Herodotus
had lived in the fifth century BC. Little is known about him beyond his
travels and books. His travels were extensive but not by modern
standards. At the time, the inhabited world, what the Greek called oikoumene,
was much smaller. On his travels he largely relied on secondary sources and
informants who were not always accurate. There is a big number of scholars who accuse him in lying about his travels. Some even say that he did not travel at all.
Despite all the criticism,
however, one thing that should definitely be noted about Herodotus is
his skilful depiction of fascinating and terrible events. Although not all of them have a historical background, they are indeed excellent sources for
understanding Herodotus' time and people. If you are interested, one
such story is of Harpagus, Median general who having disobeyed the King
Astyages was tricked into eating his own son.
Herodotus
describes Egyptian, Persian, Libyan, Babylonian and a few other food
cultures. Although he does not specifically lay out recipes or dishes we
can learn a lot from his writings.
Book One
Persia
133 And of all days their wont is to honour most that on which they were
born, each one: on this they think it right to set out a feast more
liberal than on other days; and in this feast the wealthier of them set
upon the table an ox or a horse or a camel or an ass, roasted whole in an
oven, and the poor among them set out small animals in the same way. They
have few solid dishes, but many served up after as dessert, and
these not in a single course; and for this reason the Persians say that
the Hellenes leave off dinner hungry, because after dinner they have
nothing worth mentioning served up as dessert, whereas if any good dessert
were served up they would not stop eating so soon. To wine-drinking they
are very much given, and it is not permitted for a man to vomit or to make
water in presence of another...
Things we can learn from these sentences on 5th century BC food culture (if we deem Herodotus' account trustworthy):
1. Persians were probably one of the first nations, if not first, to celebrate their birthdays.
2. Persians ate oxen, horses, camels and asses whilst no mention of pigs was made (perhaps accidentally).
3. Greeks did not have as sophisticated dinner courses and elaborate desserts as Persians.
4. Persians enjoyed drinking wine and made their wine most probably from grapes.
5. Persians had better "personal hygiene and table manners" than Greeks.
Babylon
193. ... They
use no oil of olives, but only that which they make of sesame seed; and
they have date-palms growing over all the plain, most of them
fruit-bearing, of which they make both solid food and wine and honey; and
to these they attend in the same manner as to fig-trees, and in particular
they take the fruit of those palms which the Hellenes call male-palms, and
tie them upon the date-bearing palms, so that their gall-fly may enter
into the date and ripen it and that the fruit of the palm may not fall
off: for the male-palm produces gall-flies in its fruit just as the
wild-fig does.
200. These customs then are established among the Babylonians: and there
are of them three tribes which eat nothing but fish only: and when
they have caught them and dried them in the sun they do thus,—they
throw them into brine, and then pound them with pestles and strain them
through muslin; and they have them for food either kneaded into a soft
cake, or baked like bread, according to their liking.
6. Babylonians used sesame oil instead of olive oil (no sunflower or vegetable oil is available yet).
7. Babylonians ate dates and made wine and honey from the dates.
8. Babylonians sun-dried fish, kept in brine, crushed and made cakes from it.
Book Two
Egypt
37. ... They [priests] enjoy also good things not a few, for they do not consume or spend
anything of their own substance, but there is sacred bread baked for them
and they have each great quantity of flesh of oxen and geese coming in to
them each day, and also wine of grapes is given to them; but it is not
permitted to them to taste of fish: beans moreover the Egyptians do not at
all sow in their land, and those which grow they neither eat raw nor boil
for food; nay the priests do not endure even to look upon them, thinking
this to be an unclean kind of pulse...
9. Egyptians did not eat beans as these were believed to be unclean.
47. The pig is accounted by the Egyptians an abominable animal; and first,
if any of them in passing by touch a pig, he goes into the river and dips
himself forthwith in the water together with his garments;
10. Egyptians did not eat or touch pigs.
77. ...and as to their diet, it is
as follows:—they eat bread, making loaves of maize, which they call
kyllestis, and they use habitually a wine made out of barley, for
vines they have not in their land. Of their fish some they dry in the sun
and then eat them without cooking, others they eat cured in brine. Of
birds they eat quails and ducks and small birds without cooking, after
first curing them; and everything else which they have belonging to the
class of birds or fishes, except such as have been set apart by them as
sacred, they eat roasted or boiled.
Note:
I have taken these extracts from G. C. Macaulay's translation of
Herodotus' books. Unless it had been employed in another sense, maize is
native to Americas and could not have been used by Egyptians in the V
century BC. I believe kyllestis was made from the emmer wheat that had a
special place in Ancient Egypt.
 |
Ancient Egyptians cleaning poultry
From the tomb (TT52) of Nakht who was a scribe and
priest during the reign of Thutmose IV (1401 – 1391 BC ) |
|
|
11. Egyptian diet included grains such as emmer and barley.
12. Egyptians made loaves of bread and beer from grains.
13. Egyptians sun-dried or cured fish.
14. Egyptians cured certain birds and ate them without cooking.
92. All these are customs practised by the Egyptians who dwell above the
fens: and those who are settled in the fen-land have the same customs for
the most part as the other Egyptians, both in other matters and also in
that they live each with one wife only, as do the Hellenes; but for
economy in respect of food they have invented these things besides:—when
the river has become full and the plains have been flooded, there grow in
the water great numbers of lilies, which the Egyptians call lotos;
these they cut with a sickle and dry in the sun, and then they pound that
which grows in the middle of the lotos and which is like the head of a
poppy, and they make of it loaves baked with fire. The root also of this
lotos is edible and has a rather sweet taste: it is round in shape
and about the size of an apple. There are other lilies too, in flower
resembling roses, which also grow in the river, and from them the fruit is
produced in a separate vessel springing from the root by the side of the
plant itself, and very nearly resembles a wasp's comb: in this there grow
edible seeds in great numbers of the size of an olive-stone, and they are
eaten either fresh or dried. Besides this they pull up from the
fens the papyrus which grows every year, and the upper parts of it they
cut off and turn to other uses, but that which is left below for about a
cubit in length they eat or sell: and those who desire to have the papyrus
at its very best bake it in an oven heated red-hot, and then eat it. Some
too of these people live on fish alone, which they dry in the sun after
having caught them and taken out the entrails, and then when they are dry,
they use them for food.
Note: Lotus is rather a mysterious plant that ancient Greeks believed to cause "forgetfulness" (narcotic effect).
15. Some Egyptians made bread from lotus fruits in addition to eating lotus flowers, seeds and roots.
16. Some Egyptians baked and ate papyrus.
Book Three
India
98. ...Now there are
many tribes of Indians, and they do not agree with one another in
language; and some of them are pastoral and others not so, and some dwell
in the swamps of the river and feed upon raw
fish, which they catch by fishing from boats made of cane; and each boat
is made of one joint of cane. These Indians of which I speak wear clothing
made of rushes: they gather and cut the rushes from the river and then
weave them together into a kind of mat and put it on like a corslet.
17. Some Indians who wore clothing made of river rushes ate raw fish.
99. Others of the Indians, dwelling to the East of these, are pastoral and
eat raw flesh: these are called Padaians, and they practise the following
customs:—whenever any of their tribe falls ill, whether it be a
woman or a man, if a man then the men who are his nearest associates put
him to death, saying that he is wasting away with the disease and his
flesh is being spoilt for them: and
meanwhile he
denies stoutly and says that he is not ill, but they do not agree
with
him; and after they have killed him they feast upon his flesh: but
if it
be a woman who falls ill, the women who are her greatest intimates
do to
her in the same manner as the men do in the other case. For in
fact even if a man has come to old age they slay him and feast upon
him; but very few of them come to be reckoned as old, for they
kill every
one who falls into sickness, before he reaches old age.
18. Indians who were called Padaians practiced cannibalism.
100. Other Indians have on the contrary a manner of life as follows:—they
neither kill any living thing nor do they sow any crops nor is it their
custom to possess houses; but they feed on herbs, and they have a grain of
the size of millet, in a sheath, which grows of itself from the ground;
this they gather and boil with the sheath, and make it their food: and
whenever any of them falls into sickness, he goes to the desert country
and lies there, and none of them pay any attention either to one who is
dead or to one who is sick.
19. Some Indians who did not own houses or sow any crops lived on grains the size of millet, in a sheath.
Book Four
Libya
186. I have said that from Egypt as far as the lake Tritonis Libyans dwell
who are nomads, eating flesh and drinking milk; and these do not taste at
all of the flesh of cows, for the same reason as the Egyptians also
abstain from it, nor do they keep swine. Moreover the women of the
Kyrenians too think it not right to eat cows' flesh, because of the
Egyptian Isis, and they even keep fasts and celebrate festivals for her;
and the women of Barca, in addition from cows' flesh, do not taste of
swine either.
20. Egyptians did not eat the flesh of cows for religious reasons.
21.
Libyans who were nomads did not eat the flesh of cows and swine for
religious reasons but ate the flesh of other animals and drunk milk.
Summary
Among
the cuisines described by Herodotus the most sophisticated and
luxurious cuisine is that of Persians. Indeed, Persian cuisine was the
haute cuisine of the 5th century BC. The most of known world was not as
refined or cultivated and led an "uncomplicated" life. There was no
Roman Empire yet, Assyrian Empire was in ruins, Egypt was a satrapy
(province) of the Persian Empire and according to Herodotus himself, the
Greek lifestyle was not as sumptuous as Persian.
The
fact that Herodotus specifically mentions birthday feasts and certain
manners of Persians suggests that the Greeks and other nations known to
them, such as Egyptians, did not in fact give importance to birthdays and
did not regard lavatorial activities as a private matter. Persians
continued to have a splendid lifestyle and cuisine for many
more centuries. The nations that had managed to conquer them had also
adopted their luxurious way of life.
That
said, being among the oldest cuisines of the world Babylonian and
Egyptian cuisines should be noted for their food traditions and riches.
Herodotus' reference to Babylonian alternative of making oil from sesame
seeds rather than olives, and wine and honey from dates give us a hint
of the opulent cuisine of their once prominent empire. Ibn Battuta who
visited what is now Iraq in 1326-1327 also noted the date-palms and the
importance of dates in local populace's diet. He personally enjoyed the
honey (elsewhere) made from dates which he called sayalan (Waines, 2010).
Interestingly,
today the oldest surviving "cookbook" which consists of three cuneiform
tablets is Babylonian (they are referred to as Yale Culinary tablets
and kept at the Yale University in the US). On the whole, Ancient
Mesopotamia was well-known for its sophisticated cooking techniques and
cuisine. Their use of garlic, onion, dates, pistachios, sesame seeds,
fish and many other victuals were documented and preserved on a number
of ancient clay tablets. One such tablet written around 1700 BC, which
was actually a letter by a lady Huzalatum to her sister Beltani,
mentions the following foodstuff (Bottéro, 2004):
In
the last caravan I was brought 100 liters of barley semolina, 50 liters
of dates and 1.5 liters of oil; and they have just delivered 10 liters
of sesame seeds, and 10 liters of dates. In return, I am sending you 20
liters of coarse flour, 35 liters of bean flour, two combs, a liter of
siqqu-brine...There isn't any ziqtu-fish here. Send some to me, so that I
can make you some of that brine and can have it brought to you...
As
for the Ancient Egyptian cuisine, certain grains such as emmer and
barley played an important role in the lives of both poor and wealthy
Egyptians. The
kyllestis bread mentioned by Herodotus and the
beer made from grains were staples of all Egyptians. Interestingly, they
did not eat or touch pigs whilst animals such as cows and crocodiles
were deemed sacred and were not eaten at all. The Nile provided their
fish which they would prepare and eat in a variety of ways whereas some
of their fowl Egyptians would only cure.
Indeed,
Herodotus provides an interesting insight into the food culture of his
time. I recommend his book as an excellent guide for time-travelling to
the V century. It would be amazing to taste a Egyptian kyllestis bread, and date wine and honey, if these are still made.
Bibliography
Bottéro, J. (2004). The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Herodotus (2008). The history of Herodotus — Volume 1 &2. Trans.
Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell). The Project Gutenberg EBook of The
History Of Herodotus
Waines, D. (2010) The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: : Uncommon tales of a medieval adventurer. London: I.B. Tauris.
