[5] The text tells the story of a banquet held at Cana, where a great king (i.e. God) invites many biblical figures to attend a wedding.
One of the first to study the piece carefully was Adolf von Harnack, who argued for it having been written by the poet Cyprianus Gallus on the grounds of its using the Acta Pauli.
This view is endorsed by H. Brewer, but opposed by Willy Hass, who argues that Cyprianus and the Cena author made use of different versions of the Bible.
[4] A different attribution has been made by Lapôtre, who claimed the work to be a satire directed toward Julian the Apostate by the poet Bachiarius.
[4] Many retellings of the story were written in the Middle Ages, the earliest and best-known of which are in the 9th century by Johannes Hymonides and Rabanus Maurus.