Snapshots of women at the Athenian feast

This chapter analyses the evidence provided by Athenian figure-decorated pottery for female participation in all aspects of the feast: sacrifice, libation, bread and meat preparation, and commensality. Aligning this evidence with epigraphic and other textual sources, e.g. comic references, it rejects the stereotype of all-female festivals held in the dark of night and rather asserts participation in feasting, in the context of festivals, as a fundamental aspect of female ritual participation in ancient Athens. Communal feasting therefore highlights the essential role women played as mediators between oikos and polis. It analyses also how and why the evidence, particularly on late black-figure decorated vases from the late Archaic to Classical periods, has been hitherto overlooked or misunderstood.