History and Culture of Early Epicureans: Ancient Greece and Rome

Here is an interesting link to diet in ancient Greece:

Ancient Recipe: Ptisane [Barley Water] (Greek, at least 5th century BCE)

“[Barley] groats belong to the wheat family. They have juice that is quite nourishing and tenacious.” ~ Aelius Galenus (Galen), De alimentorum facultatibus (On…

passtheflamingo.com

This has good info:

Ancient Greek cuisine - Wikipedia

Ancient Honey Cakes! And Birthday Cakes!

Excerpt from a website with a recipe (but this one has nuts):

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One of the foods mentioned several times in my novel are honey cakes, which are offered up to the gods in thanks. I was intrigued by the idea of these cakes and how I could recreate them today. What were their origins? Why did the ancients offer up cakes to their deities?

If any of the ancient myths are to be believed, the gods of ancient Greek and Roman antiquity loved a bountiful meal. The stories left to us by Ovid, Herodotus, Virgil, Homer and others are ripe with stories of grand feasts enjoyed by the gods, or the gods meddling in mortal banquets such as the feast of King Midas in which all of the food tragically turned to gold. In fact, for centuries beyond ancient times, the wedding celebrations of Cupid and Psyche and Peleus and Thetis have been common artistic subjects for vases, frescoes and paintings of the great masters.

The feasts on Mount Olympus were similar to those enjoyed on earth save in abundance, superior taste, luxury and perhaps the addition of the divine ambrosia. A traditional ancient Roman banquet would have begun with eggs and ended with fruit, and the final course was often accompanied by sweet desserts such as cake.

Cake is a dish that has been around for thousands of years, and was enjoyed by the ancient Egyptians well before the Greeks and Romans had their fill. Paintings in the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled from 1304 to 1237 B.C.E. show what archaeologists think might be a type of folded honey cake, likely made from flour, eggs, honey, dates and nuts. The Egyptian specialty feteer meshaltet, which is a thin folded pastry (and might even be the precursor to the French croissant), is descended from these cakes.

One of the first printed recipes for honey cake appears in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae, published in Greece in 180 B.C.E.. It is called Enkhytoi and the book describes it as a flat, molded cake made from honey, fine flour and eggs. Like many recipes of the time there were no proportions listed, but modern recreations of these cakes show us that the consistency is that of a sponge cake.

Birthday cakes are also ancient, as the first century poet, Ovid, wrote about in his elegiac letters, titled Tristia,..."

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Logic might have it that honey cakes very well could have been eaten at the monthly 20th celebrations? Just an idea that is fun to think about. I do wonder if there are recipes without the nuts.

This recipe looks interesting, but I would guess this is a modern version of honey cake (no nuts). I like how she says it is good with coffee or tea, and you just make it an call some friends over, lol.

Greek Honey Cake

Simple and extra moist Greek honey cake! Honey Cake Watch the Video My extra moist Greek honey cake is light, sweet, and has a lot of honey flavor. Orange zest…

www.dimitrasdishes.com

Regarding the good attributes and ancient Greek events and festivals during the month of Gamelion -- the month in which Epicurus was born (which coincides with the modern calander months of January/February).

"...Gamelion... is the month of the Halcyon Days, days of warm sun and calm seas, Alkionides Meres, as the Greeks call them, which appear in mid January. These glorious Halcyon days of the month of Gamelion, also played a role in the reason certain dates were chosen for so many ancient Greek feasts, festivals and theatre, which were always held outdoors."

Edit Note: After the initial posting of this, I further researched about "halcyon days" and I am finding mixed references to the exact times.

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Gamelion; the month of marriage, was the seventh month of the Attic calendar of ancient Greece which coincides with the modern day month of February.

The word derives from the Greek γαμηλίᾰ (gamēlía), meaning “wedding feast”, as it was the most popular month for weddings;

(γάμος – gámos – wedding in greek).

Gamelion:

A month of marriages and festivals

Not by chance was the ancient Greek month Gamelion the “Wedding-Month” a month for love, lust, weddings and festivals.

Ancient Greeks generally married in winter, in honour of the goddess of marriage, Hera (Juno) Greek Goddess of Women, Marriage, Childbirth, Children and Family, a time when, throughout the month, special sacrifices were made to the goddess.

As the ancient Greek wedding consisted of a three part ceremony which lasted for three days, held outdoors and usually at night, the weather had to be taken into consideration.

Gamelion, then, was the perfect month, as this is the month of the Halcyon Days, days of warm sun and calm seas, Alkionides Meres, as the Greeks call them, which appear in mid January.

These glorious Halcyon days of the month of Gamelion, also played a role in the reason certain dates were chosen for so many ancient Greek feasts, festivals and theatre, which were always held outdoors.

The sacred Marriage

Another reason the month of Gamelion is the month of marriages, is to commemorate the sacred Marriage, or Hieros gamos or Hierogamy, of Goddess Hera and Zeus; king of Greek gods.

The wedding took place, with much pomp and glory, in the Garden of Hesperides, where Gaia, Mother Earth, overcome with happiness, caused a tree to bloom with golden apples and was watched over by the dreaded fates (The Moirai) of ancient Greece, who were probably comparing notes with each other and deciding the destiny of this sacred coupling!

The wedding between Hera and Zeus was followed by a three hundred year honeymoon.

The Theogamia or Hieros Gamos, a sexual ritual, or fertility rite, which performs a marriage between a god and a goddess, an annual festival celebrating the marriage of the gods Zeus and Hera, a sort of wedding anniversary, took place in the temple of Hera in honor of the goddess as protector of Marriage.

The wedding of Zeus and Hera was celebrated at the Heraion of Samos.

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Read more about this at the Article Source

Also during Gamelion was the

Lenaia festival.From Wikipedia

: "The festival was in honour of Dionysus Lenaios.^[1] There is also evidence the festival also took place in Delphi.^[2]

The term Lenaia probably comes from "lenos" 'wine-press' or from "lenai", another name for the Maenads (the female worshippers of Dionysus)."

This is an interesting read about symposiums and courtesans in ancient Greece:

Hetairai: Greek Courtesans

All about the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece

This table is from a Wikipedia article:

This is also a good article:

The Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece

The Panhellenic Games in Ancient Greece included the Olympic Games, the Pythian Games, the Isthmian Games and the Nemean Games. The Sacred Games were religious

greektraveltellers.com

Joshua now that the ancient Athenian new year is here, can we guess when and which games would soon be starting?