ABSTRACT

What is banqueting? Banqueting means eating and drinking together at formal parties, rituals and ceremonies. Eating as well as drinking is associated with initiations, burial rites and hospitality, indeed many aspects of human life. How can we understand the banquets of the Etruscans? They did not leave us with written descriptions about their manners and customs. The Greek and Latin literary sources are late and often marked by hidden agendas. We have to turn to archaeological sources and in this case we can analyze actual remains of food and drink,1 places where it was prepared and places where it was consumed as well as banquet equipment. Representations of food and depictions of eating behavior can add to our knowledge and fortunately, the imagery of the Etruscans is abundant. The Etruscans have left us with a spectacular world of images from which we must carefully examine the evidence.