Ancient GreekAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
cuisine was characterized by its frugality, reflecting
agriculturalAgriculture was the foundation of the Ancient Greek economy. Nearly 80% of the population was involved in this activity. An excellent area of activity for a citizen, it gave birth to a way of life and mores which persisted throughout Antiquity.- Environment :...
hardship. It was founded on the "Mediterranean triad":
wheatWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
,
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
, and
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
.
Our knowledge of ancient Greek cuisine and eating habits is derived from literary and artistic evidence. Our literary knowledge comes mostly from
AristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete...
'
comediesAncient Greek comedy was one of three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece . Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy...
and quotes preserved by 2nd–3rd century CE grammarian
AthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century A.D. The Suda only tells us that he lived in the times of Marcus Athenaeus (Ancient Greek - Athếnaios Naukratios, Latin Athenaeus Naucratita), of Naucratis in...
; artistic information is provided by Black- and red-figure
vase-paintingThanks to its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...
and
terracotta figurinesTerracotta figurines are a mode of artistic and religious expression frequently found in Ancient Greece. Cheap and easily produced, these figurines abound and provide an invaluable testimony to the everyday life and religion of the Ancient Greeks....
.
Meals
At home
The Greeks had four meals a day.
BreakfastBreakfast is the first meal of the day. The word is a portmanteau of "break" and "fast," referring to the conclusion of fasting since the previous day's last meal. It is widely referred to as the most important meal of the day...
(
akratismos) consisted of barley bread dipped in
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
(
akratos), sometimes complemented by figs or olives. A quick lunch (
ariston) was taken around noon or early afternoon.
DinnerDinner is the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon region and/or social class, it may be the second or third meal of the day.-Dinner courses:...
(
deipnon), the most important meal of the day, was generally taken at nightfall. An additional light meal (
hesperisma) was sometimes taken in the late afternoon. /
aristodeipnon, literally “lunch-dinner”, was served in the late afternoon instead of dinner.
Men and women took their meals separately. When the house was too small, the men ate first, the women afterwards.
SlavesSlavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece throughout its history, as it was in other societies of the time including ancient Israel and early Christian societies. It is estimated that in Athens, the majority of citizens owned at least one slave...
waited at dinners. Aristotle notes that “the poor, having no slaves, must use their wives and children as servants”.
The ancient Greek custom to place
terra cottaTerracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic. Its uses include vessels, water and waste water pipes and surface embellishment in building construction, along with sculpture such as the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines...
miniatures of their furniture in children's graves gives us a good idea of its style and design. The Greeks normally ate while seated on
chairA chair is a raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs often have the seat raised above floor level, supported by four legs. A chair without a back or arm rests is a stool, or when raised up, a bar stool or high chair . A chair with arms is an armchair and with...
s; benches were used for banquets. The tables, high for normal meals and low for banquets, were initially rectangular in shape. But by the 4th century BCE, the usual table was round, often with animal-shaped legs (for example lion's paws). Loaves of flat bread could be used as plates, but terra cotta bowls were more common. Dishes became more refined over time, and by the Roman period plates were sometimes made out of precious metals or glass. Cutlery was not often used at table: Use of the
forkAs a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...
was unknown; people ate with their fingers. Knives were used to cut the meat. Spoons were used for soups and broths. Pieces of bread (
apomagdalia) could be used to spoon the food or as
napkinA napkin is a rectangle of cloth or paper used at the table for wiping the mouth while eating. It is usually small and folded...
s, to wipe the fingers.
Social dining
As with modern dinner parties, the host could simply invite friends or family; but two other forms of social dining were central in ancient Greece: the entertainment of the all-male
symposium, and the obligatory, regimental
syssitia.
Symposium
The
symposiumSymposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive format, rather than a lecture and question–answer format...
(
symposion), traditionally translated as "banquet", but more literally "gathering of drinkers", was one of the preferred pastimes for the Greeks. It consisted of two parts: the first dedicated to food, generally rather simple, and a second part dedicated to drinking. However, wine was consumed with the food, and the beverages were accompanied by snacks (
tragēmata) such as
chestnutChestnut is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The Chestnut belongs to the same Fagaceae family as the Oak and Beech...
s, beans, toasted wheat, or honey cakes; all designed to absorb alcohol and extend the drinking spree.
The second part was inaugurated with a
libationA libation is a ritual pouring of a drink as an offering to a god. It was common in the religions of antiquity, including Judaism:...
, most often in honor of
DionysusIn classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos is the god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, amongst whom Greek mythology treated him as a late arrival...
, followed by conversation or table games, such as
kottabosKottabus, anglice cottabus , was a game of skill popular for a long time at ancient Greek and Etruscan symposia , especially in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The game is played by flinging wine lees at targets...
. The guests would recline on couches (
klinai); low tables held the food or game boards. Dancers, acrobats, and musicians would entertain the wealthy banqueters. A “king of the banquet” was drawn by lots; he had the task of directing the slaves as to how strong to mix the wine.
With the exception of dancers and
courtesansProstitution was a part of daily life in ancient Greece. In the more important cities, and particularly the many ports, it employed a significant proportion of the population and represented one of the top levels of economic activity...
, the banquet was strictly reserved for men. It was an essential element of Greek social life. Great feasts could only be afforded by the rich; in most Greek homes, religious feasts or family events were the occasion of more modest banquets. The banquet became the setting of a specific genre of literature, giving birth to
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
's
SymposiumThe Symposium is a philosophical book written by Plato sometime after 385 BC. On one level, the book deals with the genealogy, nature and purpose of love; on another level, it deals with the topic of knowledge — specifically how does one know what one knows...
,
XenophonXenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary, and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
's work of the same name, the
Table Talk of
PlutarchPlutarch, born Plutarchos then, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 – 120, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
's
MoraliaThe Moralia of the first-century Greek priest Plutarch of Delphi is an eclectic collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They give an insight into Roman and Greek life, but often are also fascinating timeless observations in their own right...
, and the
Deipnosophists (
Banquet of the Learned) of
AthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century A.D. The Suda only tells us that he lived in the times of Marcus Athenaeus (Ancient Greek - Athếnaios Naukratios, Latin Athenaeus Naucratita), of Naucratis in...
.
Syssitia
The
syssitia (
ta syssitia) were mandatory meals shared by social or religious groups for men and youths, especially in
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
and
SpartaSparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars...
. They were referred to variously as
hetairia,
pheiditia, or
andreia (literally, "belonging to men"). They both served as a kind of aristocratic
clubAncient Greek clubs were associations of ancient Greeks who were united by a common interest or goal.-Types:The earliest reference of clubs in ancient Greece appears in the law of Solon and is quoted incidentally in the Digest of Justinian I . This guaranteed the administrative independence of...
and as a military
messA mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces...
. Like the symposium, the syssitia was the exclusive domain of men — although some references have been found to all-female
syssitiaThe syssitia was, in Ancient Greece, a common meal for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in Crete and Sparta, though also in Megara in the time of Theognis and Corinth in the time of Periander .The banquets spoken of by Homer relate to this tradition...
. Unlike the symposium, these meals were hallmarked by simplicity and temperance.
Bread
Cereals formed the staple diet. The two main grains were
wheatWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
(
sitos) and
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
. Wheat grains were softened by soaking, then either reduced into
gruelGruel is a food preparation consisting of some type of cereal— oat, wheat or rye flour, or also rice— boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk than eaten and need not even be cooked...
, or ground into flour (
aleiata) and kneaded and formed into loaves (
artos) or flatbreads, either plain or mixed with cheese or honey. Leavening was known; the Greeks later used an
alkaliIn chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Alkalis are best known for being bases that dissolve in water. Bases are compounds with a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base, especially for...
(νίτρον
nitron) or wine
yeastYeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with about 1,500 species currently described; they dominate fungal diversity in the oceans. Most reproduce asexually by budding, although a few do so by binary fission...
as
leavening agentA leavening agent is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action which lightens and softens the finished product...
. Dough loaves were baked at home in a clay oven (ἰπνός
ipnos) set on legs. A simpler method consisted in putting lighted coals on the floor and covering the heap with a dome-shaped cover (
pnigeus); when it was hot enough, the coals were swept aside, dough loaves were placed on the warm floor, the cover was put back in place and the coals were gathered on the side of the cover. The stone oven did not appear until the Roman period.
SolonSolon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and elegiac poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens...
, an
AthenianAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
lawmaker of the 6th century BCE, prescribed that leavened bread be reserved for feast days. By the end of the 5th century BC, leavened bread was sold at the market, though it was expensive.
Barley was easier to produce but more difficult to make bread from. It provided a nourishing but very heavy bread. Because of this it was often roasted before milling, producing a coarse flour (
alphita) which was used to make
maza, the basic Greek dish. In
PeacePeace is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the ratification of the Peace of Nicias , which promised to end the ten year old Peloponnesian War...
,
AristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete...
employs the expression , literally “to eat only barley”, with a meaning equivalent to the English “diet of bread and water”. Many recipes for maza are known; it could be served cooked or raw, as a broth, or made into dumplings or flatbreads. Like wheat breads, it could also be augmented with cheese or honey.
Fruit and vegetables
The cereals were often served accompanied by what was generically referred to as
opson, “relish”. The word initially meant anything prepared on the fire, and, by extension, anything which accompanied bread. In the classical period it came to refer to fish and
vegetableA vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plant. However, the word is not scientific, and its meaning is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Therefore the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables,...
s:
cabbageThe cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae , and is used as a leafy green vegetable...
,
onionOnion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is also known as the "garden onion" or "bulb" onion...
s,
lentilThe lentil or daal or dal , considered a type of pulse, is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...
s,
sweet peasLathyrus is a genus of flowering plant species known as sweet peas and vetchlings. Lathyrus is in the legume family Fabaceae and contains approximately 160 species. They are native to temperate areas, with a breakdown of 52 species in Europe, 30 species in North America, 78 in Asia, 24 in...
,
chickpeaThe chickpea is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables...
s,
broad beanVicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Faba Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally recognized:* Vicia faba var...
s, garden peas, grass peas, etc. They were eaten as a
soupSoup is a food that is made by combining ingredients, such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth....
, boiled or mashed (
etnos), seasoned with olive oil,
vinegarVinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid. It also may come in a diluted form. The acetic acid concentration typically ranges from 4 to 8 percent by volume for table vinegar and higher concentrations for pickling...
, herbs or
gáron, a fish sauce similar to
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
ese
nước mắmFish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, and Cambodian cuisine and is used in other Southeast Asian countries...
. According to Aristophanes, mashed beans were a favourite dish of
HeraclesIn Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles , Alcides or Alcaeus , was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, always represented as a glutton in comedies. Poor families ate oak
acornThe acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oak tree . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s (
balanoi).. Raw or preserved olives were a common appetizer.
In the cities, fresh vegetables were expensive: the poorer city dwellers had to make do with
dried vegetablesDrying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which prevents the growth of microorganisms and decay. Drying food using the sun and wind to prevent spoilage has been known since ancient times...
. Lentil soup (
phakē) was the workman's typical dish. Cheese, garlic and onions were the soldier's traditional fare. In
Peace, the smell of onions typically represents soldiers; the chorus, celebrating the end of war, sings
Oh! joy, joy! no more helmet, no more cheese nor onions! Bitter vetchThe bitter vetch is an ancient grain legume crop of the Mediterranean region. Besides the English name, other common names include: Gavdaneh , kersannah , yero , rovi , and burçak . The nutritional value of the grain for ruminant production has guaranteed the continued cultivation of V...
was considered a
famine foodA famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily-available foodstuff used to nourish people in times of extreme poverty or starvation, as during a war or famine...
.
FruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
s, fresh or dried, and
nutsNut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seeds or fruit of some plants. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts. Nuts are an important source of nutrients for both humans and...
, were eaten as
dessertDessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses...
. Important fruits were
figFIG may refer to:*Common fig, a large, deciduous shrub native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region.*Ficus, a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs in the family Moraceae.-Acronym:* Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
s,
raisinRaisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world, such as Armenia, the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Macedonia, Mexico, Greece, Syria, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern and...
s and
pomegranateThe pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight meters tall. The pomegranate is native to Southwest Asia and has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times...
s. Dried figs were also eaten as an appetizer or when drinking wine. In the latter case, they were often accompanied by grilled
chestnutChestnut is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The Chestnut belongs to the same Fagaceae family as the Oak and Beech...
s, chick peas, and
beechnuts.
Fish and Meat
The consumption of fish and meat varied in accordance with the wealth and location of the household; in the country,
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing living animals for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
(primarily trapping) allowed for consumption of birds and
hareHares and jackrabbits are leporidaes belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets.Hares are very fast-moving...
s. Peasants also had farmyards to provide them with chickens and geese. Slightly wealthier landowners could raise goats, pigs, or sheep. In the city, meat was expensive except for pork. In Aristophanes' day a piglet cost three drachmas, which was three days wages for a public servant. Sausages were common both for the poor and the rich.
In the 8th century BCE
HesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet. His date is uncertain but leading scholars , agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the eighth century BCE. Since at least Herodotus's time , Hesiod and Homer have generally been considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived, and they are often...
describes the ideal country feast in
Works and Days:
Meat is much less prominent in texts of the 5th century BCE onwards than in the earliest poetry, but this may be a matter of genre rather than real evidence of changes in farming and food customs. The eating of fresh meat was accompanied by a religious ritual in which the gods' share (fat and bones) was burnt while the human share (meat) was grilled and distributed to the participants; there was however a lively trade in cooked and salted meats, which demanded no ritual.
SpartaSparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars...
ns primarily ate pork stew, the “black broth” (
melas zōmos). According to Plutarch, it was “so much valued that the elderly men fed only upon that, leaving what flesh there was to the younger”. It was famous amongst the Greeks. “Naturally Spartans are the bravest men in the world”, joked a Sybarite, “anyone in his senses would rather die ten thousand times than take his share of such a sorry diet”. It was made with
porkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig . The word pork often denotes specifically the fresh meat of the pig, but can be used as an all-inclusive term which includes cured, smoked, or processed meats It is one of the most-commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig...
,
saltA salt, in chemistry, is an ionic compound, and can result from the neutralization reaction of acids and bases. Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
,
vinegarVinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid. It also may come in a diluted form. The acetic acid concentration typically ranges from 4 to 8 percent by volume for table vinegar and higher concentrations for pickling...
and
bloodBlood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's cells — such as nutrients and oxygen — and transports waste products away from those same cells....
. The dish was served with
maza, figs and cheese sometimes supplemented with game and fish. The 2nd–3rd century author
AelianClaudius Aelianus , often seen as just Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222...
, claims that Spartan cooks were prohibited from cooking anything other than meat.
In the Greek islands and on the coast, fresh fish and seafood (
squidSquid are marine cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms and two longer tentacles arranged in pairs...
,
octopusThe octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. The term may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus...
, and
shellfishShellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
) were common. They were eaten locally but more often transported inland. Sardines and anchovies were regular fare for the citizens of Athens. They were sometimes sold fresh, but more frequently salted. A stele of the late 3rd century BCE from the small Boeotian city of Akraiphia, on
Lake CopaisLake Copais, Kopais, or Kopaida used to be in the centre of Boeotia, Greece, west of Thebes until the late 19th century. The area where it was located, though now a plain, is still known as Kopaida.- Drainage :...
, provides us with a list of fish prices. The cheapest was
skaren (probably
parrotfishParrotfishes are a subgroup from the Labridae family and one of the most important groups of herbivorous fishes found on coral reefs with about 90 known species to date...
) whereas
northern bluefin tunaThe northern bluefin tuna , or giant bluefin tuna, is a species of tuna native to both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Although not native to the Pacific Ocean, the species is now commercially cultivated off the Japanese coast...
was three times as expensive. Common salt water fish were
yellowfin tunaThe yellowfin tuna is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.The yellowfin tuna is often marketed as ahi tuna, from its Hawaiian name ahi although the name ahi in Hawaiian also refers to the closely related bigeye tuna...
,
red mulletThe red mullets or surmullets are two species of goatfish, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus, found in the Mediterranean Sea, east North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. Both "red mullet" and "surmullet" can also refer to the Mullidae in general.Though they can easily be distinguished—M...
,
rayRay may refer to:*Batoidea , a superorder of cartilaginous fishes**Rajiformes, "True rays" and skates*Ray , idealized narrow beam of light*Ray or half-line in geometry or physics...
,
swordfishSwordfish , also known as Broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood. They reach a maximum size of 177 in...
or
sturgeonSturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
, a delicacy which was eaten salted. Lake Copais itself was famous in all Greece for its
eelTrue eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 19 families, 110 genera and approximately 600 species. Most eels are predators...
s, celebrated by the hero of
The AcharniansThe Acharnians is the third play - and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays - by the great Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BCE on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival...
. Other fresh water fish were
pike-fishEsox is a genus of freshwater fish, the only living genus in the family Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America, Europe and Eurasia during the Paleogene through present from 65—0 mya, existing for approximately ....
,
carpCarp is a common name for various species of an oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. Some consider all cyprinid fishes carp, and the family Cyprinidae itself is often known as the carp family...
and the less appreciated
catfishCatfish are a diverse group of hairey fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores , and even to a tiny...
.
Eggs and dairy products
Greeks bred
quailQuail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae. New World quails and buttonquails are not closely related but named for their similar appearance and behaviour....
s and
henHen may refer to:*A female chicken, a species of bird, bred for its eggs and its meat. Also a species of poultry.*Hen, a female octopus or lobster*Hen , a woman*Hen, Buskerud in Ringerike municipality, Buskerud, Norway...
s, partly for their
eggAn egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of any number of different species, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves...
s. Some authors also praise
pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
eggs and
Egyptian GooseThe Egyptian Goose is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae, and is the only extant member of the genus Alopochen...
eggs, which were presumably rather rare. Eggs were cooked
soft- or hard-boiledBoiled eggs are eggs cooked by immersion in boiling water with their shells unbroken. Eggs cooked in water without their shells are known as poached eggs...
as
hors d'œuvreHors d'œuvre or appetizers are food items served before the main courses of a meal. The French is hors d'œuvre; in English, the œ ligature is usually replaced by the 2-letter sequence "oe" with the plural often written as "hors d'oeuvres" and .There are several related terms, such as a one-bite...
or
dessertDessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses...
.
WhitesEgg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. It is the cytoplasm of the egg, which until fertilization is a single cell . It consists mainly of about 15% proteins dissolved in water...
,
yolksAn egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae...
and whole eggs were also used as ingredients in the preparation of dishes.
Country dwellers drank
milkMilk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce...
(
gala), but it was seldom used in cooking.
ButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying...
(
bouturon) was known but seldom used either: Greeks saw it as a culinary trait of the
ThraciansThe ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes who spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
of the northern
AegeanAegean may refer to:*Aegean Sea*Aegean Islands*Aegean Region, Turkey*Aegean civilization*Tyrsenian languages, aka Aegean languages*Aegean Airlines*Aegean Macedonia, another term for the Greek region of Macedonia...
coast, whom the
Middle Comic poetAncient Greek comedy was one of three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece . Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy...
AnaxandridesFor the Spartan king, see Anaxandridas IIAnaxandrides , was an Athenian Middle Comic poet. He was victorious ten times , first in 376, according to the Marmor Parium . Inscriptional evidence shows that three of his victories came at the Lenaia For the Spartan king, see Anaxandridas IIAnaxandrides...
dubbed “butter eaters”. Yet Greeks enjoyed other dairy products.
Pyriatē, was a kind of thick milk, commonly mistaken as yogurt. Most of all, goat's and ewe's
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
tyros) was a staple food. Fresh and hard cheese were sold in different shops; the former cost about two thirds of the latter's price. Cheese was eaten alone or with honey or vegetables. It was also used as an ingredient in the preparation of many dishes, including fish dishes. The only extant recipe by the Sicilian cook
MithaecusMithaecus was a cook and cookbook author of the late 5th century BC. A Greek-speaking native of Sicily at a time when the island was rich and highly civilized, Mithaecus is credited with having brought knowledge of Sicilian gastronomy to Greece...
runs: “
TainiaBandfishes are a family, Cepolidae, of perciform fishes. They are native to the Atlantic seaboard of Europe and the West Pacific, including New Zealand. They dig burrows in sandy or muddy seabed and eat zooplankton....
: gut, discard the head, rinse and fillet; add cheese and olive oil”. However, the addition of cheese seems to have been a controversial matter;
ArchestratusArchestratus was an Ancient Greek poet of Gela or Syracuse, in Sicily, who wrote some time in the mid 4th century BCE. His humorous didactic poem Hedypatheia , written in hexameters, advises a gastronomic reader on where to find the best food in the Mediterranean world...
warns his readers that Syracusan cooks spoil good fish by adding cheese.
Drink
The most widespread drink was water. Fetching water was a daily task for women. Though wells were common, spring water was preferred: it was recognized as nutritious because it caused plants and trees to grow, and also as a desirable beverage.
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is best preserved...
called spring water "as agreeable as honey". The Greeks would describe water as robust, heavy or light, dry, acidic, pungent, wine-like, etc. One of the comic poet
AntiphanesAntiphanes, the most important writer of the Middle Attic comedy with the exception of Alexis, lived from about 408 to 334 BCE.He was apparently a foreigner who settled in Athens , where he began to write about 387...
's characters claimed that he could recognize Attic water by taste alone. Athenaeus states that a number of philosophers had a reputation for drinking nothing but water, a habit combined with a
vegetarian dietVegetarianism is the practice of following a diet based on plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products and eggs. Vegetarians do not eat meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, shellfish, or products of animal slaughter such as...
(cf. below). Milk, usually goats' milk, was also consumed.
The usual drinking vessel was the
skyphosIn classifying the pottery of Ancient Greece, a skyphos is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim , or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body...
, made out of wood, terra cotta, or metal.
CritiasCritias , born in Athens, son of Callaeschrus, was an uncle of Plato, and a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants, and one of the most violent. He was an associate of Socrates, a fact that did not endear Socrates to the Athenian public. He was noted in his day for his tragedies, elegies and prose...
also mentions the
kothon, a Spartan goblet which had the military advantage of hiding the colour of the water from view and trapping mud in its edge. They also used a drinking vessel called a
kylixA kylix is a type of wine-drinking cup with a broad relatively shallow body raised on a stem from a foot and usually with two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically...
(a shallow footed bowl), and for banquets the
kantharosA kantharos is a type of Greek pottery used for drinking. It is characterized by its high swung handles which extend above the lip of the pot.The god Dionysus had such a cup, that was never empty....
(a deep cup with handles) or the
rhytonA Rhyton is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation. Rhyta were very common in ancient Persia where they were called Takuk...
, a drinking horn often moulded into the form of a human or animal head.
Wine
The Greeks are thought to have made red as well as
roséA rosé wine has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.-Skin contact:...
and white wines. As at the present time, many qualities of production were to be found, from common table wine to vintage qualities. The best wines, in general opinion, came from
ThásosThasos or Thassos is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, close to the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestos but geographically part of Macedonia.-Prehistory:...
, Lesbos and
ChiosChios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
.
Cretan wineCretan wine is wine from the Greek island of Crete. It has a long history since wine was certainly being made by the Minoans before 1600 BC. Wines from Crete are not listed among those specially prized in classical Greece, but under the Roman Empire in the second century AD Crete was known for a...
came to prominence later. A secondary wine made from water and
pomacePomace is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The OED cites the term marc as having the same meaning....
(the residue from squeezed grapes), mixed with
leesLees refers to deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that precipitate, or are carried by the action of "fining", to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and aging. The yeast deposits in beer brewing are known as trub...
, was made by country people for their own use. The Greeks sometimes sweetened their wine with honey and made medicinal wines by adding
thymeThyme is a well known herb; in common usage the name may refer to* any or all members of the plant genus Thymus,* common thyme, Thymus vulgaris, and some other species that are used as culinary herbs or for medicinal purposes.-History:...
,
pennyroyalPennyroyal is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed Pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint. Pennyroyal is a traditional culinary herb, folk remedy, and abortifacient...
and other herbs. By the first century, if not before, they were familiar with wine flavoured with pine resin (modern
retsinaRetsina is a Greek white resinated wine that has been made for at least 2000 years. Its unique flavor is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels, particularly amphorae, with Aleppo Pine resin in ancient times. Before the invention of impermeable glass bottles, oxygen...
).
AelianClaudius Aelianus , often seen as just Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222...
also mentions a wine mixed with perfume. Cooked wine was known, as well as a sweet wine from Thásos, similar to
port winePort wine is a Portuguese fortified wine from the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, but also comes in dry, semi-dry and white varieties. It is often served as a dessert wine...
.
Wine was generally cut with water. The drinking of
akraton or "unmixed wine", though known to be practised by northern barbarians, was thought likely to lead to madness and death. Wine was mixed in a
kraterA krater was a large vase used to mix wine and water in Ancient Greece.-Form and function:...
, from which the
slavesSlavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece throughout its history, as it was in other societies of the time including ancient Israel and early Christian societies. It is estimated that in Athens, the majority of citizens owned at least one slave...
would fill the drinker's kylix with an
oinochoeAn oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe, is a wine jug and a key form of Greek pottery. There are many different forms of Oenochoe. The earliest is the olpe and has an S-shaped profile from head to foot.-External links:*...
(jugs). Wine was also used as a generic medication, being taken to have medicinal virtue. Aelian mentions that the wine from Heraia in
ArcadiaArcadia, Arkadía , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas.-Modern times:...
rendered men foolish but women fertile; conversely, Achaean wine was thought to induce abortion. Outside of these therapeutic uses, Greek society did not approve of women drinking wine; according to Aelian, a Massalian law prohibited this and restricted women to drinking water. Sparta was the only city where women routinely drank wine.
Wine reserved for local use was kept in skins. That destined for sale was poured into
pithoi, (large terra cotta jugs). From here they were decanted into
amphoraAn amphora is a type of ceramic vase with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body. The word amphora is Latin, derived from the Greek amphoreus , an abbreviation of amphiphoreus , a compound word combining amphi- plus phoreus , from pherein , referring to...
s sealed with pitch for retail sale. Vintage wines carried stamps from the producers and/or city magistrates who guaranteed their origin. This is one of the first instances of indicating the geographical or qualitative provenance of a product, and is the basis of the modern
appellations d'origine contrôléesAppellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled term of origin" is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National des...
certification.
Kykeon
The Greeks also drank
kykeonKykeon was an Ancient Greek drink made mainly of water, barley and naturally occurring substances. Mysteries say it was derived from ergot...
, which was both a beverage and a meal. It was a barley gruel, to which water and herbs were added. In the
Iliad, the beverage also contained grated
goat cheeseGoat's milk cheese, goats' cheese, goat cheese or chèvre is cheese made from goat milk. Goat cheese comes in a wide variety of forms, although the most common is a soft, easily spread cheese...
. In the
Odyssey,
CirceIn Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic living on the island of Aeaea....
adds honey and a magic potion to it. In the
Homeric HymnThe thirty-three anonymous Homeric Hymns celebrating individual gods are a collection of ancient Greek hymns, "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter— dactylic hexameter— as the Iliad and Odyssey, use many similar formulas and are couched in the same dialect...
to DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
, the goddess refuses red wine but accepts a kykeon made of water, flour, and
pennyroyalPennyroyal is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed Pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint. Pennyroyal is a traditional culinary herb, folk remedy, and abortifacient...
. Used as a ritual beverage in the
Eleusinian MysteriesThe Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. These myths and mysteries, begun in the Mycenean...
, it was also a popular beverage, especially in the countryside:
TheophrastusTheophrastus , a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. His interests were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an...
, in his
Characters, describes a boorish peasant as having drunk much kykeon and inconveniencing the
AssemblyThe ecclesia or ekklesia was the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens during its Golden Age . It was the popular assembly, opened to all male citizens over the age of 30 by Solon in 594 BC meaning that all classes of citizens in Athens were able to participate, even the thetes...
with his bad breath. It also had a reputation as a good digestive, and as such, in
Peace,
HermesHermes is the Messenger of the gods in Greek mythology as well as a guide to the Underworld. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of...
recommends it to the main character who has eaten too much dried fruit.
Food preparation
Food played an important part in the Greek mode of thought. Classicist John Wilkins notes that “in the
Odyssey for example, good men are distinguished from bad and Greeks from foreigners partly in terms of how and what they ate. Herodotus identified people partly in terms of food and eating”.
Up to the 3rd century BCE, the frugality imposed by the physical and climatic conditions of the country was held as virtuous. The Greeks did not ignore the pleasures of eating, but valued simplicity. The rural writer Hesiod, as cited above, spoke of his "flesh of a heifer fed in the woods, that has never calved, and of firstling kids" as being the perfect closing to a day. Nonetheless,
ChrysippusChrysippus of Soli was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Cleanthes, and his successor, in 230 BC, as third head of the Stoic school. A prolific writer, Chrysippus expanded the fundamental doctrines of Zeno of Citium, the founder of the school, which earned Chrysippus the title of...
is quoted as saying that the best meal was a free one.
CulinaryCuisine is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. It is often named after the region or place where its underlining culture is present...
and
gastronomicalGastronomy is the study of the relationship between culture and food. It is often thought erroneously that the term gastronomy refers exclusively to the art of cooking , but this is only a small part of this discipline; it cannot always be said that a cook is also a gourmet. Gastronomy studies...
research was rejected as a sign of oriental flabbiness: the Persian Empire was considered decadent due to their luxurious taste, which manifested itself in their cuisine. The Greek authors took pleasure in describing the table of the Achaemenid Great King and his court:
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
,
Clearchus of SoliClearchus or Clearch of Soli was a Greek philosopher of the 4th-3rd century BCE, belonging to Aristotle's Peripatetic school...
,
StraboStrabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus , which had recently become part of the Roman Empire.. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome...
and
CtesiasCtesias of Cnidus was a Greek physician and historian from Cnidus in Caria. Ctesias, who flourished in the 5th century BC, was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger....
were unanimous in their descriptions.
In contrast, Greeks as a whole stressed the austerity of their own diet. Plutarch tells how the king of
PontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Pontos...
, eager to try the Spartan “black gruel”, bought a
LaconiaLaconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a prefecture, with Sparti its administrative capital. Its main towns and cities are Amyclae, Areopolis, Gytheion, Molaoi, Monemvasia, Mystras, Neapoli and Sellasia...
n cook; “but had no sooner tasted it than he found it extremely bad, which the cook observing, told him, “Sir, to make this broth relish, you should have bathed yourself first in the river Evrotas”.".
According to
PolyaenusPolyaenus or Polyenus was a 2nd century Macedonian author, known best for his Stratagems in War , which has been preserved. The Suda calls him a rhetorician, and Polyaenus himself writes that he was accustomed to plead causes before the emperor...
, on discovering the dining hall of the Persian royal palace,
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
mocked their taste and blamed it for their defeat.
PausaniasPausanias was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC. He was the son of Cleombrotus and nephew of Leonidas I, serving as regent after the latter's death, since Leonidas' son Pleistarchus was still under-age. Pausanias was also the father of Pleistoanax, who later became king...
, on discovering the dining habits of the Persian commander
MardoniusMardonius was a leading Persian military commander during the Persian Wars with Greece in the early 5th century BC.-Early years:Mardonius was the son of Gobryas, a Persian nobleman who had assisted the Achaemenid prince Darius when he claimed the throne...
, equally ridiculed the Persians, “who having so much, came to rob the Greeks of their miserable living”.
In consequence of this cult of frugality, and the diminished regard for cuisine it inspired, the kitchen long remained the domain of women, free or enslaved. In the classical period, however, culinary specialists began to enter the written record. Both Aelian and Athenaeus mention the thousand cooks who accompanied Smindyride of
SybarisSybaris was a celebrated city of Magna Graecia on the western shore of the Gulf of Taranto. The wealth of the city in the 6th century BC was such that the Sybarites became synonymous with pleasure and luxury...
on his voyage to
AthensThe History of Athens is one of the oldest of any city in Europe and in the world. Athens has been continuously inhabited for over 7000 years, becoming the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC; its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western...
at the time of
CleisthenesCleisthenes was a noble Athenian of the Alcmaeonid family. He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508 BC or 507 BC...
, if only disapprovingly.
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
in
GorgiasGorgias is an important Socratic Dialogue in which Plato sets the rhetorician, whose specialty is persuasion, in opposition to the philosopher, whose specialty is dissuasion, or refutation. The art of persuasion was widely considered necessary for political and legal advantage in classical Athens,...
, mentions "Thearion the cook,
MithaecusMithaecus was a cook and cookbook author of the late 5th century BC. A Greek-speaking native of Sicily at a time when the island was rich and highly civilized, Mithaecus is credited with having brought knowledge of Sicilian gastronomy to Greece...
the author of a treatise on Sicilian cooking, and Sarambos the wine merchant; three eminent connoisseurs of cake, kitchen and wine." Some chefs also wrote treatises on cuisine.
Over time, more and more Greeks presented themselves as gourmets. From the
HellenisticIn the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...
to the
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
period, the Greeks — at least the rich — no longer appeared to be any more austere than others. The cultivated guests of the feast hosted by Athenaeus in the 2nd or 3rd century devoted a large part of their conversation to wine and gastronomy. They discussed the merits of various wines, vegetables, and meats, mentioning renowned dishes (stuffed cuttlefish, red
tunaTuna are ocean-dwelling carnivorous fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers—they have been clocked at —and include several warm-blooded species...
belly,
prawnPrawns are Decapods, belonging to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata . They are similar in appearance to shrimp, but can be distinguished by the gill structure which is branching in prawns , but is lamellar in shrimp...
s,
lettuceLettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. In many countries, it is typically eaten cold, raw, in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and in many other dishes...
watered with mead) and great cooks such as Soterides, chef to king
Nicomedes INicomedes I , second king of Bithynia, was the eldest son of Zipoites, whom he succeeded on the throne in 278 BC.-Overview:...
of
BithyniaBithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
(who reigned from the 279 to 250 BCE). When his master was inland, he pined for
anchoviesThe anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
; Soterides simulated them from carefully carved turnips, oiled, salted and sprinkled with poppy seeds.
Suidas (an encyclopaedia from the
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
period) mistakenly attributes this exploit to the celebrated Roman gourmet
ApiciusApicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
(1st century BCE) — which may be taken as evidence that the Greeks had reached the same level as the Romans.
Vegetarianism
Orphicism and
PythagoreanismPythagoreanism is a term used for the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans, who were much influenced by mathematics and probably a very inspirational source for Plato and Platonism....
, two common
ancient Greek religionGreek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices...
s, suggested a different way of life, based on a concept of purity and thus purification (
katharsis) — a form of asceticism in the original sense:
askēsis initially signifies a ritual, then a specific way of life.
VegetarianismVegetarianism is the practice of following a diet based on plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products and eggs. Vegetarians do not eat meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, shellfish, or products of animal slaughter such as...
was a central element of Orphicism and of several variants of Pythagoreanism.
EmpedoclesEmpedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring...
(5th century BCE) justified vegetarianism by a belief in the transmigration of souls: who could guarantee that an animal about to be slaughtered did not house the soul of a human being? However, it can be observed that Empedocles also included plants in this transmigration, thus the same logic should have applied to eating them. Vegetarianism was also a consequence of a dislike for killing: “For Orpheus taught us rites and to refrain from killing”.
The information from
PythagorasPythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mystic and scientist; however some have questioned the scope of his contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy...
(6th century BCE) is more difficult to define. The Comedic authors such as Aristophon and
AlexisAlexis was a Greek comic poet of the Middle Comedy, born at Thurii in Magna Graeca and taken early to Athens, where he became a citizen, of the deme Oion , and the tribe Leontides....
described Pythagoreans as strictly vegetarian, with some of them living on bread and water alone. Other traditions contented themselves with prohibiting the consumption of certain vegetables, such as the broad bean, or of sacred animals such as the white
cockA rooster, also called a cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels. The oldest term is "cock," from Old English coc. It is sometimes replaced by the term "cockerel" in the United Kingdom, and...
or selected animal parts.
It follows that vegetarianism and the idea of ascetic purity were closely associated, and often accompanied by
sexual abstinenceSexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity.Common reasons for practicing sexual abstinence include:*religious or philosophical reasons...
. In
On the eating of flesh,
PlutarchPlutarch, born Plutarchos then, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 – 120, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
(1st–2nd century) elaborated on the barbarism of blood-spilling; inverting the usual terms of debate, he asked the meat-eater to justify his choice.
The
NeoplatonicNeoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists...
PorphyriusPorphyry of Tyre was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre in what is now Lebanon. He is particularly important for the history of philosophy because he edited and published the Enneads, the only collection of the work of his teacher Plotinus. He also wrote many works himself on a wide...
(3rd century) associates in
On Abstinence vegetarianism with the
CretanCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
mystery cultsMystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply Mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
, and gives a census of past vegetarians, starting with the semi-mythical
EpimenidesEpimenides of Knossos was a semi-mythical 6th century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet, who is said to have fallen asleep for fifty-seven years in a Cretan cave sacred to Zeus, after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy....
. For him, the origin of vegetarianism was
DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
's gift of wheat to
TriptolemusTriptolemus , in Greek mythology always connected with Demeter of the Eleusinian Mysteries, might be accounted the son of King Celeus of Eleusis in Attica, or, according to the Pseudo-Apollodorus , the son of Gaia and Okeanos—another way of saying he was "primordial man".While Demeter...
so that he could teach agriculture to humanity. His three commandments were: “Honour your parents”, “Honour the gods with fruit”, and ‘Spare the animals”.
Athlete diets
Aelian claims that the first athlete to submit to a formal diet was Ikkos of Tarentum, a victor in the Olympic pentathlon (perhaps in 444 BC). However, Olympic wrestling champion (62nd through 66th Olympiads)
Milo of CrotonMilo of Croton was a 6th century BC wrestler from the Magna Graecian city of Croton in southern Italy who enjoyed a brilliant wrestling career and won many victories in the most important athletic festivals of ancient Greece...
was already said to eat twenty pounds of meat and twenty pounds of bread and to drink eight quarts of wine each day. Before his time, athletes were said to practise
xērophagía (from
xēros, “dry”), a diet based on dry foods such as dried figs, fresh cheese and bread. Pythagoras (either the philosopher or a gymnastics master of the same name) was the first to direct athletes to eat meat.
Trainers later enforced some standard diet rules: to be an Olympic victor, “you have to eat according to regulations, keep away from desserts (…); you must not drink cold water nor can you have a drink of wine whenever you want”. It seems this diet was primarily based on meat, for
GalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Greek physician and philosopher and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium...
(ca. 180 AD) accused athletes of his day of “always gorging themselved on flesh and blood”. Pausanias also refers to a “meat diet”.
External links
"Végétarisme, au commencement…" (French language article on origin of vegetarianism)