Banqueting

Banqueting has been a widespread ritual practice in the Ancient Near East since the third millennium. It is best documented in the Arabian Peninsula in the kingdom of Sabaʾ (Southwest Arabia) and in the Nabataean kingdom (Northwest Arabia). Banquets could be held during religious, funerary or private celebrations, and were usually placed under the protection of a deity. Beyond their religious aspect, they also fulfilled social and political functions.

The importance of banqueting in the Ancient Near East has been widely documented, and is the subject of an extensive bibliography. In Semitic cultures, ritual banquets, called marzeah, which enabled a social group to gather under the protection of a divinity, are attested from the third millennium BCE until the first millennium CE. As for ancient Arabia, in the current state of research, ritual banquets are attested mainly in Southwest Arabia during the first millennium BCE, and in Northwest Arabia during the Nabataean period.

In Southwest Arabia, banquets are documented in particular in the kingdom of Sabaʾ. This practice is primarily known through epigraphy, with the term ʿlm designating the ritual banquet in Sabaic (Ryckmans 1973; Loundine 1990), which seems to have been restricted to representatives such as magistrates and sovereigns. Areas dedicated to banquets and offering tables were identified in a number of sanctuaries, for example in the temple of Jabal al-Lawdh, in the temple of Almaqah in Ṣirwāḥ, or in the temple of ʿAthtar dhu-Qabḍ in Barāqish, ancient Yathill (Agostini 2020). The banquet theme is also depicted in the iconography, for instance on the pillars of the Aranyadaʿ temple in al-Sawdāʾ, ancient Nashshān, decorated with banqueting divinities facing each other (Fig. 1; Audouin & Arbach 2004).

In Northwest Arabia, banqueting seems to have been an essential part of Nabataean culture, as evidenced by the large number of banqueting halls — mainly triclinia — in Petra, the kingdom’s capital, where U-shaped benches were designed to host gatherings around a collective feast. According to Strabo (Geog. 16.4.26), the Nabataean king used to organize grandiose banquets during which the custom was to drink no more than eleven cups, using a new cup each time. He also specifies that guests were organized in groups of thirteen, accompanied by two musicians per banquet. From an archaeological point of view, banqueting halls can be found in a variety of contexts and with diverse dimensions. Some banquets were held during major religious ceremonies, as attested by the triclinia found in the enclosure of the regional sanctuaries of Dharīḥ and Tannūr, but also by characteristic assemblages of ceramics and faunal remains, like in the Qaṣr al-Bint, Petra’s main sanctuary (Renel & Monchot 2017). Banquets were also held by professional associations, or as part of tribal gatherings, as attested by the banqueting halls uncovered at the so-called “Obodas Chapel” in Petra (Fig. 2; Tholbecq 2011). Lastly, it is common to find triclinia associated with tombs. These were used for funeral banquets for relatives of the deceased. In recent years, triclinia have been discovered on peripheral sites of the kingdom, always associated with fine painted pottery characteristic of Nabataean productions and presumably used in ritual contexts: a large triclinium was excavated in Dūmat al-Jandal, ancient Adummatu (Fig. 3; Charloux et al. 2016); another was identified in al-Quṣayr, on the Red Sea coast (Fiema et al. 2020); several triclinia, rock-cut and built, were unearthed in Jabal Ithlib, in Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ, ancient Hegra. These discoveries highlight the multiple social, religious and political functions of the Nabataean banquet. The triclinia and their associated pottery are hallmarks of Nabataean authority over its territory (Durand 2017).

Caroline Durand

References and suggested readings

• Agostini, A. 2020. Seasonal offerings among the Minaeans: The case of ancient Yathil. AAE 31: 352–364. DOI: 10.1111/aae.12155.
• Audouin, R. & M. Arbach 2004. La découverte du temple d’Aranyadaʿ à Nashshān. Rapport préliminaire d’une opération de sauvetage franco-yéménite. CRAI 148(3): 1287–1304. DOI: 10.3406/crai.2004.22785.
• Charloux, G., Ch. Bouchaud, C. Durand, H. Monchot & A. Thomas 2016. Banqueting in a Northern Arabian Oasis: A Nabataean Triclinium at Dūmat al-Jandal. BASOR 375: 13–34. DOI: 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.375.0013.
• Durand C. 2017. Banqueter pour mieux régner ? A propos de quelques assemblages céramiques provenant de Pétra et du territoire nabatéen. Syria 94: 85–98. DOI: 10.4000/syria.5882.
• Fiema Z.T., N.A. al-Qanoor, C. Durand, W. Kennedy, B. Abu Hassan, I. al-Dayel & M. al-Faqeer 2020. The 2016 Season of the al-Wajh – al-ʿUla Survey Project: Preliminary Report. Atlal 29: 81–111.
• Renel, F. & H. Monchot 2017. Nouveaux éléments concernant l’existence de symposia dans le secteur du Qasr al-Bint à Pétra. Syria 94: 55–70. DOI: 10.4000/syria.5795.
• Loundine, A.G. 1990. Le banquet rituel dans l’état de Sabaʾ. PSAS 20: 95–100. www.jstor.org/stable/41223261
• Ryckmans, J. 1973. Le repas rituel dans la religion sud-arabe, in M.A. Beek, A.A. Kampman, C. Nijland & J. Ryckmans (eds) Symbolae biblicae et mesopotamicae: Francisco Mario Theodoro de Liagre Böhl dedicatae: 327–334. Leiden: Brill.
• Tholbecq, L. 2011. Infrastructures et pratiques religieuses nabatéennes. Quelques données provenant du sanctuaire tribal de la « Chapelle d’Obodas » à Pétra, in F. Alpi, V. Rondot & F. Villeneuve (eds) La pioche et la plume. Autour du Soudan, du Liban et de la Jordanie. Hommages archéologiques à Patrice Lenoble: 31–44. Paris: PUPS.

_{Alternate spellings: Banquet hall, Triclinium, Triclinia}