A survey of evidence for feasting in Mycenaean Society

Hesperia, Spring, 2004 by James C. Wright

Many of these vessels show signs of wear and repair, and, therefore, cannot have been made expressly for the mortuary rite but were either owned by the deceased or given by the mourners. Either way these culinary items symbolize the feast and announce the significance of feasting to the burying group. The combination of these vessels for use in drinking and preparing and serving food--in ceramic, bronze, silver, and gold--demonstrates a dramatic increase in feasting equipment beginning at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, focused on a small group of high-status burials. This indication of feasting continues but is represented more widely in wealthy burials among the many chamber tombs throughout the mainland and on Crete (LM and LH II-III). These developments are accompanied by an elaboration of shapes and forms. Although it is difficult to quantify a specific service of vessels, by LH IIIA the following appear together most frequently: kettles, lekanes, basins, bowls, pitchers, pans, hydrias, amphoras, and cups (see below, Fig. 7:226, for an ideogrammatic representation of a service). This integration of drinking vessels and equipment for feasting in the deposition of metal vessels with the deceased is not necessarily proof that the two activities were bound together; there could always have been a distinction between feasting and drinking. Feasting can be either an inclusive or an exclusive activity, as we know from many sources from classical antiquity and modern ethnography. (52) The presence of feasting equipment in a tomb no doubt represents the ability of the deceased to sponsor feasts, and may also indicate memorable occasions of sponsorship and a reputation for hospitality. Drinking is a specialized and often exclusive activity that occurs either in the context of feasts (consider the difference between deipnon and symposion (53)) or on an individual basis. The presence of drinking vessels in a tomb, especially of silver and gold (but also of bronze or "tinned" clay), may refer to the status of the deceased as one who shares drinks with special companions.

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The practice of depositing valuable metal vessels in tombs from the late Middle through the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean indicates the value attached both to the objects and to the activities they symbolize. Their significant early appearance in elite burials on the mainland and their continuing predominance, especially in the Argolid and Messenia, suggest a Mycenaean custom. Attention has been given to the appearance of similar burials on Crete, primarily around Knossos, and, even if not the burials of occupying Mycenaean overlords, they strongly indicate the acceptance of Mycenaean customs for elite burials at this time. (54) As status markers these assemblages denote what Dietler and Hayden term the "diacritical" feast, i.e., one that is marked by sumptuary display. (55) Metal kettles and basins found in these deposits are larger than their ceramic counterparts and therefore may indicate the ability of the occupant to sponsor substantial feasts that would have served sociopolitical as well as economic purposes. (56) As durable goods of high value they record a personal and social history and can be the source and inspiration for narrative. Caution is recommended in our chronological and typological examination of these deposits, since they may contain heirlooms or objects acquired outside the network of generally recognized exchange. Given their value and utility, these mortuary objects were often inventoried while they were in use, (57) a topic pursued in the following section.