This book provides three categories of investigation: 1) The Typology and Context of the Greco-Roman Banquet, 2) Who Was at the Greco-Roman Banquets, and 3) The Culture of Reclining. Together these studies establish festive meals as an essential lens into social formation in the Greco-Roman world.

Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaRichard S. Ascough, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, CanadaCarly Daniel Hughes, Concordia University, Montreal, CanadaNancy A. Evans, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, USAJennifer A. Glancy, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York, USAMatthias Klinghardt, Institut für evangelische Theologie, Technische Universität, Dresden, GermanyLillian I. Larsen, University of Redlands, USASusan Marks, New College of Florida, USACarolyn Osiek, rscj, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, USAJordan D. Rosenblum is Belzer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USADennis E. Smith, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USAAngela Standhartinger, Philipps-Universitaet, Marburg, Germany Hal E. Taussig, Union Theological Seminary in New York, USA

Table of Contents List of Contributors Abbreviations Introduction; Hal E. Taussig PART I: THE TYPOLOGY OF THE GRECO-ROMAN BANQUET 1. A Typology of the Community Meal; Matthias Klinghardt 2. The Greco-Roman Banquet as a Social Institution; Dennis E. Smith PART II: THE ARCHEOLOGY OF THE BANQUET 3. What Kinds of Meals Did Julia Felix Have? A Case Study of the Archaeology of the Banquet; Carolyn Osiek PART III: WHO WAS AT THE GRECO-ROMAN BANQUETS? 4. Social and Political Characteristics of Greco-Roman Association Meals; Richard S. Ascough  5. Banqueting Values in the Associations: Rhetoric and Reality; by Philip A. Harland  6. Women in Early Christian Meal Gatherings: Discourse and Reality; Angela Standhartinger  7. Remembering and Remembered Women in Greco-Roman Meals; Ellen Bradshaw Aitken 8. Present and Absent: Women at Greco-Roman Wedding Meals; Susan Marks 9. Evidence for Slaves at the Table in the Ancient Mediterranean: From Traditional Rural Festivals to Urban Associations; Nancy A. Evans 10. The Sex Trade and Slavery at Meals; Carly Daniel-Hughes 11. The Saturnalia in Greco-Roman Culture; Angela Standhartinger  12. Early Christian Meals and Slavery; Lillian I. Larsen  13. Slaves at Greco-Roman Banquets: A Response; Jennifer A. Glancy PART IV: THE CULTURE OF RECLINING: CORPOREALITY, SEXUALITY, INTIMACY 14. Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest: Status, Corporeality, and the Negotiation of Power at Ancient Meals; Carly Daniel-Hughes 15. Temptations of the Table: Christians Respond to Reclining Culture; Jennifer A. Glancy 16. A Valentinian Response to the Culture of Reclining; Ellen Bradshaw Aitken 17. Monastic Meals: Resisting a Reclining Culture?; Lillian I. Larsen  18. Inclined to Decline Reclining? Women, Corporeality, and Dining Posture in Early Rabbinic Literature; Jordan D. Rosenblum Bibliography of Works Cited Index of Ancient Sources