Food in Antiquity Studies in Ancient Society and Culture

by Wilkins, John; Harvey, David; Dobson, Michael J.

• ISBN13: 9780859894180
• ISBN10: 0859894185
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-01-12
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Summary

Food as a cultural symbol was as important in antiquity as in our own time, and Food in Antiquityinvestigates some of the ways in which food and eating shaped the lives and thoughts of the indigenous peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. In this volume, thirty contributors consider aspects of food and eating in the Greco-Roman world. This is the most comprehensive exploration of questions relating to food in antiquity in this country. The authors, some specialists in this field, others with expertise in other areas, use a range of approaches to investigate the production and distribution of food, social, religious and political factors, medicine and diet, cultural identity and contrasts with neighbouring cultures, and food in literature. The volume is designed for both Classicists and those interested in the history of food. The aim is both to illuminate and to entertain, and at the same time to remind the reader that the Greeks and Romans were not only philosophers and rulers of empires, they were also peasant farmers, traders and consumers of foods who considered that what and how they ate defined who they were.

Author Biography

David Harvey was, until his retirement, Lecturer in Classics, University of Exeter. John Wilkins is Reader in Greek Literature, University of Exeter. He is a specialist in the history of food in Greco-Roman culture, with current interests in literature (especially comic drama) and medicine (especially nutrition). His books include Food in Antiquity: Studies in Ancient Society and Culture (Exeter, 1996). Mike Dobson is Director of Humanities Computing and Director of Studies for Information Technology at the University of Exeter.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
General Introduction	p. 1
Acornutopia? Determining the Role of Acorns in Past Human Subsistence	p. 12
Barley Cakes and Emmer Bread	p. 25
Cereals, Bread and Milling in the Roman World	p. 38
Byzantine Porridge: tracta, trachanas and tarhana	p. 44
Bread-baking in Ancient Italy: clibanus and sub testu in the Roman World	p. 55
Ethnoarchaeology and Storage in the Ancient Mediterranean: Beyond Risk and Survival	p. 69
Molecular Archaeology and Ancient History	p. 87
The Roman Meat Trade	p. 107
The Apician Sauce - Ius Apicianum	p. 115
Eating Fish: the Paradoxes of Seafood	p. 132
A Pretty Kettle of Fish	p. 150
Fish from the Black Sea: Classical Byzantium and the Greekness of Trade	p. 162
Cereal Diet and the Origins of Man: Myths of the Eleusinia in the Context of Ancient Mediterranean Harvest Festivals	p. 177
Ritual Eating in Archaic Greece: Parasites and Paredroi	p. 196
Opsophagia: Revolutionary Eating at Athens	p. 204
Ancient Vegetarianism	p. 214
Fasting Women in Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity	p. 225
The Most Ancient Recipes of All	p. 248
Food and 'Frontier' in the Greek Colonies of South Italy	p. 256
Lydian Specialities, Croesus' Golden Baking-Woman, and Dogs' Dinners	p. 273
Persian Food: Stereotypes and Political Identity	p. 286
The Food of the Prehistoric Celts	p. 303
Food for Ptolemaic Temple Workers	p. 316
Food and Archaeology in Romano-Byzantine Palestine	p. 326
Hippokratic Diaita	p. 343
Food and Blood in Hippokratic Gynaecology	p. 351
Galen and the Traveller's Fare	p. 359
Oribasios and Medical Dietetics or the Three Ps	p. 371
Comic Food and Food for Comedy	p. 386
Archestratos: Where and When?	p. 400
Problems in Greek Gastronomic Poetry: on Matro's Attikon Deipnon	p. 413
The Sources and Sauces of Athenaeus	p. 429
Index of passages discussed	p. 439
General index	p. 440
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