreffen überwiegend in Brühe gekochtes Geflügel und anderes Fleisch, daneben z…