ABSTRACT
The sense of taste serves a complex array of functions in antiquity. One specific way that taste works in literature is by allowing characters to access other realms by consuming some article of food from that foreign realm. The myth of Persephone's capture by Hades illustrates how pervasive hierophagic tasting and its implications were in the culture and literature of the antique world. One of the reasons why taste brings about Persephone's identity transformation is because sharing tastes with others establishes a bond among the eaters. Thus, the binding effect of the pomegranate's taste can be elucidated by looking at the sociology of taste. In order to understand the pattern into which Persephone's taste experience fits, it is useful to examine other examples of this kind of eating, even examples from other cultural traditions that may have interacted in antiquity.
