ABSTRACT
While those living in the medieval Byzantine empire enjoyed food and luxuriated in the experience of eating it, the sensory dimension of dining was inherently fraught with danger. The Byzantine art of dining explored the dark side of taste, where the pleasure and desire produced by sensory (over)indulgence could lead to greed, excessive eating and drinking and poor manners. Even worse, food consumption could in itself constitute a sin and lead to the vice of gluttony, associated with the expulsion from Paradise and characters like Hades. The images on tableware, from model diners to the otherworldly punishment of those who transgressed against behavioural and moral codes, reminded their viewers of the rules that governed the banquet and warning them of the consequences of misbehaviour. They prompted their audiences to contemplate death and the state of their soul, acting a framework that encouraged diners to stay on path of good taste and virtuousness, ensuring their arrival at the banqueting table of heaven.
