Latina et Graeca, Vol. 2 No. 37, 2020.
Review article
Greek gastronomic poetry: Hedypatheia by Archestratus of Gela
Jelena Polaček Gajer
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The main subject of the paper is the fourth-century B.C. Greek poet Archestratus of Gela and his gastronomic poem, written in hexameters, which has been fragmentarily preserved in Athenaeus' work Deipnosophistae. In order to acquaint the reader with the literary context in which the poem emerged, a brief overview is given of the topic of food in Greek literature in the period up to Archestratus' time, as well as a presentation of characteristics his poem has in common with some other forms of literature such as epic parody and didactic poetry. The central part of the paper focuses on the content of the preserved fragments. Archestratus' approach to each type of food generally follows a similar pattern: he mentions the best place and season to buy a certain ingredient, points out its special traits and gives precepts for its preparation. This characteristic formula as well as some other motives frequently appearing in the poem are illustrated in the paper by quoting from several fragments, both in the original Greek and prose translation into Croatian language. In the closing section of the paper there is a brief presentation of the reception of Archestratus' poem in antiquity: while some were appalled by its base topic and its promotion of shameless indulgence in superficial pleasures, others received it with enthusiasm and praise, and we have contemporary testimonies of its being cited at dinner-parties.
Keywords
Archestratus of Gela; Athenaeus; epic parody; gastronomy; food in antiquity
Hrčak ID:
250477
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2020.
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