Devouring empires : the Persian Empire, Athens at the fifth century BC and the food metaphor of power. This paper analyses the metaphorical discourses regarding the relationship between food and political power in the Greek classical culture. These metaphors offer a departure point for the cultural representation of the mechanisms of political domination. In the first place, it studies the metaphors used in the representation of the Persian Empire, and in the second one, those adopted in the depiction of the Athenian hegemony.Dans cet article sont analysés les discours métaphoriques qui associent la nourriture et le pouvoir politique dans la culture grecque classique. Ces métaphores offrent un point de départ pour la représentation culturel...