The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
82. And such a food now is the μύμα, which I, my friends, am bringing
you; concerning which Artemidorus, the pupil of Aristophanes, speaks
in his Dictionary of Cookery, saying that it is prepared with meat
and blood, with the addition also of a great deal of seasoning. And
Epænetus, in his treatise on Cookery, speaks as follows:—"One must
make μύμα of every kind of animal and bird, cutting up the tender
parts of the meat into small pieces, and the bowels and entrails, and
pounding the blood, and seasoning it with vinegar, and roasted cheese,
and assafœtida, and cummin-seed, and thyme (both green and dry), and
savory, and coriander-seed (both green and dry), and leeks, and onions
(cleaned and toasted), and poppy-seed, and grapes, and honey, and the
pips of an unripe pomegranate. You may also make this μύμα of fish."
83. And when this man had thus hammered on not only this dish but our
ears also, another slave came in, bringing in a dish called ματτύη.
And when a discussion arose about this, and when Ulpian had quoted a
statement out of the Dictionary of Cookery by the before-mentioned
Artemidorus relating to it, Æmilianus said that a book had been
published by Dorotheus of Ascalon, entitled, On Antiphanes, and on the
dish called Mattya by the Poets of the New Comedy, which he says is a
Thessalian invention, and that it became naturalized at Athens during
the supremacy of the Macedonians. And the Thessalians are admitted to
be the most extravagant of all the Greeks in their manner of dressing
and living; and this was the reason why they brought the Persians down
upon the Greeks, because they were desirous to imitate their luxury
and extravagance. And Cratinus speaks of their extravagant habits in
his treatise on the Thessalian Constitution. But the dish was called
ματτύη (as Apollodorus the Athenian affirms in the first book of his
treatise on Etymologies), from the verb μασάομαι (to eat); as also are
the words μαστίχη (mastich) and μάζα (barley-cake). But our own opinion
is that the word is derived from μάττω, and that this is the verb from
which μάζα itself is derived, and also the cheese-pudding called by the
Cyprians μαγίς; and from this, too, comes the verb ὑπερμαζάω, meaning
to be extravagantly luxurious. Originally they used to call this common
ordinary food made of barley-meal μάζα, and preparing it they called
μάττω. And afterwards, varying the necessary food in a luxurious and
superfluous manner, they derived a word with a slight change from
the form μάζα, and called every very costly kind of dish ματτύη; and
preparing such dishes they called ματτυάζω, whether it were fish, or
poultry, or herbs, or beasts, or sweetmeats. And this is plain from the
testimony of Alexis, quoted by Artemidorus; for Alexis, wishing to show
the great luxuriousness of the way in which this dish was prepared,
added the verb λέπομαι. And the whole extract runs thus, being out of
a corrected edition of a play which is entitled Demetrius:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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