Title: On the Palmyrene Table: Epigrafic sources and the iconography of food at Palmyra  

Dr. Eleonora Cussini from Università Ca’Foscari, Venice gave an exciting lecture on the representation of food and drink in ancient Palmyra. Not much is known about the dining habits of the ancient Palmyrene people but by outlining the different epigraphic and iconographic sources, she shed new light on this very interesting subject.

She presented among other things different examples of funerary reliefs from both banqueting scenes and sarcophagi. These reliefs often show a reclining male positioned on a kline surrounded by family or servants carrying jugs of wine or bowls of fruit.

The many banqueting scenes in funerary contexts must imply that banquets or marzeah, as it is called in Palmyrene-Aramaic, was an important part of society in Palmyra. Excavations have likewise supported this, as many banqueting rooms have been found in both private and religious contexts and the banquets must have had more than one sphere: private, public and religious. The finding of entry-tokens (tesserae) often decorated with animals, fruits, gods or epigraphy near the temples further substantiates this. The amount of entry-tokens and the size of the banqueting rooms show that in contrast to the Romans and the Greeks, the people of Palmyra would sometimes be seated on benches while eating.

Other epigraphic evidence can be found on the Palmyrene Tariff found in 1881. On the Tariff the taxation of imported and exported goods are recorded including various foods: wheat, bread, fat, oil, perfumed oil, salt fish, beef and different kinds of fruit. This gives an important insight into what the Palmyrene people consumed. Unfortunately texts from daily life have not been preserved due to being written on perishable materials and the main literary sources stems from public dedicatory inscriptions. We have no knowledge of the locally produced products or the how the Palmyrene people prepared the food and we might never know but Cussini presented us with a new insight through her examples.

Jesper Vestergaard Jensen and Nathalia Breintoft Kristensen