Meat-sharing and commensal consumption of meat are central motifs in the Homeric epics. As remains of commensal meals, gifts for the dead or gods and sacrifices, animal bones and sacrificial knives are omnipresent in Early Iron Age Greek sanctuaries. Nevertheless, in Classical Greek archaeology, reflections on the role of meat have traditionally involved the study of numerous later texts and images from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period that were also used for the reconstruction of various rituals and institutions of Early Greek societies. The current paper aims to provide a diachronic overview of the social roles of meat consumption in Early Greek societies, through an investigation of funerary and ritual archaeological contexts in Central Greece as well as a study of contemporaneous texts and images. A series of Archaic vase-paintings displaying the ‘ransom of Hector’ and Achilles as a ‘Lord’ over large quantities of meat was selected as a starting point for the discussion. The evidence shows that meat-sharing and commensal consumption
were employed as social tools to gain reputation (‘social capital’) by members of social elites, especially
local leaders, throughout the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period. In 6th century BCE Athens, several
details such as the emergence of larger sacrificial processions or altars on painted vases indicate a growing importance of larger cult communities. Coming full circle to the display of Achilles in the ‘ransom of Hector’, the change in some details (the replacement of the phiale by a knife) that can be observed at the end of the 6th century BCE, might reflect a change in the perception of meat-sharers, in contrast to the institutionalised bloody sacrifice in sanctuaries conducted by a cult community of citizens that became a key instrument for the demarcation of the polis identity.