Feasts

Feasts are among the few meals history bothered to record — a coronation, a temple offering, a royal wedding earned a scribe’s attention in a way an ordinary supper never did. Those accounts are where each scene here begins: the dress, the pottery, the vessels and the room are reconstructed from archaeology and the written record, so what you see is as close to the evening as the evidence can carry us.

Explore by period

The First Farmers (10)

Göbekli Tepe’s Monument-Builders’ Feasts, Kfar HaHoresh Mortuary Feast, Çayönü Communal Building Feast, Aşıklı Höyük Communal Meat Feast, Çatalhöyük Cattle-Horn Feast, Domuztepe Death-Pit Feast, Makriyalos Neolithic Communal Feast, Grotta Scaloria Cave Ritual Feast

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Villages Become Civilizations (13)

Durrington Walls Midwinter Feast, Ness of Brodgar Monumental Feast, Stonehenge Avenue Gathering Feast, Shimao Ritual Beer Feast, Hierakonpolis Elite Cattle Feast, Abydos First-Dynasty Funerary Feast, Uruk Temple Festival Feast, Varna Elite Mortuary Feast

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Bronze Age Networks (20)

The Beautiful Feast of the Valley, The Hittite AN.TAH.ŠUM Spring Festival, The Hittite KI.LAM Festival Banquet, Ramesses II’s Opet Festival Feast, Amenhotep III’s Sed-Festival Banquet, Akhenaten’s Great Aten Offering Feast, Pylos Palace State Feast, Mycenae Palace Festival Feast

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Iron Age Kingdoms (20)

Ashurnasirpal II’s Kalhu Inauguration Banquet, Ashurbanipal’s Garden Victory Banquet, Babylon’s Akitu New Year Feast, Josiah’s Passover at Jerusalem, Achaemenid Royal New-Year Banquet at Persepolis, The Persian King’s Table, The Hochdorf Chieftain’s Funerary Feast, The Vix Princess’s Wine Feast

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The Classical World (33)

Alexander’s Susa Wedding Feast, Ptolemy II’s Grand Procession Banquet, The Last Supper, Julius Caesar’s Triumph Banquet, Cleopatra and Antony’s Alexandrian Banquet, Augustus’ Secular Games Sacrificial Feasts, Nero’s Golden House Banquet, Trajan’s Dacian Triumph Feast

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The Medieval Food Worlds (47)

The Imperial Mongol Pastoral Food System, Karakorum: Foods of a Eurasian Capital, The Yam Postal Network and Mobile Provisioning, Ilkhanid Persian Court Cuisine, The Yuan Imperial Table, Chuño: The Inca Freeze-Dried Potato Network, Qullqas: The Inca State Storehouse System, Chicha Brewing for Inca Labor and State Feasts

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The Columbian Exchange (34)

The Field of Cloth of Gold, Anne Boleyn’s Coronation Feast, Henry VIII Receives Charles V, François I’s Fontainebleau Court Feast, Moctezuma II Hosts Cortés, Süleyman’s 1530 Circumcision Festival, Murad III’s 1582 Circumcision Festival, Oda Nobunaga’s Banquet for Tokugawa Ieyasu

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The Early Industrial Food Age (28)

Cook at Tonga’s ʻInasi Festival, Cook’s Arrival During the Hawaiian Makahiki, Qianlong’s Thousand-Elders Banquet, Lady Hyegyeong’s 60th-Birthday Banquet, George IV’s Coronation Banquet, The Prince Regent’s Brighton Pavilion Feast, Napoleon’s Coronation Banquet, The Congress of Vienna Court Banquets

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The Industrial Diet (25)

The Banquet of the Mayors of France, The First Nobel Banquet, Theodore Roosevelt Dines with Booker T. Washington, Roosevelt’s Dinner for Prince Henry of Prussia, The Romanovs’ 1903 Winter Palace Ball Supper, Edward VII’s Coronation State Banquet, The 1911 Delhi Durbar Banquet, Emperor Taishō’s Enthronement Banquet

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The Ultra-Processed Age (25)

Elizabeth II’s Coronation Luncheon, Kennedy’s Mount Vernon State Dinner, Kennedy’s Versailles-Inspired White House Dinner, The Persepolis 2,500-Year Celebration Banquet, Nixon’s Beijing State Banquet, Nixon’s Shanghai Banquet, Carter Hosts Deng Xiaoping, Reagan Hosts Queen Elizabeth II

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All 255 results

Shah Abbas Hosts Pietro della ValleShah Abbas Hosts Pietro della ValleShah Jahan’s Peacock-Throne Court FeastShah Jahan’s Peacock-Throne Court FeastShang Royal Ancestor Feast at AnyangShang Royal Ancestor Feast at AnyangShimao Ritual Beer FeastShimao Ritual Beer FeastSong Court New-Year Feast at KaifengSong Court New-Year Feast at KaifengSouthern Song Imperial Banquet at HangzhouSouthern Song Imperial Banquet at HangzhouSpanish Viceregal Entry Feast in Mexico CitySpanish Viceregal Entry Feast in Mexico CityStonehenge Avenue Gathering FeastStonehenge Avenue Gathering FeastSüleyman’s 1530 Circumcision FestivalSüleyman’s 1530 Circumcision FestivalSundiata's Victory Feast at Kirina, MaliSundiata's Victory Feast at Kirina, MaliSwahili Coast Feast at Manda Island, KenyaSwahili Coast Feast at Manda Island, KenyaTāwhiao’s Early Kingitanga FeastTāwhiao’s Early Kingitanga FeastTeotihuacan Apartment-Compound FeastTeotihuacan Apartment-Compound FeastThe 1862 Lord Mayor’s BanquetThe 1862 Lord Mayor’s BanquetThe 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition BanquetThe 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition BanquetThe 1897 Diamond Jubilee BanquetThe 1897 Diamond Jubilee BanquetThe 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance BanquetThe 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance BanquetThe 1905 Portsmouth Peace BanquetThe 1905 Portsmouth Peace BanquetThe 1910 Japanese-British Court BanquetThe 1910 Japanese-British Court BanquetThe 1911 Delhi Durbar BanquetThe 1911 Delhi Durbar BanquetThe 1936 Berlin Olympic State ReceptionThe 1936 Berlin Olympic State ReceptionThe 1938 Nobel BanquetThe 1938 Nobel BanquetThe 1945 Victory Banquet in LondonThe 1945 Victory Banquet in LondonThe 1947 Royal Wedding BreakfastThe 1947 Royal Wedding BreakfastThe 1999 Macau Handover BanquetThe 1999 Macau Handover BanquetThe Ara Pacis Dedication FeastThe Ara Pacis Dedication FeastThe Athenian City Dionysia BanquetThe Athenian City Dionysia BanquetThe Banquet of the Mayors of FranceThe Banquet of the Mayors of FranceThe Beautiful Feast of the ValleyThe Beautiful Feast of the ValleyThe Congress of Vienna Court BanquetsThe Congress of Vienna Court BanquetsThe Eleusinian Festival MealThe Eleusinian Festival MealThe Field of Cloth of GoldThe Field of Cloth of GoldThe First Banquet of the People’s Republic of ChinaThe First Banquet of the People’s Republic of ChinaThe First Nobel BanquetThe First Nobel BanquetThe First State Dinner in the White HouseThe First State Dinner in the White HouseThe Great Entertainment at The HagueThe Great Entertainment at The HagueThe Great Remuera HākariThe Great Remuera HākariThe Great Tōdai-ji Dedication FeastThe Great Tōdai-ji Dedication FeastThe Hittite AN.TAH.ŠUM Spring FestivalThe Hittite AN.TAH.ŠUM Spring FestivalThe Hittite KI.LAM Festival BanquetThe Hittite KI.LAM Festival BanquetThe Hochdorf Chieftain’s Funerary FeastThe Hochdorf Chieftain’s Funerary FeastThe Imperial Mongol Pastoral Food SystemThe Imperial Mongol Pastoral Food SystemThe Inca Vertical Food EconomyThe Inca Vertical Food EconomyThe Last Nobel Banquet Before World War IIThe Last Nobel Banquet Before World War IIThe Last SupperThe Last SupperThe Megalesia Banquet for CybeleThe Megalesia Banquet for CybeleThe Persepolis 2,500-Year Celebration BanquetThe Persepolis 2,500-Year Celebration BanquetThe Persian King’s TableThe Persian King’s TableThe Plymouth Harvest FeastThe Plymouth Harvest FeastThe Prince Regent’s Brighton Pavilion FeastThe Prince Regent’s Brighton Pavilion FeastThe Roman Lectisternium of 217 BCEThe Roman Lectisternium of 217 BCEThe Romanovs’ 1903 Winter Palace Ball SupperThe Romanovs’ 1903 Winter Palace Ball SupperThe Spartan Hyakinthia FeastThe Spartan Hyakinthia FeastThe Vix Princess’s Wine FeastThe Vix Princess’s Wine FeastThe Yam Postal Network and Mobile ProvisioningThe Yam Postal Network and Mobile ProvisioningThe Yuan Imperial TableThe Yuan Imperial TableTheodore Roosevelt Dines with Booker T. WashingtonTheodore Roosevelt Dines with Booker T. WashingtonTipu Sultan’s Seringapatam Court FeastTipu Sultan’s Seringapatam Court FeastTiwanaku Kalasasaya Temple Chicha Feast, BoliviaTiwanaku Kalasasaya Temple Chicha Feast, BoliviaTokugawa Ieyasu’s Shogunal BanquetTokugawa Ieyasu’s Shogunal Banquet