The Black Banquet (c. AD 89)

Cassius Dio describes how Domitian invited the most important senators and equestrians at night to a hall black from ceiling to floor. By each guest stood a slab with his name and a small lamp as in a tomb, the dishes were served as at offerings to the dead, and the emperor spoke only of death. When the guests returned home, messengers arrived — with gifts: silver slabs, precious vessels and servants.

Dio places the banquet among the celebrations after the peace with the Dacians (AD 89); the crowd called it a funeral banquet for the fallen in Dacia and in Rome. This is the account of a single source.