ABSTRACT
From Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (Luke 12:19) – Food and Wine in Byzantium. Copyright © 2007 by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies. Published by Ashgate Publishing Ltd,
Food and drink, not unnaturally, recur as themes throughout Byzantine literature and art, and the consequences of eating and drinking are often upheld in both as warnings to the unwary. From the fall of Adam and Eve as the result of eating, to the salvation of humanity through the body and blood of Christ at the Last Supper, re-enacted during the liturgy, food and drink symbolized both evil and good. The language of consumption pervades hell. Bodies were eaten into hell and the torments of evildoers, along with the gnashing of teeth, the outer darkness and the unquenchable fire, included the worm that sleepeth not and being eaten for eternity. At the forefront of the damned was the rich man who would not share his food with Lazarus, and is now and forever consumed by fire (Figure 16.1).
