Food in Greek Mythology. The special case of Oinotrophoi

This research consists of two parts: the first one summarizes the mythical incidents that reflect, explicitly or implicitly, the continuing concern about the presence or absence of food; the second one examines Oinotrophoi's biography, who appears in scattered primary sources, especially in Apollodorus, Virgil, Ovid, Diodorus Siculus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Licophron as well asin Servius' Commentary onVirgil, Dictys of Crete and, earlier, in the Trojan Cycle. The incident to be analyzed is located in Delos, where Anius, Apollo's son and priest, rules. The monarch is the father of Oeno, Spermo and Elias, who have been endowed by Dionysus with the ability to change what they touch, respectively into wine, wheat and oil. Agamemnon, king of kings, in the Panachaeoi's enterprise against Troy, considers it is a valuable and unique opportunity that will ensure supplies to his army in an unusual way. The methodology has consisted of a specific search, catalogue, selection and comparison of Greek and Roman sources. They deal with Hellenic topics that reflect on man-food relationship, use in particular attention to causes, parallelisms, diachronic innovation, symbols, scope and effects on the collective imaginary. The first part also forms a restricted catalogue, which could be deepened; the second involves a summary and review of various sources according to complementary approaches.