The Loaded Table Representations of Food in Roman Literature [Paperback]

This book offers a novel approach to Roman culture, looking at food as it is represented in literature. Although not generally thought of as the noblest of literary subjects, this view is a legacy from the Romans, so it is curious that Roman writers chose so persistently to depict their society at the dinner table. Why this was so, and what effect the inclusion of food had on the status of the literary texts that contained it, are among the questions discussed here. The book also addresses many of the problems that arise when a material subject is translated into words, and contains fresh interpretations of Latin texts that have been unjustly undervalued--comedy, satire, epigrams, letters, and iambics. While often regarded as something trivial, food was in fact one of the most suggestive images for Roman civilization.

1. An Approach to Eating
2. Barbarian Spinach and Roman Bacon: the Comedies of Plautus
3. Black Pudding: Roman Satire (Introduction, Horace, Persius, Juvenal)
4. A Taste of Things to Come: Invitation Poems (Introduction; Catullus 13, Martial, PlinyEpistle1.15)
5. Garlic Breath: HoraceEpode3
6. References
Index

An innovative and highly rewarding approach to Latin literature and Roman culture....This is an excellent scholarly book of broad interest to students of history, anthropology, and classical and comparative literature. --Choice

Cleverly and elegantly written. --Religious Studies Review