The Banquet

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About Mesopotamian Banquets

Banquets were an important occasion in elite Mesopotamian life. Assyrian kings could demonstrate their power and administrative abilities to their community and visiting dignitaries by hosting large, costly events.

Information gained through inscriptions and archaeology has shown that diners at royal banquets enjoyed a variety of food and drink. There would be meat from ox, sheep, and birds, bean dishes and cheeses, breads, fruit and vegetables, and dishes flavoured by spices, garlic, or fermentation. Beer and wine were drunk. Diners might watch dancers and acrobats. There would be music from harps, lyres, wind instruments, and singers.

While guests would enjoy dining, talking, and entertainment, banquets were also an opportunity to act out social hierarchy and express shared values. Status was expressed through the position in which you were seated – especially how close you were to the king. It was also expressed in the materials with which you ate and drank. The king and perhaps other high-ranking figures might eat from gold and silver; others might use less precious metals, fine ceramics, or glass. Earthenware would do for those not invited!

The ivory plaque in the animation shows a variety of drinking vessels. Some are dish-like cups, others are a more upright beaker shape. It is noticeable that the diners are seated on upright chairs, rather than reclining on couches in the manner familiar from later Greek and Roman banquets and symposiums. There seems to be a high ratio of servants to guests. This is in part an expression of the host’s wealth and power; it would also help to ensure that things went smoothly and there were no embarrassing slip ups.

As the GALATEO project has shown, manners and etiquette were extremely important on these occasions. Guests showed that they belonged to the ‘in group’ by knowing how to behave themselves properly. The ivory scene shows one example of this, namely the very mannered way of holding a cup delicately on the tips of one’s fingers. Grabbing your cup any old how was not the done thing!

About the Ivory Plaque

This ivory plaque had a scene carved on it in the 9^th-8^th century BCE, in Assyria. The ivory probably came from an African elephant. Ivory was collected by the Assyrian kings as tribute, and it was traded far and wide. This piece of ivory was found in Fort Shalmaneser at Nimrud, near Mosul in modern-day Iraq. This complex was created by King Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled between 883–859 BCE. A great many ivories were excavated there. Many of them would have been used as inlays to decorate furniture.

The ivory has been marked with a scene showing a royal banquet. On the far left, a servant is managing a stand containing three pots. We then see a pair of armed guards. They are standing behind the king, who is seated with his feet on a little stool. The king can be identified by his distinctive hat and his prominence in the scene. A servant stands before the king; he holds a ladle to catch any drips and a fan to keep the king cool and free of insects. Next up is a group of four diners, grouped in twos, with a servant standing in between them. The diners are grouped into pairs of bearded and beardless men, much as guests at later Greek symposiums often were. The diners hold small cups, and the servant is offering a piece of bread from a loaf on the small table. The bearded diner closest to the king is the Crown Prince, or heir to the throne. He is distinguished by the long sash that goes around him and over his shoulder and by the diadem that he wears. The end of the ivory is broken off, but begins to show another set of diners at the banquet.

Ivory plaque cropped.jpg

Above, The ivory plaque used in The Banquet animation. 9th–8th century BCE (Metropolitan Museum 59.107.22)

Ashurnasirpal Relief: Met Museum 32.143.4. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322611

The king holds the cup in the same way that the king does in the scene on the ivory plaque; the servant stands before the king holding a spoon and fan, again as seen on the plaque.

About the Animation

This animation was designed to make it easier to see and understand the image carved on the ivory plaque. For that reason, there is no narrative as such, but a focus on what is in the scene. The animation fades from the ivory to the reconstructed drawing of the scene and then into the coloured version of the scene. The colours were informed by frescos (wall-paintings) and statues from Mesopotamia, under the guidance of GALATEO’s Dr Ludovico Portuese. We see the scene taken as a whole; then we have a chance to see each section separately, panning left to right as with the diners eating and drinking.

The animation was made as part of the international research project GALATEO: Good Attitudes for Life in Assyrian Times: Etiquette and Observance of Norms in Male and Female Groups. With Prof. Annunziata Rositani, Prof. Holly Pitman, and postgraduate student David Mulder, Dr Ludovico Portuese analysed the iconography of the Penn Museum Mesopotamian collection, leading to the Manners and Etiquette in Mesopotamian Life exhibition in which this animation appeared.