Mangiare e bere tra i Mirmidoni: fonti apocrife nelle rappresentazioni in inglese antico

The apocryphal tale of Matthew, captured by the anthropophagous Mermedonians, as well as the tale of Andrew, inspired by God to save the other apostle and to carry on his evangelizing mission, were widely spread throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the Old English tradition, the account is related in the poem Andreas and in a homily preserved in CCCC 198. The comparison between the vernacular texts and the Greek and Latin analogues allows us to observe that in each version the process of conversion is built upon the decannibalization of the Mermedonians. Cannibalism is represented through a play between oppositions and allusions which unifies the different sections of the tale. However, within a structure that is mostly shared among the several versions, the homily and the poem seem to adapt independently the source material for their target audience. They both employ particular strategies in order to offer a coherent and cohesive text with effective and meaningful images.