Mnamon
Ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean
A critical guide to electronic resources
News
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2012-12-05
Book
The book by Salvatore Gaspa "Alimenti e pratiche alimentari in Assiria: le materie alimentari nel culto ufficiale dell'Assiria del primo millennio a.C." (History of the Ancient Near East, Monographs 13), Padova 2012: Sargon Editrice e Libreria has just been published.
The book is about foods and food practices which are documented in the Neo- Assyrian texts (9th-7th cent. BC). The research presents the whole lexicon of the food substances attested in the cuneiform tablets from the Neo-Assyrian archives (i.e., cereals and cereal-based products, meat and meat-based dishes, fish, milk and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, oils, condiments and sweetening agents, beverages). The main focus of the research is the treatment of the food substances in the dynamics of the cultic rituals in the period of the Assyrian empire and the management of the offerings for the official cult by the central administration of the state. The study presents to the scholar of Oriental history and to those interested in history of foods and history of religions a useful tool to understand the role of foods and of the cultic offerings in the culture of the ancient world's first empire.