Fellowship at a Table the Scenes from the Banquets in Late Antiquity

Abstract

The following scenes from the Roman banquets of the 3rd and 4th centuries have been compared: from Rome where owing to good conditions many such scenes have survived – they were painted on the walls of tombs in underground Christian catacombs or carved on sarcophagi, both pagan and Christian; from Africa Proconsularis, e.g. the scene of the banquet of gladiators on the mosaic of the Roman house from Thysdrus (El Dz˙em, Tunisia); from Palestine also a single example of the preserved scene of a feast from the Roman house in Sefforis (Israel); and from ancient Scytia Minor - an example of the painting from the Christian tomb in Tomis (Constant¸a, Romania). Irrespective of the various character of the presented banquets among pagans of Christians, both a family meal at home; and a tomb banquet held mostly outdoors; or else a gladiator’s banquet before venatio; all these scenes are combined by the same joyful atmosphere and friendly fellowship at a table with the company lying on a semicircular bed, eating bread, fish or chicken, or drinking wine from goblets that was brought to them in jars by slaves.