Food and society in classical antiquity:

This is the first study of food in classical antiquity that treats it as both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. The variables of food quantity, quality and availability, and the impact of disease, are evaluated and a judgement reached which inclines to pessimism. Food is also a symbol, evoking...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Garnsey, Peter (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1999
Series:Key themes in ancient history
Subjects:
Links:https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612534
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612534
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612534
Summary:This is the first study of food in classical antiquity that treats it as both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. The variables of food quantity, quality and availability, and the impact of disease, are evaluated and a judgement reached which inclines to pessimism. Food is also a symbol, evoking other basic human needs and desires, especially sex, and performing social and cultural roles which can be either integrative or divisive. The book explores food taboos in Greek, Roman, and Jewish society, and food-allocation within the family, as well as more familiar cultural and economic polarities which are highlighted by food and eating. The author draws on a wide range of evidence new and old, from written sources to human skeletal remains, and uses both comparative historical evidence from early modern and contemporary developing societies and the anthropological literature, to create a case-study of food in antiquity
Item Description:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
Physical Description:1 online resource (xiv, 175 pages)
ISBN:9780511612534
DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511612534

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