A Goodly Feast … A Cup of Mellow Wine: Feasting in Bronze Age Cyprus

Abstract

Recent studies have focused on the consumption of food and drink in antiquity, specifically employing anthropological perspectives to examine the social aspects of these activities. In light of these studies, I review in this article the evidence for feasting as a group activity in Cyprus during the third and second millennia B.c. and argue that the practice of feasting was used to reinforce group ties. The main focus is the impact of Mycenaean customs on indigenous Cypriot feasting practices between the 14th and 12th centuries B.C.