Le fornaie comiche e i pani di Periandro

Abstract

Women breadsellers (ajrtopwvlide") are often meant to provide an oblique reference to prostitutes since sexual metaphors could be created by applying certain twists to expressions used in the breadsellers’ job. Such metaphors are also present in the story of Periander’s necrophilia on his wife’s corpse (Hdt. 5.92.η.2-3), equated by Herodotus to a male breadseller’s putting loaves into a cold oven. The meaning of such an image can be fully caught when we realize that the role of women breadsellers has been paradoxically played by a male.