Commensality and Ceremonial Meals in the Neo-Assyrian Period - Ermidoro, Stefania (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2015)
Like a language, food is a witness to the tradition and to the identity of a human group, reflecting self-representation and social interaction. Assyrians developed a particular consciousness of commensality as a vehicle for cultural messages. This book investigates institutional banquets and ritualized meals in the Neo-Assyrian period. Through a philological analysis on commensality, integrated with historical and iconographic data, it offers a new perspective on the Mesopotamian society of the first millennium BCE.