prior to disposal, is a phenomenon known more widely in continental
Europe.^61
Marinefish and molluscs played a larger role in coastal areas, and
included langoustine (Athen. 7.325e) as well as octopus (Athen. 7.318f),
which couldfind its way inland as a special delicacy, as we have seen in
the case of Iphikrates’marriage to Kotys I’s daughter. The quantities
were evidently impressive, if not the hecatombs of comic exaggeration.
Preservedfish from Thasos had a reputation abroad that at least matched
that from Ainos and Byzantion.^62
The least well-understood dietary component—and not just in the
northern Aegean—is the role of wild animals. Hunting has often been
studied in terms of the associated cultural metaphors, rather than the
economic value that may have accrued from the quarry. The cultural
ramifications of hunting extend beyond the scope of this book, although
the eschatological dimensions will be examined more closely in the next
chapter. The discovery of a magnificent painted frieze depicting the
capture of multiple large animals, on the front of Tomb II at Vergina,
reopened the debate about what was true of Macedonian royal practice in
the painting and what may have belonged to an imaginary landscape.
One principal problem in understanding the images has been the possi-
bility that the iconographic repertoire was acquired from Near Eastern
sources, which would locate the painting and its content in a context
after the Asiatic conquests of Alexander the Great, and therefore involve
possible contamination of indigenous experiences with exotic ones from
the east. Pierre Briant rejected this style of argumentation, arguing that
big game hunting appeared in royal iconography much earlier in the
fourth centurybcand owed little to eastern precedents. In fact, as
Greenwalt has suggested, similarities between Odrysian royal imagery,
which also involve hunting scenes, may be more apposite than Near
Eastern prototypes.^63 The Vergina painting is a complex image, with
major and minor elements combined in a way that is by no means easy to
reconstruct, notwithstanding the painstaking work of conservators. As
many as six animal quarries have been identified, which include at least
one stag, one boar, one lion, and one bear, surrounded by ten huntsmen
and nine dogs. The choice of animals was evidently intended to be
(^61) Stallibrass 2010, 62–3 with refs.
(^62) Other notable freshfish from Thasos and the northern Aegean: Athen. 2.105d
(scorpionfish); 7.321a (mullet); preservedfish: Grandjean and Salviat 2000, 181; Ar.
Acharn. 671; Athen. 4.164e; 7.329b; see also contributions to Bekker-Nielsen 2005, esp.
Højte, 133–60, Lund and Gabrielsen, 161–9.
(^63) Briant 1991; cf. also Greenwalt 1993, 515–16; Étienne 2002, 253–8.
294 Dining cultures