FOODS of the FIRST CENTURY: SPICES & HERBS

In The First Century Spices & Herbs were Ground in a Mortar

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Today we continue a very informative series on the foods and eating habits of the New Testament era. In order to do this, we must first stock our kitchen. Specifically, we’ll fill a chest with spices and herbs.

Some people have trouble differentiating between what’s a spice and what’s an herb. Both are used to flavor foods and some for medicinal purposes. The essential difference between an herb and a spice is where they are obtained from on the plant. Herbs typically come from the leafy part of a plant, and are usually used fresh or dried. Spices are obtained from seeds, fruits, roots, bark, or some other vegetative substance. Herbs can be found around the world and were usually gathered by the user.

Spices, however, come from plants or trees that grow only in particular regions. The cultivation, gathering, preparation and sale of spices were all important sources of income in ancient times and they still are today. Thousands of years before Christ’s birth, camels laden with spices followed familiar routes across deserts and through mountain passes to bring these delicacies to waiting buyers. In doing so, they spread civilization and created the earliest route of trade known as the Spice Route.

The most basic list of ancient foods we can gather would be those mentioned in the Bible. So, that’s where we’ll start.

Anise (Matthew 23:23) Beginning with John Wycliffe’s Bible, the rendering of anethon in the English versions has been anise. But this is not accurate. The exact equivalent of the plant anethon is dill (anethum graveolens). The error in translation, however, is of no great importance. Both plants belong to the parsley family and are native to the Middle East. Anise has been cultivated since the time of the Egyptians both as a flavoring agent and for its medicinal properties.

Many people associate the aroma and flavor of anise with licorice. Licorice, however, comes from an entirely different plant. Anise is primarily used to flavor cookies —Biscotti and Pfeffernüsse, for example— and certain breads.

The seeds were chewed as a breath freshener. Anise has expectorant properties and anise tea mixed with honey was used for coughs. Dioscorides, a Greek physician, wrote in the 1^st Century that anise “facilitates breathing and relieves pain…” It was also used to increase lactation and ease menstrual symptoms, treat convulsions and colic in infants.

Since they’re so closely related, we'll  put anise seed, fennel seed, and fresh and dried parsley in our spice chest.

A Marture Myrtle Tree

Bay (Isaiah 41:19) We’ve included this because, while bay never appears, myrtle trees are mentioned many times in the Bible. The myrtle is an evergreen broadleaf in the Lauraceae family. It grows in a small region along the southern Oregon coast between Florence, OR and northern California. Coastal residents know that its leaves, when picked and dried, have a flavor nearly identical to the Mediterranean bay sold in your local market. Thought never mentioned specifically, the people of the holy land surely used the leaves to flavor soups and stew just as we do. Bay leaves have long been used to treat headaches, specifically migraine headaches. We’ll pick several basketfuls of leaves from the myrtle tree and spread them on the roof to dry in the sun.

Coriander Seeds Growing

Coriander (Exodus 16:31; Numbers 11:7) Coriander, the seed of the Cilantro plant, has been in use since 5,000 BC. The whole seed is used in pickling and in smoked meats such as sausage. Ground it is mixed into curries, soups and chutneys. The other side of coriander is its fresh or dried leaves, which are known as cilantro.

Medicinally, cilantro tea is used for upset stomach and a paste made from the seeds was applied to relieve the pain of rheumatism. One or two teaspoons of cilantro juice, added to fresh buttermilk, is said to be beneficial in treating digestive disorders, dysentery, hepatitis and ulcerative colitis. Coriander has also been documented as a traditional treatment for diabetes. We’ll credit four more items to the tally: coriander, whole and ground, along with cilantro fresh and dried.

Cinnamon (Exodus 30:23; Revelation 18:13) Cinnamon is the dried bark of the cinnamon tree. This familiar flavoring ingredient is widely used in desserts and breads of all types. Cinnamon is one of the oldest known spices, and in the Ancient World it was worth more than gold.

 In Ancient Rome, cinnamon was used to treat inflammation and poisonous bites. It was known for its antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti-fungal properties, and was often applied externally to wounds and other troublesome skin conditions. During childbirth, mothers were given cinnamon, as a sedative and cinnamon was one of the sweet spices used in preparing the body for burial.

We’ll add two more, whole and ground cinnamon.

Cumin (Isaiah 28:25; Matthew 23:23) Ground cumin is typically used in spice blends such as chili powder, pickling spices, and curry. According to the Bible, cumin was presented to the priests as a tithe. A humorous anecdote says students in ancient Greece and Rome drank large quantities of cumin oil to induce a pallid complexion that was regarded as the mark of a great scholar. Cumin was used by the Romans in place of the more expensive, and sometimes unavailable, pepper.

Cumin is a rich source of thymol, and was used as an anthelmintic against hookworm infections. Boiling a teaspoon of cumin seeds in a glass of water and mixing this decoction with one teaspoon of fresh coriander leaf juice and a pinch of salt was used as a treatment for diarrhea. Cumin was used for the treatment of hemorrhoids and the seeds were mixed with honey to treat amnesia and other memory loss. A paste made from cumin seeds and onion juice was applied over scorpion stings. Another useful spice goes into the chest.

Dill (Matthew 23:23) The aromatic leaves and seeds of the dill plant were, and are, used in pickling and flavoring fish, soups, egg and poultry dishes. It is often used medicinally along with anise and coriander. Let’s add three more, fresh dill, dried dill, and dill seeds.

Garlic (Numbers 11:5) Garlic is believed to be one of the first plants domesticated by man. Its culinary use is well-known. The Greeks and Romans believed that garlic increased courage and the commanders fed garlic to their soldiers before battle. It was used to repel and kill ticks and fleas. Peeled cloves of garlic were rubbed on ulcerous and leprous skin lesions. Let’s put those garlic cloves on a hook and hang them from the rafter.

Mint (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42) The Romans flavored wines and sauces with mint and incorporated it into desserts. Because of its high menthol content, poultices of crushed mint leaves, and mint oil were applied to treat pain and inflammation. Mint teas were used to aid digestion. Another triplet… Fresh leaves crushed in our beverages, dried leaves for use in the winter, and mint oil gathered by steaming the fresh leaves.

A Mint Plant Sprouting

Mustard (Matthew 13:31) Mustard seeds are used in pickling spices and the ground seeds were mixed with vinegar and honey to make condiments and sauces. Hippocrates advised their use both externally and internally. Mustard poultices and plasters were applied to increase circulation and relieve the effects of sore muscles. Our chest of spices is filling up. We’ll add whole mustard seed and ground mustard.

Rue (Luke 11:42) Rue is an herb mentioned in many translations of the Bible, though it has no use as a flavoring agent and little medicinal value. It is best not taken internally as rue is toxic if ingested in large quantities. The sap of the plant can burn the skin. The only bona fide use I could find for it was as an insect and flea repellent. It seems that rue was boiled, strained, and the water sprinkled around the house to keep out insect pests. Small bags of dried rue in closets and cabinets will also repel insects. We’ll keep it well away from our cooking spices.

Salt Piling Up Along the Dead Sea

Salt A quick search turns up 44 references to salt in the Old and New Testament. In addition to a flavoring and preserving agent, salt was a symbol of the saving, purifying, and sanctifying power of God and a necessity of life. The Dead Sea (Lake Asphaltitis, as it was called) conveniently provided an unlimited supply of this critical mineral. We’ll keep a dish near the stove and another on the table.

And so, our spice chest is stocked. In one form or another, we have a total of twenty-one items in our spice chest: anise, bay, cilantro, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, mint, mustard, parsley, pepper, and salt, plus garlic cloves dangling overhead. There were surely other aromatic herbs and seeds used for flavoring food that weren’t mentioned in the Bible, but we’ll start with these for the time being.

Next time we’ll take a day trip to visit The Messiah’s Mansion. When our Foods of the First Century posts resume, we’ll look at Fruits and Nuts.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings

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LAGANUM FRUCTUS - A CAKE OF FRUIT

Taking the Show on the Road by Cooking for the Kids

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Our study of Christmas continues today with an ancient recipe for fruitcake. Fruitcakes are traditionally served during the Christmas season and so I decided to whip one up as a yuletide treat. It’s called Laganum Fructus which is Latin for Cake of Fruit or Cake with Fruit. Fruitcake was quite popular with the soldiers of Rome’s Legions. It was aged with wine and the alcohol preserved the cake and prevented spoilage. Consequently, a Legionnaire could pack his laganum fructus into his loculus,  a traveling pack or duffel bag, and count on the cake keeping until he finished snacking on it.

Fruitcakes are traditionally served during the Christmas season and so I decided to whip up one of these ancient fruitcakes as a yuletide treat. The recipe calls for some aging, so it’s best to make it well ahead of when you plan to serve it. Let’s get something straight. I don’t care whether you love fruitcake or hate the thought of it, gather the kids together and make one anyway. It’s a good way to make the Biblical era real to your children. When you serve it tell them this is the type of cake the boy Jesus might have eaten during Chanukah while he spun his dreidel.

There are two distinct styles of fruitcakes, cakey and fruity. The recipe definitely leans to the fruity side of things. That is, it’s a lot of fruit held together with a little bit of dough. The recipe for this fruitcake consisted of four primary ingredients: pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, dried fruits, and barley flour. The first hurdle you’ll encounter is how to soften pomegranate seeds to the point where they can be chewed without the risk of breaking a tooth. An easiest way is to circumvent this by substituting pomegranate juice, and that’s what the recipe I'll give you calls for.

Most of the pine nuts sold in the grocery stores are imported from China and are often very bitter. The best pine nuts are harvested in the mountainous regions of Nevada and New Mexico. They aren’t in stores, but can be ordered direct over the internet. If you’re a stickler for authenticity, by all means order some. They make wonderful eating. However, they are harvested in the Fall and typically aren’t ready for shipment until Thanksgiving or later. They also sell out pretty quickly, so if you want them don’t delay.

A cheaper alternative would be to substitute slivered almonds. This is a legal replacement since almonds were available in that part of the world in the 1st Century. In addition to eating the nuts out of hand and cooking and baking with them, they also pressed the nuts for their oil and made almond milk, which they used for cooking.

Ingredient list along with comments:

1 C olive oil

1 C honey

1 C pomegranate juice

4 eggs

2 C barley flour

1 C wheat flour…if you want to be authentic use whole wheat flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder…This is an easy, but illegal ingredient. The only leavening available in the 1st Century was natural yeast. They would have mixed some of their starter into the barley flour.

1 C of pine nuts

1 ½ C raisins

1 ½ C chopped dates

3 C mixed dried fruit…Equal amounts of apples, plums (prunes), and apricots works well.

Citron is also legal ingredient. If desired, you may add some diced, candied citron. Adjust the quantities of the other fruits proportionally.

Optional: Rose water, wine, grape or apple juice for basting while the cake ages.

Directions: Heat oven to 275 degrees. Grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans and line them with parchment or wax paper. Sift all dry ingredients together and set aside. Dice the fruit small, mix in a bowl and set aside. Combine oil, eggs, pomegranate juice and honey. Alternately add portions of the dry ingredients and the oil mixture to the fruit, mixing well each time.

The Finished Product Ready for Aging

When the batter is complete, pour it into the prepared pans. Bake for 2 to 2 ½ hours and check for doneness with a toothpick. Let stand 15 minutes before removing from pans. Do not remove paper. When thoroughly cooled, carefully remove paper and wrap the loaf in cheesecloth soaked with any of the basting ingredients. We boiled a half-and-half mixture of apple and grape juice down to syrup. Seal them in plastic wrap and then in foil and store them in the back of the refrigerator for 2 or more weeks.

An Individual Laganum Fructus Wrapped and Basted

The recipe above will yield two bread pan-sized loaves, each of which weight 2 ½ to 3 pounds.

The Final Analysis

As you can see from the photo at the beginning of this post, we took our show on the road and prepared Laganum Fructus for the youngsters in a Religious Education Class. I want to emphasize that this was done as a teaching tool, a way for the these young people to experience a reasonable facsimile of what people may have eaten 2,000 years ago. Our goal was to make something that tasted good, but accuracy should trump yummy.

Our Laganum Fructus Aged and Sliced

So how did it turn out?

To be brutally honest, the cakes were ranked okay to good. The cake is heavy on dark fruit…raisins, dates, and prunes and, for the sake of authenticity, we used whole wheat and barley flour. The combination of these two factors yielded a dark cake with a strong, but not particularly sweet flavor. Part of the problem, I believe, is that our modern taste buds are accustomed to a much higher level of sweetness than the ancient one. What tasted sweet and good to them seemed a coarse and dry to us. We served the cake with Cool Whip so the children could supplement the taste a bit.

This in no way means the experiment/demonstration was a failure. Whether the cake was of blue ribbon quality or not, it was a success because we replicated something that the children would never have otherwise experienced. I encourage you to pursue this recipe with that same goal in mind.

Our study of Christmas continues next time with a look at the first of the Wise Men's traditional gifts: Gold, the King of Metals.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

AVICUTURE IN ANCIENT ISRAEL

Mary and Joseph Present the Infant Jesus for Her Purification

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

“And when the time came for her purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”  —Luke 2:22-24 

MEETING THE DEMANDS OF THE TEMPLE

Every Jewish mother was required to make an offering at the time of her purification following the birth of a child — 40 days after for a boy, 80 days for a girl. Here is an admittedly unscientific attempt to arrive at an estimate of the number of pigeons required for Temple sacrifice.

WORKING OUT THE NUMBERS

A)   Determine the country’s population. Josephus places the number of Jews in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction at 3,000,000. Even though the timing of Titus’s attack trapped a significant portion of the country’s population in the city, this number exceeds the space available. Tacitus places the number at a more reasonable 600,000. If 600,000 people were in Jerusalem, the total population might have been 1,000,000.

B)    Average life expectancy at that time was about 35 years. [Let’s be clear, I’m not suggesting that a person was considered “old” at 35. This average takes into account the fact that one of every two children died before the age of five.] In order to sustain a population of 1,000,000 with an average life expectancy of 35 years you need 1,000,000/35, or 28,571 new individuals a year. With the high infant mortality rates this means about 60,000 births annually.

C)    If 80% of the mothers chose the “poor option,” we need .8 x 60,000 x 2, or roughly 100,000 pigeons each year for purification sacrifices.

MEETING THE DEMAND FOR DOVES

Just as there were families that earned their living raising sacrificial lambs for Temple, clearly there had to be people who raised pigeons for the same purpose, and here’s how they did it.

Aren't they beautiful? This is a photo of the Dovecotes at the ancient city of Beit Guvrin in the Judean lowlands. Part of the Beit-Guvrin - Maresha National Park in Israel, it also features a Roman amphitheater and Tel Mareshah, which was fortified by Solomon’s son Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:8). The area is riddled with man-made caves. The workers dug a narrow hole in the hard nari rock layer. When they reached the soft inner chalk layer they dug deeper and deeper widening and expanding the cave. These caves were used for burials, storerooms, olive presses, hideouts and dovecotes.

A CHICKEN IN VERY FEW POTS

We can be certain chickens were kept in home flocks at the time of Christ. Recall his conversation with Peter in Matthew 26:33-34 “Peter declared to him, ‘Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’”  

However, chickens were kept primarily for their eggs rather than for consumption. Only the upper classes could afford to kill a chicken or chickens for a meal since doing so meant foregoing their future contribution of eggs. Instead, the common man ate dove, or pigeon, if he was going to consume fowl. 

Thus, in addition to the necessity of meeting the demand of birds for the Temple, people also consumed them as a meat source. The secondary market, as it were, was surely as large, or larger, than the calculations above. No doubt on market day in every community throughout the land there would be people with grates of pigeons to sell.

HEROD & HIS GUESTS DINE ON SQUAB

And finally, what is perhaps the most interesting of the group. A dovecote was uncovered in the ruins of Masada. We all know that Masada was a mountaintop fortress in the Judean desert built by Herod the Great. It later became the site of a mass suicide of Zealots led by Eleazar ben Ya’ir when they were trapped by Roman troops. Talk about self-sufficiency. Not only did Herod have huge cisterns and granaries, he apparently had fresh squab whenever he wanted it as well.

Our posts on Foods of the First Century will be going on hiatus for a short time as Sowing the Seeds focuses its attention on the Chruch Calendar and the Seasons of Advent and Christmas. They will resume after the new year.

As always, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

OLIVES, OIL AND THE GETHSEMANE

The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

The word Gethsemane appears in the Greek of the Gospel of Matthew (26:36) and the Gospel of Mark (14:32) as Γεθσημανἱ (Gethsēmani).  The name is derived from the Assyrian Gaṯ-Šmānê, meaning “oil press.” Luke (22:39) speaks of them going to the Mount of Olives, but says nothing of a Gethsemane.  We get the phrase “the Agony in the Garden” from John (18:1), which says Jesus entered a garden (κῆπος) with his disciples.  Combining the two, we end up with the familiar Garden of Gethsemane. Tradition locates a Gethsemane on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives, but the exact spot remains unknown.

The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin; wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor…now modern Turkey. A widespread view exists that the first cultivation took place on the island of Crete. The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae date to 3500 BC (Early Minoan times), though the production of olives is assumed to have started before 4000 BC.

An Ancient Oil Press

The olive tree and its oil were major components in the culture and rituals of Ancient Israel and the economy of its inhabitants. Its prominent status is revealed by numerous verses in the Old and New Testament, the Mishnah and the Talmud.

 The olive tree served as a symbol of beauty (Isaiah 11, 16), freshness and fertility “your sons are like shoots of olive around your table” (Psalms). In (Judges 9,8),  Jotham tells the fable of the trees choosing the olive tree as their king. The Holy Land and the olive tree are a “land of olive and oil” (Deut 8, 8) and later “olive trees will be growing everywhere” (Deut 28, 40).

Proof of the importance and antiquity of olive oil can be found in the word’s origins.  Our English word oil derives from Anglo-French olie, which came from the Latin oleum “oil, olive oil” from Gk. elaion “olive tree”, which may was derived from the Phoenician use of el'yon meaning “superior.”

As long as we’re on the eytomology of words and phrases, it’s interesting to note that the first manmade floor covering was composed of linseed oil combined with wood flour or cork dust, powdered limestone and color pigments over a jute or canvas backing. Its name was derived from the Latin names for two natural materials: flax (linum) and oil (oleum)…linoleum. As you can see, it is all natural, whereas vinyl flooring is composed of petrochemicals. Perhaps you’re old enough to remember when the stores sold something called oleomargarine as a butter substitute. Do you also remember smoshing the packet of yellow food coloring into the white block of margarine?

A One-Man Oil Press

As early as 2,000 BC, Dynastic Egyptians imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan making oil an important item of commerce and wealth. Remains of olive oil have been found in jugs over 4,000 years old in a tomb on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Sinuhe, the Egyptian exile who lived in northern Canaan about 1960 BC, wrote of abundant olive trees.

The first recorded oil extraction is known from the Hebrew Bible and took place during the Exodus from Egypt, during the 13th century BC. During this time, the oil was derived through hand-squeezing the berries and stored in special containers under guard of the priests. Over 100 olive presses have been found in Tel Miqne (Ekron), where the Biblical Philistines also produced oil. These presses are estimated to have had output of between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of olive oil per season.

A Two-Man Oil Press

The fruit and its oil were major constituents of the ancient Israelites diet. Olive oil was used for cooking, fueling lamps, as an emollient for grooming and conditioning the skin and hair, as well as a healing balm. Olive oil was used in the Temple sacrifices. Anointing of any type was always been done with olive oil…a practice carried over into the early Church.  This chrism, oil blessed by the Bishop, was used at Baptism, ordinations, anointing of sick, and at Last Rites.

The Kingdom of Israel founded several industrial villages devoted to the production of oil, probably under royal auspices. Two examples of such sites were found at the Kla’ and Khirbet Khadash sites. In provincial towns in the hill country and mountain region of Judea, industrial areas become part of urban planning. Such a royal economy during King David's rule is spelled out in Chronicles 27:25-31, where the names of the various officials administering the king’s holdings are listed.

Surprisingly, the region of Galilee apparently did not share in mass production during the biblical period. Only 14 oil presses (compared to hundreds in Samaria and Judea) dated to the tenth to eighth century BC have been found. The Phoenicians brought an improved system utilizing a peripheral collecting to their colony at Tel Shiqmona. This colony served as the royal administrative center of the Land of Kavool, which was given by King Solomon to King Hiram of Tyre (Zor in Hebrew). During the third century BC the center of oil production in the Judean Hills moved to the Sidonite colony of Maresha, where 18 oil press caves were carved in the soft limestone around the city.

Olives, by weight, can contain up to 25% oil and getting it is a two-step process. First, the olives must be crushed. A crushing mill consisted of a large, circular stone upon which a millstone (memel) was placed. The memel was rotated around a central axis, rolling over the olives and crushing them.

Remains of a Donkey-Powered Mill

The remains of large mills where an animal was harnessed to the axle of the millstone and would turn the stone by walking a continuous circle.

After crushing and breaking them, the olive pulp was gathered and taken for pressing in aqalim, baskets woven of coarse fabric or ropes. The aqalim were squeezed in a press and the olive oil was extracted as a result of this action. The baskets served as a filter whereby the liquid dripped out leaving the pits and pulp waste behind. Later improvements to the process included the addition of troughs that drained the oil into holding vats. In larger facilities, several presses might all feed a central vat.

A Large Lever Press that Used Weights for Crushing

The first use of a mechanic pressing tool dates to around 1500 BC. The system used a large beam that acted as a lever. One end of the beam was held stationary and weights were hung from the other. As the weighed of the beam was mechanically lowered, it gradually raised the force applied to the olive pulp in the aqalim, forcing out the oil. During the Byzantine era this method was supplanted by the introduction of a direct screw press that allowed the user to continue cranking a plate, or large piece of wood, down against a crushing basin with increasing pressure.

Olive trees were planted across the entire Mediterranean basin during the period of the Roman republic and empire. According to the historian Pliny, Italy had "excellent olive oil at reasonable prices" by the first century AD, "the best in the Mediterranean." Thus olive oil was very common in Hellenistic and Latin cuisine. According to legend, the city of Athens obtained its name because Athenians considered olive oil essential, preferring the offering of the goddess Athena (an olive tree) over the offering of Poseidon (a spring of salt water gushing out of a cliff).

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

BEEKEEPING IN ANCIENT ISREAL

Busy Bees Hard at Work Making Sweet Honey

Hello, My Friend and Welcome.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES

A search of the Bible reveals that honey is mentioned 62 times and found from Genesis clear through Revelation. This should not be surprising given that honey was a major source of sweetening in ancient times. Below are just a few of more familiar passages relating to honey.  

And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.  —Exodus 3:16-18

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.  —Psalm 19:10

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  —Psalm 119:103

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. —Matthew 3:3-5

DEMAND FOR LARGE AMOUNTS OF HONEY

Have you ever wondered how they went about gathering all this honey that they needed? Well, it turns out that they accomplished the task not much differently than we do today…with commercial operations dedicated to keeping beehives and collecting the honey they produced. Yes, there organized business enterprises in the ancient holy land that maintained what we would call commercial apiaries. An extensive group of ancient beehives have been discovered in the northern Israeli site of Tel Rehov, in the Jordan Valley.

An Aerial View of the Dig at Tel Rehov

Tel Rehov is the location of the largest ancient Canaanite and Israelite sites in the Beth-Shean Valley and one of the largest tels in the Holy Land.  Nine seasons of excavations have uncovered large and well-preserved buildings from three occupation layers dating to the 10th - 9th centuries BC. This would have been around the time of the United Monarchy of David and Solomon and the Divided Monarchy under Omri and Ahab. Remains of an 8th century BC city that was violently destroyed by the Assyrians in 732 BC included a 24 foot-wide mud brick wall around the acropolis. Evidence of the Assyrian slaughter was found in many of the houses that were destroyed. 

But the most spectacular discovery was the industrial apiary, the only ancient beehives ever discovered in archaeological excavations.  There were more than 30 hives found at the Tel Rehov site, indicating a significant operation. The presence of these hives shouldn’t surprise anyone. Having no refined sugar, people of that era relied upon honey as the primary source of sweetness in their diet. Experts estimate the hives produced up to a half a ton of honey each year.

Examing the Remains of Ancient Beehives

The architecture of the ancient hives is similar to bee farms found in modern-day Israel. Each ceramic hive was fashioned with two holes. On one side was a small hole that acted as a door for the bees. On the opposite end was a clay lid beekeepers used to access, and remove, the honey and wax comb.

Archaeologists found the 3,000-year-old remains of honeybees, including workers, drones, pupae and larvae, inside the 30 clay cylinders. With the aid of high-resolution microscopes, scientists studied the bodies of the long-deceased insects and concluded that the bees appear to belong to a different subspecies altogether from the Apis mellifera syriaca which currently inhabit Israel.

There are two explanations for this phenomenon. Either the range of Apis mellifera anatoliaca (the subspecies found at Tel Rehov) has decreased over the last 3,000 years, or those ancient beekeepers imported this particular species from what is now Turkey for their special characteristics.

Interestingly enough, modern beekeepers in Israel still prefer the anatoliaca; they’re believed to be calmer and easier to manage, making them more desirable for urban farms such as the one found in Tel Rehov. As the Bible says, “…there is nothing new under the sun.” Sometimes, the more things change the more they stay the same.

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

THE GLADIATOR’S DIET – A BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Russell Crowe from the Movie Gladiator

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

THE HISTORY OF EPHESUS

When I say Ephesus what does it call to mind? Perhaps you envision Paul being greeted by Priscilla and Aquila when he arrives. You might imagine John the Apostle sitting in a garden instructing his disciples Polycarp and Ignatius. Ephesus may bring the Blessed Virgin to mind as she lives out her life in the care of the Beloved Disciple. Experts believe that most of Paul’s letter to his nascent congregations scattered about Asia Minor were written from Ephesus. And last, but certainly not least, in Revelation there is the warning to the wayward Church at Ephesus from him who holds the seven stars in his right hand.

For Christians, especially those with an interest in the early Church, the mention of Ephesus evokes myriad thoughts and images. One thing that doesn’t immediately come to mind is gladiators doing battle.

A Relief of Gladiatorial Combat, Note Trident

GLADIATORIAL CEMETERY

And yet they lived, fought, and died more than 1,800 years ago in the arenas of this famous city. We know this because of the discovery of the world’s only known gladiatorial cemetery. Situated along the road that led from the city center to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this small graveyard contains the remains of over 60 fighters. Study of these skeletons is filling in the gaps in the literary sources and archaeological record, and providing insight into how gladiators lived…and died.

Gladiator in Jean-Léon Gérồme's Pollice Verso

WHAT DID THE AVERAGE GLADIATOR LOOK LIKE? 

I’d like you take a test. I’ve inserted two pictures. The first, at the top of this post, is an outtake of Russell Crowe as he appeared in the movie Gladiator. The one above is taken from the painting, Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down), by 19th Century painter Jean-Léon Gérồme. Which of these two seems closer to reality? The man in the painting appears more than a little beefy. He couldn’t have been much of a fighter with that beer gut he’s sporting. After all, hasn’t Hollywood always taught us that gladiators were lean, mean, fighting machines, swift of foot and quick of hand…able to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. As you will soon see, what’s been portrayed on the screen is more fantasy than reality.

THE BENEFITS OF A VEGETARIAN DIET 

The most surprising fact to come out of the Ephesus cemetery is the gladiators’ diet. Surprisingly enough, they were vegetarians who consumed a diet rich in carbohydrates, with the occasional calcium supplement. Ancient accounts of the gladiator life sometimes refer to them as hordearii — literally, barley men. Researchers Grossschmidt and Kanz subjected bits of bone to isotopic analysis, a technique that measures trace chemical elements such as calcium, strontium, and zinc. They came up with some surprising conclusions. Compared to the average inhabitant of Ephesus, gladiators ate more plants and very little animal protein.

So it seems that Gérồme must have done his homework since his is the more accurate portrayal. The gladiatorial diet had nothing to do with poverty, religious beliefs, or sensitivity to animal rights. Gladiators, it seems, were deliberately fat. Consuming lots of simple carbohydrates, such as barley and legumes, like beans, became a way of surviving in the arena. Packing in the carbs, packed on the pounds. Gladiators wanted, and needed, that subcutaneous fat. A fat cushion protected them from cut wounds and shielded nerves and blood vessels during a fight. A lean gladiator would not only have been dead meat in the ring, but he would have made for a bad show.

“Surface wounds appeared more spectacular,” explains Grossschmidt. “If I get wounded but just in the fatty layer, I can fight on,” he adds. “It doesn't hurt much, and the blood looks great for the spectators.”

AND YOU THOUGHT TUMS TASTED BAD

Wouldn’t a diet of barley and vegetables have left the fighters with a serious calcium deficit? To keep their bones strong, historical accounts say they downed a vile brew of charred wood or bone ash, both of which are rich in calcium. Whatever the exact formula, the stuff apparently worked. Grossschmidt termed the calcium levels in the gladiator bones as “exorbitant” compared to the general population. “Many athletes today have to take calcium supplements,” he says. “They knew that then, too.”

DEATH – AN EVER-PRESENT REALITY

That's not to say life, or death, as a gladiator was pleasant. Many of the men they studied died only after surviving multiple blows to the head. The proportion of wounds to the skull seems surprising, since all but one of the gladiatorial types wore helmets. Gladiators typically fought one-on-one, with their armor and weaponry designed to give them opposite advantages. For example, a nimble, lightly armored and helmetless retiarus with a net and trident would be pitted against a plodding murmillo wearing a massive helmet with tiny eye slits and carrying a thick, long shield.

A Reconstructed Skull Showing Impact of a Trident

Three of the skulls of the Ephesian gladiators had been punctured by tridents, a weapon only used by gladiators. (See the reconstruction of a gladiator’s skull above.) Ten had been bashed in with blunt objects, perhaps mercy blows with a hammer. Other injuries illustrate the gladiator's ideal death, finally accepting the coup de grâce. Cut marks on four of the men were evidence of a dramatic end.

“When they lost and were lying on their stomachs, their opponent stabbed them through the shoulder blade into the heart,” Grossschmidt says. “We also found vertebrae with cut marks. They would have been from a downward stabbing sword wound through the throat into the heart.”

 It’s hard to imagine people enjoying such an event, much less even wanting to witness it. The early Christians boycotted the Roman festivals and games…one of several reasons they came under suspicion from their neighbors. As Christianity expanded across the Empire its civilizing influence led to a new ethic and mortal combat gradually passed into history.

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings.