GREECE BEFORE THE AGE OF LUXURY.
It is impossible within these pages to tabulate with absolute correctness any hard and fast menu as the diet of the ancient Greeks, as it varied greatly according to the products of the several parts of the diversified country over which they ruled, but one can by the process of elimination arrive at fairly satisfactory generalities.
The principal food of the poorer classes was bread. It was not a very appetizing kind, however, as it usually consisted of a simple dough of barley meal moistened with water, or, occasionally, poor wine. It was eaten without cooking or any further preparation. This was the universal food of the Spartans.
The middle and wealthy classes partook, though, of baked wheaten bread, which was called by Homer "the strength of life."
All other kinds of food, with the exception of sweet cakes, cheese and a few vegetables and fruits, were at first considered (save by the inhabitants of the cities) as luxuries—somewhat as even now amongst old-fashioned people in Scotland, the term "kitchen" is applied to all edible articles other than dry bread.
Of sweet cakes there were many kinds. They were flavored with various seeds and sweetened with honey. Sugar, though, if known at all, was used only for its medicinal properties.
Cheese was eaten mixed with wine or honey and salt.
Dried figs and grapes were much liked, especially by the Athenians, and olives were even then pickled for a relish.
The vegetables that were formerly cultivated are not easily distinguished by the names applied to them by different writers, but it is certain that lettuce, cabbage, peas, beans, vetches, leeks, onions, parsley and thyme were grown, as well as truffles and mushrooms. Vegetables were eaten in the form of soup, served on hot dishes with sauce or dressed as salad.
In the numerous towns large quantities of fish were sold. The salt water were more generally preferred than the fresh water varieties, although especial favor was bestowed on the eels that were obtained from Lake Copais in Boeotia. There grew up early in history a heavy trade in fish from the Black Sea and even from the coasts of Spain.
Although frequent mention is made of fish, cheese and vegetable markets, a meat market seems to have been almost unknown. From this and also from the fact that the word which designated butchers' meat also signified "victim," it may be concluded that oxen were primarily slaughtered only at sacrificial feasts.
The flesh of the hare was more highly esteemed than that of any other kind of four-footed game. Of wild birds the thrush was most relished.
Pheasants and woodcock were plentiful, and quails were made to act as combatants for the edification of the Grecian youth.
Domestic fowls and eggs were common.
Butter was seldom made, as it was considered unwholesome, olive oil (as at the present time) being used in its place.
Although the Greeks were fond of water as a beverage, the difficulty of obtaining it of good quality, combined with the tremendous production of wine, made the latter the national drink. It was, however, seldom drank in an undiluted condition, and the Northerners, who were in the habit of drinking it neat, were denounced as unappreciative barbarians. But this is not very strange, as the large amount of fir resin which is still added to most Greek wines, makes them too strong and bitter for the civilized palate to drink unless tempered by water.
The first juice extracted from the press before treading was set apart as choice wine, the pressed grapes being then used for the making of the commoner variety or vinegar.
The wine was often boiled and mixed with salt for exportation, and aromatic herbs and berries were added to impart different flavors. It was then placed in earthenware jars sealed with pitch.
The various kinds may be roughly classed by colors. The black was the strongest and sweetest; the white was the weakest, and that of golden color was dry and very fine in flavor.
The wines grown in the districts of Lesbos, Chios, Sikyon, and Phlios were the most esteemed. Age was considered when estimating the value of wine, but the preference for any special year of vintage seems to have been unknown.
Even in those early days epicures whenever possible cooled their jars with snow before pouring out the wine.
Cow's milk was not liked, but the first milk of goats and sheep was often drank, although more generally used for the manufacture of cheese.
The morning meal seldom consisted of more than bread dipped in wine and water, resembling closely the morning coffee of the Continent. The principal meal of the very early Grecians, as in the case of nearly all young nations, was served about noon, but as civilization advanced, the hour grew later, until 5 o'clock became most popular, a light luncheon then being served in the middle of the day.
Although Homer represents his chiefs as being always ready to sit down and gorge themselves with meat, the Grecian gentleman was not a disciple of "high living" or indolence. He desired and appreciated the charm of sober conversation and intellectual stimulus. Homer recognized this when he said, "Nor did the mind of any stand in want of an equal feast."
The social instincts and the warmth of feeling amongst the Hellenic race made dinners and festival events of every day occurrence, and caused them to fill a prominent part in the lives of all, but the diet of the Homeric age was wonderfully simple (in those early days the most elaborate dinners consisted of only two courses—the first of meat, usually roasted sheep, oxen or pigs, and vegetables; the second of cakes, sweetened with the honey of Hymettus, and dried and fresh fruits), for appetites were held subordinate to the love of music and the dance.
"* * * Nor can I deem
Aught more delightful than the general joy
Of a whole people, when the assembled guests,
Seated in order in the royal hall,
Are listening to the minstrel, while the board
Is spread with bread and meats, and from the jars
The cup-bearer draws wine and fills the cups.
To me there is no more delightful sight."
(Plato.)
Invitations were generally given a few days in advance by the host in person in the market or any other place of common sojourn.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Grecians made their toilets and anointed themselves before arriving at their host's house.
But before eating,
"* * * In a bowl
Of silver, from a shapely ewer of gold,
A maid poured water o'er the hands and set
A polished table near them."
Then, if any had traveled from a distance, their feet were bathed in perfumed water and wine.
Meanwhile the male attendants were not idle—
"* * * Some in the bowls
Tempered the wine with water, some cleansed
The table with light sponges and set
The banquet forth and carved the meats for all."
A separate table was in those days usually provided for each guest, though the rule was not strictly observed.
In some cases, diners-out were accompanied and attended by their own servants. In a few districts in modern Greece this is still habitual.
Chairs and stools were generally used as seats, the custom of reclining on couches not being introduced until a later date.
As napkins were then unknown, the guests wiped their fingers on towels and in pieces of specially prepared dough, which were thrown under the table after being used.
There were spoons (of metal, often of gold—Athenaeus), but hollow pieces of bread were generally used in their stead.
The carver presided at a table and cut the meats into small pieces, as individual forks and knives were then unknown. The portions were usually of uniform size, although any very honored person was presented with larger or choicer morsels.
The diluted wine was then transferred by ladles to the drinking cups or beakers, to be distributed by boy servants. The first cup was handed from one to another of the guests untouched as a sort of salutation.
It was not customary to drink before the meal had been served.
Bread was handed round in little baskets woven from slips of ivory.
Moderation was universally observed. It was deemed gluttonous to linger long over a repast, and contemptible to imbibe too freely of wine.
"* * * When the calls of thirst
And hunger were appeased, the diners thought
Of other things that well become a feast.
Song and the dance."
But here again all ribaldry was debarred. Tender hymns and rhapsodies were sung to the accompaniment of the harp by trained singers, who were seated at special tables on silver-mounted thrones.
Games of various kinds usually followed, and with conversation filled out the time until the gathering dispersed.
House picnics were much in vogue:
"* * * * Meantime came
Those who prepared the banquets to the halls
Of the great monarch. Bringing sheep
And strengthening wine they came. Their wives, who on their brows
Wore snowy fillets, brought the bread, and thus
Within the halls of Menelaus all
Was bustle setting forth the evening meal."
Among the dining room utensils should be mentioned the various baskets of copper, silver, gold and ivory wire; vessels for mixing wine, usually of silver, but sometimes of the more precious metal, and cups of elaborate design and costly workmanship.
Drinking vessels: Bowls, beakers and rhyta.
The cups were of various shapes and sizes. The "depas" had two handles and was made of wood, thickly covered with gold studs. Another, the "kypellon," was broad and shallow, made of various metals, usually gold. The "phiate" was very similar in appearance to the kypellon. The "kotyle" was so small as to merely hold "a scanty draught, which only wet the lips, but not the palate."
The "sykphos" and "kissybion" were simple wooden cups in use amongst the peasantry. They were usually made of the wood of the cypress.
Skilled cooks were seldom regularly employed on the domestic staff. They usually congregated in the market places and when any particular occasion necessitated their services they were hired by the day. As also nowadays they generally represented several nations, and they gained in social importance as the love of luxury gradually overcame the custom of simple fare.
The regular staff of household servants, slaves in fact, were under the management of a general steward, himself a slave, who attended personally to the buying and superintended the details of all the other departments.
Wine jugs or oinochoai.
But besides these private dinners, occasion often brought about banquets on a much larger scale, sometimes in honor of religion or of death.
"* * * There upon the ocean's side
They found the people offering coal black steers
To dark haired Neptune. On nine seats they sat,
Five hundred on each seat; nine steers were slain
For each five hundred there."
There was also a great difference between the foods of the ordinary people and that of the heroes described in the classics. According to Homer, who was probably guilty of exaggeration, the athletes consumed enormous quantities of various meats (roasted or broiled, by the way—never boiled), which comprised their entire diet with the exception of wine and bread. Beef, mutton, venison, and especially pork, were mentioned.
"He spake and girt his tunic round his loins
And hastened to the sties in which the herds
Of swine were lying. Thence he took out two
And slaughtered them and scraped them, sliced the flesh
And fried it upon spits and when the whole
Was roasted, brought and placed it reeking hot,
Still in the spits and sprinkled with white meal."
Fish and cheese were only considered worthy of the athletic when animal flesh was scarce. Nor were these giants possessed of very fastidious palates.
"* * * * At the fire
Already lie the paunches of two goats
Preparing for our evening meal, and both
Are filled with fat and blood."
"* * * * As one turns and turns
The stomach of a bullock filled with fat
And blood before a fiercely blazing fire
And wishes it were done * * * *."
The hospitality of the early Grecians was unbounded. The high moral and social standard of the masses of the people rendered it possible to extend greater courtesy towards strangers than would have been deemed prudent in later days. Every stranger or traveller who knocked at the door of a residence was sure of a welcome. No questions were asked him until he had been generously entertained in every feasible manner, for he stood under the protection of Zeus Xenios, guardian of the guest.
This lavish friendliness was probably caused by, or was perhaps itself the cause of, the scarcity of hostelries of reputable character. A spirit of compassion also existed, as it was then considered an ill fortune that made one journey far from home.
As the centuries of increasing wealth and power relaxed the rigidity of the morals of these ancient inhabitants of Greece, the love of luxury gradually supplanted the absorbing desire for intellectual enjoyment which had at first raised them so far above the people of the neighboring territories. Gluttonous devotion to the table, in conjunction with numerous vices, undermined the physical as well as the moral constitution, and the country which had astounded the ages with the valor of its sons, which had proved invulnerable to numerous martial forces, succumbed to the influence of sensual tastes and passions, suggested by the idleness of worldly success. And as their worship of their palates grew, the trained cook obtained an even greater influence until his position became one of extreme importance, and was so recorded by the poets and dramatists of the time.
Little difference, in fact, was there between the habits of the latter day Greeks and the Romans in the days of their great wealth, for Grecian luxuries and Grecian habits were the models that Rome took as its models, so we will pass on to the next chapter, inferentially describing the former while depicting the latter.