Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:American Journal of Philology 124.3 (2003) ix-x [Access article in PDF] Roman DiningPrefaceWith this issue of the American Journal of Philology(124.3), we present our third special volume. This sometime series began in 1999 (120.1) with a historical issue devoted to the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre and continued in 2002 with an issue on Greek comedy, "Performing/Transforming Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazousai" (123.3). In the present volume, we move to a group of articles that take as their theme the important and timely topic of Roman dining. These articles are excellent examples of the interesting kinds of interdisciplinary work done by classicists who employ a variety of different approaches and use evidence and forms of analysis from many diverse fields in order to analyze Roman cultural and material practice. In a departure from our previous foci (in special issues) on history and literature, the authors here use, in addition, art history and cultural/material approaches in order to try to understand this complex social phenomenon.It is our hope that the articles in this volume will add to the considerable biography that has recently emerged on commensality (a word much used within) in ancient Rome. Several of the articles had their beginnings as papers at a panel jointly sponsored by the APA and AIA at the 2002 APA/AIA meetings. I would like to thank John Donahue of the College of William and Mary, the organizer of that panel and guest-editor of this volume, for his hard work, both organizational and intellectual.We dedicate this volume to John D'Arms, who published widely on various aspects of Roman dining and social history and who would have been an important part of both the 2002 panel and this volume but for [End Page ix] his untimely death. Each of us knew him in some capacity—as teacher, fellow scholar, friend, and strong proponent of the Classics and Humanities in his role as President of the American Council of Learned Societies—and have benefited enormously from his influence on our discipline.Barbara K. GoldEditor...