The Greco-Roman Banquet as a Social Institution

In defining the Greco-Roman banquet as a social institution, my emphasis will be neither on the types of foods people ate nor on the various meals that fit into a normal day, though each of these categories has social value in its own right. Rather I wish to identify and single out for study the specific form of meal that the ancients themselves saw as an occasion for significant social meaning. It is my contention that there was one type of meal that served as the basic model for all formal meals of significance in the Greco-Roman world. I define this meal model as the Greco-Roman banquet, and I view it as a complex and highly influential social institution.