Companions have become a popular genre in recent decades, and Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World now includes more than 50 volumes of varying quality. This latest addition comprises, besides an introduction by the two editors, 38 articles (400 pages), a bibliography (50 pages) and index (5 pages). The articles are illustrated by only seventeen figures, and the quality of the photographs in black and white is astonishingly poor (e.g. pp. 107–8 and p. 175) for a book of such price. Understandably this review cannot comment on all 38 articles. The book is divided into five thematic parts: ‘Literature and Approaches’ (Chapters 1–12), ‘Production and Transport’ (Chapters 13–17), ‘Preparation’ (Chapters 18–26), ‘Cultures beyond Athens and Rome’ (Chapters 27–31) and finally ‘Food and Religion/Great Food Cultures’ (Chapters 32–8). The 37 authors originate from seven different countries (Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece and US), but all articles are written or translated into English. The authors include well-merited scholars such as R.I. Curtis, S. Mitchell, O. Murray and P. Schmitt Pantel together with younger scholars such as E. Rowan, D. Mylona and S. Hitch.
The title seems rather misleading, both chronologically and geographically. The themes of the articles are not only food and drink in ancient civilisations from Mesopotamia (B. Lion) to Imperial Rome, but the book also includes contributions on Byzantium (B. Caseau) and Islam (D. Waines) and even more surprisingly the Middle Ages in Western Europe (B. Laurioux) and pre-imperial China (F. Sabban). The purpose of this unusual framework is to stress cross-cultural exchanges and, according to the editors, the Companion covers ‘all phases of food eating: production, distribution, preparation, and consumption, and technologies related to them. Our main focus is on the cultural aspects related to food, but one cannot deny the role played by nature in the process of food choices' (p. 2). The approach of many articles is thus not social or economic history but more in line with new cultural history and food studies that have developed rapidly in this century. This is especially obvious in the first part on food in ancient literary sources of which the Severan author Athenaeus is the most important and merits his own chapter by O. Murray. Most of the textual evidence, however, reflects ideals and presents the elite's point of view, and archaeological material can sometimes provide evidence on the diet and nutrition of other classes. M. Pitts gives a general introduction to the archaeology of food consumption, and M. Robinson & E. Rowan present a remarkable case study of the remains from a sewer in Roman Herculaneum with a wide range of legumes, fruits, vegetables and nuts that reflect a diverse and nutritious diet in the daily life of ordinary people in this Campanian town.
Most essays are about ten pages long, but the two articles on Greek and Roman kitchens by B.A. Ault and on cookery books by one of the editors, N., are only six pages, which make them too superficial to be useful introductions even for undergraduate students. Part 2 on production and transport contains only five articles, and these overviews of husbandry (C. Chandeson), fishing (D. Mylona), agriculture (G. Kron), storage (R.I. Curtis) and the supply of cities (P. Erdkamp) include both the Greek world and the Roman Empire. These topics are, however, included in other Companions and handbooks of ancient economy and technology in the Classical world, so it is a reasonable choice to play down these aspects of ancient food in favour of other more neglected themes. These can especially be found in the last part on food and religion and include the contribution on sacrifice (S. Hitch) and food in Judaism (J.D. Rosenblum) and early Christianity (D.E. Smith). Naturally Classical Athens and Imperial Rome take up much space due to the rich source material from these two atypical cities, but two interesting articles deal with food production in Asia Minor (S. Mitchell) and the diet of people living in Crimean Olbia (D. Braund), using a broad spectrum of material to show the importance both of local conditions and imports in food consumption. The essays on food in Mesopotamia (B. Lion), Ancient Egypt (P. Tallet) and Roman Britain (M. Pitts) stress that beer was an important drink in these different societies, and this suggests that the famous Mediterranean triad of bread, wine and oil was not as dominant as usually claimed. The editors propose stimulatingly that the Greeks and Romans presented themselves as wine drinkers as a sign of civilisation in opposition to the oriental beer drinking cultures. Wine had a prominent role in the Greek symposium and the Roman convivium, and many articles deal directly or indirectly with dining and banquets in private and public spheres, especially E. Stein-Hölkeskamp, F. Lissarrague, P. Schmitt Pantel, S. Corner, K. Vössing, J.F. Donahue and N. The article by S. Corner on the symposium is an example of a perfect contribution to a Companion with a short overview of the dominant paradigm in modern scholarship and a discussion that also presents new insights.
The overall impression of this Companion on the production, distribution and consumption of food in Antiquity is somewhat disappointing. The wide chronological and geographical spread reflects its lack of focus, but this can also be illustrated by the short general index. It contains many generic references such as barley, beef or boiling, but only a few Greek and Latin technical terms. The index even includes names of modern scholars, but only two ancient writers (Athenaeus – only a random sample – and Galen) and three place names (Britain, Egypt and Mesopotamia), although many other places are mentioned several times and Homer, Xenophon and the three Roman agricultural writers, as demonstrated in many contributions, are very important sources for food in the ancient world. The best essays give excellent introductions to different aspects of diet and nutrition in Antiquity, but as a whole this Companion is not an indispensable volume.
