Vino, banquete y hospitalidad en la épica griega y romana

Abstract

This work studies the ritual of the hospitality in Greek and Latin epic, from Homero (8th century BC) to Lucan (1st century AD). The Iliad and the Odyssey reflected a time at which a community used to welcom a foreigner, a beggar, or a supplicant, with a ritual banquet in which the wine played a significant role. In doing so, the community fulfils the sacred law of the hospitality. In the Argonautica, by Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BC), the ritual became one of the epic topics adopted later by Latin Literature. Vergil (1st century BC) does as he pleases with this topic in the Georgics and in the Aeneid, the same as Ovid in the Metamorphosis (1st century BC - first century AD) and Lucan in the Pharsalia. Unlike Greek Literature, were women don’t take part in the feasts, Latin Literature makes women from mythology, legends and history –such as Cyrene, Dido, Circe, Baucis and Cleopatra– hosts in banquet.