The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
And Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras, comparing the
eatables in vogue at Athens with those which were used at Rhodes,
says--"And moreover, while they talk a great deal about their bread
which is to be got in the market, the Rhodians at the beginning and
middle of dinner put loaves on the table which are not at all inferior
to them; but when they have given over eating and are satisfied, then
they introduce a most agreeable dish, which is called the hearth-loaf,
the best of all loaves; which is made of sweet things, and compounded so
as to be very soft, and it is made up with such an admirable harmony of
all the ingredients as to have a most excellent effect; so that often a
man who is drunk becomes sober again, and in the same way a man who has
just eaten to satiety is made hungry again by eating of it."
There is another kind of loaf called tabyrites, of which Sopater, in his
Cnidia, says--The tabyrites loaf was one which fills the cheeks.
There was also a loaf called the achæinas. And this loaf is mentioned by
Semus, in the eighth book of his Delias; and he says that is made by the
women who celebrate the Thesmophoria. They are loaves of a large size.
And the festival is called Megalartia, which is a name given to it by
those who carry these loaves, who cry--"Eat a large achæinas, full of
fat."
There is another loaf called cribanites, or the pan-loaf. This is
mentioned by Aristophanes, in his Old Age. And he introduces a woman
selling bread, complaining that her loaves have been taken from her by
those who have got rid of the effects of their old age--
_A._ What was the matter?
_B._ My hot loaves, my son.
_A._ Sure you are mad?
_B._ My nice pan-loaves, my son,
So white, so hot. . . . . .
There is another loaf called the encryphias, or secret loaf. And this is
mentioned by Nicostratus, in his Hierophant, and Archestratus the
inventor of made dishes, whose testimony I will introduce at the proper
season.
There is a loaf also called dipyrus, or twice-baked. Eubulus says, in
his Ganymede--
And nice hot twice-baked loaves.
And Alcæus says, in his Ganymede--
_A._ But what are dipyri, or twice-baked loaves?
_B._ Of all loaves the most delicate.
There is another loaf, called laganum. This is very light, and not very
nutritious; and the loaf called apanthracis is even less nutritious
still. And Aristophanes mentions the laganum in his Ecclesiazusæ,
saying--
The lagana are being baked.
And the apanthracis is mentioned by Diocles the Carystian, in the first
book of his treatise on Wholesomes, saying--"The apanthracis is more
tender than the laganum: and it appears that it is made on the coals,
like that called by the Attic writers encryphias, which the Alexandrians
consecrate to Saturn, and put them in the temple of Saturn for every one
to eat who pleases."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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