Food for the body, the body as food
Roman martyrs and the paradox of consumption
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23717696 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicola Denzey Lewis (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 287-306 |
| Publication date | 2020-04-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | De Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/9783110557596-015 |
| OpenAlex | W3179290740 |
| ISBN | 9783110557596 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
Each year in Sicily, Sicilians commemorate the life and death of Saint Agatha, a young woman martyred in antiquity, by consuming small cakes in the shape of a female breast. How did such a curious practiceeating a specific food shaped like a female body partcome to commemorate a late antique martyrdom, and when? This paper considers the curious conflation of bodiesparticularly martyrial bodiesand food in late antique Christian martyrial legends, and explores how gender and consumption work together in text and literature to produce a distinctive preoccupation with body parts, fluids, meat, milk, and breadsometimes positive, sometimes negative, and occasionally meant to evoke disgust or even delight.
Aesthetics · Agricultural economics · Art · Biology · Consumption (sociology) · Economics · Food consumption · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Food Science · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |