Tables as Liminal Spaces for Contact with the Divine

This paper studies some private cult banquets held in honour of Serapis in Egyptian cities during the Greco-Roman period, sometimes organised by professional associations, where the god was supposed to be present either as host or as guest. The aim of this inquiry is to examine how a private banquet, sometimes even outside the temple precinct, could claim to host a divinity and the role of tables for the sacralisation of a space where the human and the divine could coexist. The study will draw upon archaeological evidence mainly from Tebtunis and Karanis, supplemented by papyrological testimonies from other cities such as Oxyrhynchus.