The ancients loved a well-seasoned meal - well, the ones that could afford it, anyway. Just in time to celebrate National Herbs and Spices Day on June 10, we've uncovered ancient herbs and spices that our ancestors used to round out delicious dishes. From anise to za'atar, here are the three ways the ancients spiced up their lives, their food, and their healing remedies.
Archaeological evidence of coriander dates back to the seventh millennium B.C., even popping up in Neolithic caves in what is now Israel. In fact, the cultivated version of the herb probably originated from the ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. It clearly became popular around the Mediterranean, though, as attested in the Linear B script, an early written form of Greek, as "ko-ri-ja-da-na."
Coriander was even found in the fabled tomb of King Tutankhamun. Later, it made its way east to India and China, where it became a staple of those culture's cuisines. It became a popular spice in Greece - Aristophanes mentions it in his play, Knights. In Rome, coriander was featured in many recipes, including those in Apicius's cookbook, De Re Coquinaria.
Fennel made a prominent appearance in Greek mythology. When the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods on Mount Olympus to give to humans, he hid it from divine view in a stalk of the plant. As Prometheus says in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, "I hunted out and stored in [a] fennel stalk the stolen source of fire that has proved a teacher to mortals in every art and a means to mighty ends."
The ancients may have even used silphium, a form of giant fennel, as birth control. It was also used as part of a garland in a bacchanalia procession. In his oration On the Crown, Demosthenesstates, "In day-time you marshalled your gallant throng of bacchanals through the public streets, their heads garlanded with fennel and white poplar…"
The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus records an awesome fennel recipe. He cites a tradition that people paired fennel (marathon in ancient Greek) with "briny olives" in order to commemorate the famous Battle of Marathon, in which the Greeks defeated the Persians. There was even a spot in Spain called "Marathon," according to Strabo's Geography, from all the fennel that grew there.
Garlic doesn't just stink up modern consumers' breath; it also wreaked the same havoc on the ancients'. The Sumerians used garlic to heal, but it was also a staple of cuisine. When the goddess Inanna descended to the underworld, she left everything behind, as did those who accompanied her. To show how bizarre these people were, the writer says, "They crush no bitter garlic. They eat no fish, they eat no leeks. They, it was, who accompanied Inana [sic]."
The Greeks didn't mind some garlic in their lives. Aristophanes repeatedly references the odiferous nature of garlic in his plays. In Plutus, Cario says to the Chorus, "Come, you active workers, who, like my master, eat nothing but garlic and the poorest food…" Garlic played a role in diplomacy, too. According to Polybius, when two different tribes in Italy - one Greek, one native - wanted to possess the same town of Locri, the Greek Locrians swore to share the land with their new allies. "But while the oaths were being taken, they say that the Locrians put earth inside the soles of their shoes, and heads of garlic concealed on their shoulders, before they swore." That was the ancient equivalent of "backsies," so the Locrians drove their enemies out of Locri.
Garlic had been a healing remedy in China since the third millennium B.C. The Egyptians had the same bright idea. Garlic, a.k.a. kheten, was used to cleanse the digestive system and for its antibacterial properties. It also pops up as a remedy twenty-two different times in the Ebers Papyrus, a papyrus from the 1550s B.C.
1. Coriander
Archaeological evidence of coriander dates back to the seventh millennium B.C., even popping up in Neolithic caves in what is now Israel. In fact, the cultivated version of the herb probably originated from the ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. It clearly became popular around the Mediterranean, though, as attested in the Linear B script, an early written form of Greek, as "ko-ri-ja-da-na."
Coriander was even found in the fabled tomb of King Tutankhamun. Later, it made its way east to India and China, where it became a staple of those culture's cuisines. It became a popular spice in Greece - Aristophanes mentions it in his play, Knights. In Rome, coriander was featured in many recipes, including those in Apicius's cookbook, De Re Coquinaria.
2. Fennel
Fennel made a prominent appearance in Greek mythology. When the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods on Mount Olympus to give to humans, he hid it from divine view in a stalk of the plant. As Prometheus says in Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, "I hunted out and stored in [a] fennel stalk the stolen source of fire that has proved a teacher to mortals in every art and a means to mighty ends."
The ancients may have even used silphium, a form of giant fennel, as birth control. It was also used as part of a garland in a bacchanalia procession. In his oration On the Crown, Demosthenesstates, "In day-time you marshalled your gallant throng of bacchanals through the public streets, their heads garlanded with fennel and white poplar…"
The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus records an awesome fennel recipe. He cites a tradition that people paired fennel (marathon in ancient Greek) with "briny olives" in order to commemorate the famous Battle of Marathon, in which the Greeks defeated the Persians. There was even a spot in Spain called "Marathon," according to Strabo's Geography, from all the fennel that grew there.
3. Garlic
Garlic doesn't just stink up modern consumers' breath; it also wreaked the same havoc on the ancients'. The Sumerians used garlic to heal, but it was also a staple of cuisine. When the goddess Inanna descended to the underworld, she left everything behind, as did those who accompanied her. To show how bizarre these people were, the writer says, "They crush no bitter garlic. They eat no fish, they eat no leeks. They, it was, who accompanied Inana [sic]."
The Greeks didn't mind some garlic in their lives. Aristophanes repeatedly references the odiferous nature of garlic in his plays. In Plutus, Cario says to the Chorus, "Come, you active workers, who, like my master, eat nothing but garlic and the poorest food…" Garlic played a role in diplomacy, too. According to Polybius, when two different tribes in Italy - one Greek, one native - wanted to possess the same town of Locri, the Greek Locrians swore to share the land with their new allies. "But while the oaths were being taken, they say that the Locrians put earth inside the soles of their shoes, and heads of garlic concealed on their shoulders, before they swore." That was the ancient equivalent of "backsies," so the Locrians drove their enemies out of Locri.
Garlic had been a healing remedy in China since the third millennium B.C. The Egyptians had the same bright idea. Garlic, a.k.a. kheten, was used to cleanse the digestive system and for its antibacterial properties. It also pops up as a remedy twenty-two different times in the Ebers Papyrus, a papyrus from the 1550s B.C.
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 B.C.: Coriander){kind=link}
 B.C.: Fennel){kind=link}
 B.C.: Garlic){kind=link}