EARLY CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS — THE IKTHUS, or FISH

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One of the earliest, and most common, symbols used by the Christians was the Ikthus, or Fish. We see used it today in its plainest form, two swooping lines, and in more elaborate forms with the inclusion of a small cross, the word JESUS, or the Greek ΙΧΘΥΣ within the classic fish shape. There’s more than one reason the Early Christians chose the symbol of a fish.

FISHERS OF MEN

The use of the fish symbol reminds one of the familiar scene in Matthew 4:18-20, Mark 1:17 and Luke 5:2-11. In all of these passages, Jesus, who has returned from his 40 days of preparation in the desert, begins to gather his first disciples. While walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Gennesaret as the Jews called it, Jesus encounters Simon and his brother, Andrew and invites them to become his followers with enigmatic phrase, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Luke elaborates on the scene a bit and places the men in their boat after a night of luckless fishing. Jesus tells them to put down their nets for a catch, they do, and the nets fill to the point of bursting. True to form, Simon’s responds by saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

THE ACROSTIC OF THE FISH

An acrostic is a word or phrase in which each letter stands for a word. We’ve all heard the song that spells mother by starting with, “M is for many things she gave me…” Acrostics are closely related to acronyms, which are an abbreviation formed from the initial components of a word or phrase…for instance, OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Association), the dreaded FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and so on. There’s probably a vacation travel game lurking in our penchant for acronyms. It surely beats license plate bingo, but we digress.

The Greek word for fish is IKTHUS, spelled ΙΧΘΥΣ. Using those five letters, we can develop a phrase in the following way:

With the Iota, we create the word Ιησονς…Iesous.
Using the next letter, Chi, yields the word Χριστος…Christos.
The Theta yields Θεος, Theos…God.
With the Tau, we make Υιος, Uihos…Son.
And the Sigma, gives us Σωτηρ, Soter…Savior.
As the song says, put them altogether and you get Iesous the Christos, God’s Son and our Savior.

A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

The simple image of the fish, or ikthus, became a means of identification for members of what the Romans considered a subversive cult. We find this simple symbol so rich in meaning scattered throughout the earliest examples of Christian art.

An Ancient Grave Carving Using the FISH

No one knows for sure who created it or when. However, the Acts of the Apostles tells us that it was in Antioch that the believers were first called Christians. Antioch was a thoroughly Greek city and former capitol of the Seleucid Empire. In the First Century it quickly became a leading center of the Early Church. It was the place from which Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, Silvanus and others left on their earliest missionary journeys. It was also the place to which they returned to rest, re-energize, and prepare for the next trip.

This coupled with the fact that the fish relies upon a Greek spelling of the word to convey its message, tends to lead one to the assumption that it, like the word Christian, originated in or around Antioch of Syria. Think about that the next time you see the symbol on the back of someone’s car.

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

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FOODS OF THE FIRST CENTURY - WHAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE

Sometimes You've Gotta Have a Bite of Chocolate

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For several months now we’ve looked at the various Foods of the Century…what they had and what they ate. Now we’re going to turn the tables and look at some of the foods they didn’t have.

THE BIBLE DIDN'T MEAN IT

As we’ve pointed out before, some translations of the Bible mention corn. Corn, or more properly, zea mays, is a new world grain and definitely not known to First Century inhabitants of the Levant. In the Middle Ages, the word corn was a catch-all term for grain. It could mean oats, rye, barley, wheat, etc. Consequently, when the Pilgrims came to the United States and encountered the crop zea mays — the Indians’ staple grain — they referred to it as corn. Which is why what Americans call corn is known everywhere else as maize.

ANOTHER STAPLE GRAIN MISSING

Although it has become a staple of Middle Eastern cooking, First Century residents also did not have rice. Its cultivation methods did not suit the semi-arid regions of the Levant. Rice is a native lowland crop of the Far East where it has traditionally been grown in flooded plains called paddies so its roots could make use of the nutrient content from the water. Paddy rice farmers usually plant the seeds first in small seedbeds and later transfer the plants into the flooded fields. 

Now let’s participate in some internet telepathy. First we’ll give you a phrase, and then we’ll tell you the first thing that popped into your mind.

Okay, here we go. The phrase is Italian Restaurant. 

The first thing that came to mind was pasta with a tomato- based red sauce. Perhaps it was spaghetti with marinara and freshly grated Parmesan, or maybe a steaming pan of lasagna. Neither of them? Well, how about farfelle, fettuccine, linguine, macaroni, manicotti, mostacolli, penne rigate, pierogi, ravioli,rigatoni…risotto? I’d be willing to bet dollars to donuts that 99 out of a hundred people equate Italian cooking with tomato sauce and pasta.  

NEW WORLD VEGETABLES

The thing that makes this so interesting is that First Century Romans, the precursors of today’s Italians, had neither tomatoes nor noodles. They had all the ingredients for the noodles, but the technology never appeared until Marco Polo’s fabled trip to the Orient. And the tomatoes didn’t arrive until the Age of Exploration carried seafaring adventurers to the New World where, in addition to looting gold, silver and precious gems, they discovered such New World vegetables as squash in its myriad forms, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and peanuts.  

A STEAMING CUP OF TEA

Early Christians also didn’t have tea to drink, if by tea you mean the dried leaves of the tea bush.      Legend says that one summer day Shen Nung, an early Chinese emperor, was visiting a distant province and ordered his servants to boil some water. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the pot, turning the liquid brown. Intrigued, Shen Hung drank some and found it very refreshing. Tea drinking was restricted to the Orient until the 16^th Century when missionaries encountered it when they journeyed to the Far East.  

What people in the time of Christ did have is what we call herbal tea today. If you check the ingredients on several packages of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, you’ll find that they often utilize dried berries and fruit, aromatic leaves and various herbs and spices. All of which the First Century dweller had at their disposal and undoubtedly partook of.  

One of the beverages I mention in my Seeds of Christianity Series is apple peel tea, made by steeping dried apple peels in hot water. In the interest of research I saved the peels the last time we canned apple sauce and dried them in our food dehydrator. I crushed the brittle peels, added them to boiling water, then strained and sweetened the resulting pink decoction. I found that it lacked pizzazz. However, the addition of some crushed cinnamon bark, dried berries and a pinch of allspice might perk it up quite a bit. 

THEY WERE NOT CHOCOHOLICS

Now we come to the saddest, most heart-wrenching part of this post — the final two food items that the earliest Christians were forced to do without. I do not exaggerate when I say that more than a few people have sworn to me that they could NOT live without these two items. Perhaps those first Christians were a lot tougher than we give them credit for. The poor souls had no coffee and (shudder) no chocolate. They were aptly named. Anyone who can function without their morning cup of coffee surely must be a saint. 

When my children were young and, as all children are prone to do, moaned about how deprived they were, I consoled them by telling them that the all ancient rulers and kings of this world never lived as good as they did. If the lack of coffee and chocolate doesn’t prove my case, nothing ever will. 

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings. 

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ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S LEGACY IN THE HOLY LAND

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Today’s post concerns an archeological find at the Hellenistic port of Tel Dor, about 19 miles south of Haifa, Israel. Megan Webb, from Philadelphia, was digging in an area that had once held a large public building when her trowel unearthed a gemstone shown above with an etched portrait of Alexander the Great. It is a partial setting from a ring. 

Dor was a major port city on the Mediterranean shore until the establishment of Caesarea by Herod the Great during the Roman period. Alexander the Great passed through Dor in 332 BC, following the occupation of Tyre, on his way to Egypt. It seems the city submitted to Alexander without resistance. Dor then remained a center of Hellenization in the land of Israel until it was conquered by Alexander Janneus, Hasmonean king of Judah, in 100 BC. 

“Despite its miniature dimensions – the stone is less than a centimeter high and its width is less than half a centimeter – the engraver was able to depict the bust of Alexander on the gem without omitting any of the ruler's characteristics,” notes Dr. Gilboa, Chair of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. “The emperor is portrayed as young and forceful, with a strong chin, straight nose and long curly hair held in place by a diadem.” 

The Tel Dor researchers have noted that it is surprising that such a work of art would be found in Israel, on the periphery of the Hellenistic world. “It is generally assumed that the master artists – such as the one who engraved the image of Alexander on this particular gemstone – were mainly employed by the leading courts in the capital cities, such as those in Alexandria in Egypt and Seleucia in Syria. This new discovery is evidence that local elites in secondary centers, such as Tel Dor, appreciated superior objects of art and could afford ownership of such items,” the researchers stated. One wonders who the ring in question belonged to.

Right about now you may be saying to yourself, “All this is quite interesting, but where does Alexander the Great fit in with Early Christianity?” Well, he doesn’t…and yet he sort of does. Let’s look at some of the facts. Alexander died in 323 BC, the same year he passed through Dor. Following his death the empire he’d just created was broken into pieces by his generals, the Diadochi (plural of Latin Diadochus, from Greek: Διάδοχοι, Diadokhoi, successors). 

Coin Featuring Portrait of Seleucus I

Two of the important Diadokhoi were Ptolemy I, founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt and progenitor of Cleopatra, and Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid Dynasty which, at its peak, controlled over 1.2 million square miles from the Near East to Mesopotamia, Persia and today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan and India. Seleucus named multiple cities in his kingdom after his father Antiochus. He established two capitals. One was Seleucia on the Tigris River and the other was Antioch of Syria. A series of wars between later Ptolemaic and Seleucid rulers weakened both empires to such an extent that the Romans defeated the Ptolemy’s and Parthia eventually overthrew the Seleucids.  

But before the Roman and Parthians came onto the scene, another interesting event occurred. Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, decided to destroy all worship of the one true God in Israel. To accomplish this end he slaughtered many thousands of tpeople. Women who had their babies circumcised were executed and their dead babies hung around their necks (I Maccabees 1:60-61). Antiochus believed that such visible acts of extreme cruelty would discourage the Jews from worshipping their God. However, he underestimated the enduring faith of the Israelites and this miscalculation cost him dearly. Not long after he defiled the Temple, the first stirrings of a revolt surfaced in an unexpected part of the empire, led by a relatively unknown Jewish family. It would grow into a bloody struggle for Jewish independence which has come to be known by several names…The Maccabean Revolt, The Hasmonean Period, or simply The Period of Independence.  

It began in the little village of Modein, which was 17 miles NW of Jerusalem. An aged priest named Mattathias, lived there with his five sons: John, Simon, Judas, Eleazer, and Jonathan. Antiochus sent some of his officers to the village in 167 BC to force the Jews living there to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods. Mattathias, as a leader in the city, was commanded by the officers to be the first person to offer a sacrifice as an example to the rest of the people. He refused with a noble speech reminiscent of the words of Joshua in Joshua 24:14-15 (I Maccabees 2:15-22).  

Fearing bloody reprisals against the people, a certain Jew stepped forward and volunteered to offer the sacrifices in the place of the priest. Mattathias, overcome with zeal to defend his God, killed the man as well as the officers of the king. He then tore down the altar to the pagan gods and ran through the village shouting, “Let everyone who is zealous for the Law and who stands by the covenant follow me!”  

Matthias’ son, Judas, was possibly one of the greatest military minds in all of Jewish history. Even though greatly outnumbered, Judas and his rebels defeated general after general in battle. He overpowered General Appolonius near Samaria, routed General Seron in the valley of Beth-horan, and in a tremendous victory south of Mizpah, he conquered three generals and a combined army of 50,000 troops with only 6000 poorly equipped Jewish rebels. The people of Israel began to call him Judas Maccabeus (Judas the Hammer) because of his great daring and success in hammering the enemy forces into the ground.  

Anyone wishing to read the complete story of their revolt can find it in I and II Maccabees in the Bible. The Hasmoneans ruled independently for the next 100 years. During this time they reasserted the Jewish religion, and expanded the boundaries and influence of Israel. In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem and Israel became a client state of Rome under the Hasmoneans. Their dynasty ended in 37 BC when Herod the Great, with Roman backing, overthrew the Hasmoneans and thus set the stage for the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and the subsequent rise of Christianity.  

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings. 

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TABULA: A FIRST CENTURY GAME



A Wall Carving of Tabula Players

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Today we return to our series on the Games People Played and take a look at the ancient Roman game of Tabula. The game dates back to several centuries BC and was originally known as Alea, meaning gambling. It eventually came to be called Tabula, meaning board or table, since it was played on a board or, more often than not, on a table which had been inscribed with the game’s outline.

THE DERIVATION OF TABULA

Alea, or Tabula, seems to have been derived from the game Duodecim Scriptorum, known as the game of twelve lines. Duodecim Scriptorum, in turn, bears a striking similarity to the Egyptian game Senet, which can be dated to at least 3,000 BC. For more information see our earlier post on Duodecim Scriptorum.

SPREADING THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE AND BEYOND

Tabula was particularly popular with the soldiers of Rome’s Legions. Going with them wherever they went, it was gradually spread throughout the Empire. Tabula moved into Persia, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine with Pompey’s victories in the early First Century BC. Rome’s influence spread into Egypt, Arabia and North Africa following the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian’s general, Agrippa, in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

Ancient Playing Grid Etched into a Step

Tabula moved across Europe with the Roman Army, spawning a variety of games throughout the area. The games of Ad Elta Stelpur in Iceland, Taefle and Fayles in England, Sixe-Ace in Spain, and Tourne-case in France all trace their origin back to Tabula. The Arabian game Nard also appears to be a slightly modified version of Tabula combined with aspects of the Egyptian Senet.

Nard spread to the Far East, probably via spice and silk traders, in the early Third Century where it became extremely popular. Chinese tradition attributes the invention of Nard to western India. The considerable diversity of this genre of games, called race games, all of which incorporate a common mode of play. Because of this and the resulting sharing of ideas and innovations, it is sometimes impossible to trace the development of a specific game with absolute certainty.

The similarities between Tabula and modern Backgammon are readily apparent, just as the relationship between Duodecim Scriptorum and Tabula is easily recognized. The primary difference between the latter two is the expanded board of Tabula which allows the playing pieces to be set alongside each other rather than stacked. This change in the board’s dimensions may have been driven by practical necessity.  The typical bone playing pieces were most probably unevenly cut and, therefore, not easy to stack.

A GAME OF HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS

Our detailed knowledge of the rules of Tabula comes from the record of a game played by the emperor Zeno in the year 480. The position of the playing pieces is illustrated below.  Zeno’s defeat was so sudden and unexpected that the details of the game were preserved for posterity. Zeno, playing white, threw a 2, 5 and 6 with the dice, forcing him to break up his three pairs. This left all of his men blocked. Since no other moves were possible, this single throw of dice constituted a game-ending move.

Tabula appears to have been the game of preference for many Emperors. Claudius was particularly fond of the game and, around the year 50AD wrote a history of the game. Though the event is recorded, the document itself has been lost to history. Claudius even had the imperial carriage outfitted with an alveus, or Tabula playing board, so that he could play while traveling. Exactly how Claudius managed to keep the game pieces from sliding around in a rocking carriage is never addressed. This was, after all, well before the introduction of magnetic game boards for use while traveling.

Tabula is primarily responsible for the gambling mania that swept Rome prior to its being declared illegal. During the time in which Rome was a Republic, open gambling was banned except during the winter Saturnalia Festival. Although the ban was weakly and sporadically enforced, gambling carried a fine of four times the stakes.

Tabula players used the same bone roundels used in board games such as Duodecim Scriptorum and Calculi. The colors seem to have been mostly black and white, or blue and white, but other colors have been found. At the high end of the scale, the very rich might use custom-made colored glass pieces instead.

THE RULES OF THE GAME

Each player has 15 playing pieces.
All pieces enter from square 1 and travel counterclockwise.
Three dice are thrown. The count of the dice can be applied to one, two, or three men, but the count on the faces of any of the dice cannot be split.
Any part of a throw which cannot be used is lost, but a player must use the whole value of the throw if possible. (Zeno's fatal situation resulted from this rule.)
If a player’s piece lands on a point with one enemy piece, the enemy piece is removed and must re-enter the game on the next throw.
If a player has 2 or more men on a point, that position is closed to the enemy and the men cannot be captured.
No player may enter the second half of the board until all men have entered the board.
No player may exit the board until all pieces have entered the last quarter. This means that if a single man is hit, the remaining pieces are frozen in the last quarter until that piece re-enters and catches up with them again.

Re-enactors and Histroians with Tabula Game

If you would like to try a game of tabula, you can easily create the board with only a piece of posterboard, a ruler and pen. (Some people skip this step and use a backgammon board instead.) Checkers or poker chips make great game pieces.

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings

PAUL, THE TENTMAKER FROM TARSUS

Rows of Black Tents Create a Nomadic Village in the Negev

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ANTIOCH AND PAUL the APOSTLE

Saul, renamed Paul, spent a considerable amount of time working in the Church at Antioch. He also visited Antioch while on his missionary journeys. Sound contradictory? It isn’t. In those days, there were a number of greater and lesser Antiochs scattered about Asia Minor…all named in honor of Antiochus, father of Seleucus who founded the Seleucid Empire. Te most important of these was Antioch on the Orentes, the Western capitol of the Seleucid Empire, the seat of the Roman Province Syria and the third largest city in the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria.

Christianity came to Antioch early. Believers began leaving Jerusalem following the persecution which resulted in Stephen’s death. The new faith was preached to and accepted by the Greeks of the city and it was in Antioch that the name Christian, or Christianos, originated. Antioch served as a base for the missionary journeys of Paul, Barnabus, Silas and others. The Church at Antioch played a preeminent role in the First and Second Century, especially after 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.

A TENTMAKER FROM TARSUS

One of the things we know about Saul/Paul is that he was a Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus in Cilicia. Cilicia was part of the larger area known to the Romans as Asia Minor in what is now southern Turkey. Its western boundary was the Taurus mountain range, a generally inaccessible area. A mountain pass, known as the Cilician Gate provided a way through the mountains to Cappadocia. The eastern half of Cilicia consisted of broad, fertile plains. Tarsus lay a short distance inland from the Mediterranean Sea astride the road leading to the Cilician Gate. It probably saw a lot of traffic as trading caravans and other merchants transported goods between the port and Cappadocia.

PAUL IN ANTIOCH

We know from the epistles that Paul took great pride in being self-supporting. This would imply that he practiced his trade both at home and away. By home we, of course, mean Antioch, which was the closest thing Paul had to a permanent residence after his conversion to Christianity.

How much time did he actually spend there? Acts 11 tells us that after Barnabus returned from Tarsus with Paul, they spent a year in the city preaching and teaching. They then took famine relief to Jerusalem and returned with John Mark. There appears to be an unspecified period of time prior to their leaving on the first missionary journey. 

Paul and Barnabus were gone two years. Then they returned and stayed in Antioch for between two and three years…autumn of 46 – 49 AD. Acts 14 They left for the Council of Jerusalem and, as soon as they got back, began preparing for the second missionary journey, which began about 50 AD. We know from Acts that Paul refused to all John Mark accompany them on the second mission. John Mark was Barnabas’s cousin, and this decision created a rift between the two men. Paul took Silvanus (Silas) instead and Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyrpus, which was Barnabas’ home.

Paul returned two years later for a period of R & R that lasted another year, and then set off on his third missionary journey. He never returned to Antioch. Instead, he sailed to the Judean capitol of Caesarea at the end of his third mission, was arrested in Jerusalem, and subsequently taken to Rome. Still, from the narrative above, we can easily credit Paul with between six and seven years in Antioch during which time he would have supported himself by making tents.

TENTMAKER, TENTMAKER, MAKE ME A TENT

Tents of that era were quite different from the quick up/quick down Coleman variety with adjustable aluminum poles, zippered flap and windows, and sewn-in floor. The tents of Paul’s day had no floor. The sides consisted of curtains that hung to the ground. They could be rolled back to admit the breeze during the day and pulled down to completely enclose the tent at night.

Close-up of the Finished Tent Cloth

New tents were typically only made when a young groom and his bride set up housekeeping for themselves. The tents consisted of long strips of fabric about three feet wide. These strips were sewn together to make any and all sizes of tents. The tent was regularly inspected and worn or ripped sections were removed and a new one sewn in its place. The piece they removed could be cut down and used for a side curtain. If the family grew and more space was required, additional strips were added to make the tent deeper or wider as necessary. Isaiah referred to this practice when he wrote, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” (Isaiah 54:2)

These strips of tent cloth were woven on a simple horizontal loom. Some of these looms required the weaver to sit or kneel on the floor as they worked. Since Paul spent long hours at the loom, he most probably used a model that provided a seat. The illustration below shows a man in Senegal using a loom similar to one that Paul most likely used. The frame is set up at the proper width of the fabric. A roller near the user’s knees accumulates the finished fabric. The incoming threads are secured to a roller far in front of the loom.

A double harness loom is most efficient when weaving a single colored fabric. Weaving consists of passing a single weft thread back and forth between multiple warp threads. The warp threads are long and close, forming the body of the fabric. Their overall width determines the width of the finished piece and the finished piece can be no longer that the warp threads. The weft thread is wound on a spool, known as a shuttle. It binds the opposing warp threads together as it is passed back and forth. In order to weave, individual warp threads must be separated (lifted) from their neighbors. Odd numbered threads are attached to one harness and even to the other. When one pedal is depressed, half of the threads rise allowing the shuttle to pass between the threads.  When the other is depressed, the opposite threads rise for the shuttle’s return pass.

USING BLACK GOATS

The tent fabric was woven from black goat hair. This resulting fabric was coarse and heavy, providing protection during the cold months and at night. The goat hair cloth used for tents remained porous when dry. This facilitated airflow and dissipated heat in a desert-like environment. During periods of higher moisture —heavy dew or winter rains— the thread quickly swelled, making the tent waterproof. Solomon referenced the color of the tents when he wrote, “I am very dark, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar…” (Song of Solomon 1:5)

Antioch lay between the road running from Boerea, known as the Silk Road, to the port of Pieria Seleucia. Caravans from as far away as China and India must have passed through the city on a regular basis. These merchants all lived in tents while on the move. Antioch was surely as good a location for a tentmaker as he could hope to find.

 Next time we’ll be examining the First Century game the Romans called Tabula.

 Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

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FOODS of the FIRST CENTURY - SWEETS & SWEETNERS

Making Vermont Maple Syrup with the Traditional Evaporator

Hello My friend and Welcome.

In our continuing study of Foods of the First Century we turn to an interesting aspect of the Early Christians diet: Sweets. In the sugar saturated society that we live in it’s hard to imagine a world without Twinkies, Soda Pop, Candy, Sugar-Coated Cereals…the list goes on and on. Sweets of one kind or another seem to be everywhere.  A quick check of the ingredient lists on some of the items in our cupboard demonstrates how ubiquitous sugar, in its many permutations, has become.

 

A BUILT-IN SWEET TOOTH

Like it or not, we humans seem to come with a built-in sweet tooth. And we currently quench it with mountains of refined sugar, and millions of gallons of high fructose corn syrup. But what about our Christian cousins of the First Century? They somehow survived without a convenience store on every corner. How did they do it?
 

We know a couple of things about sugars. First, they seem to be somewhat addictive; the more you get the more you want. And secondly, a high intake of sugars in the diet tends to dull the taste buds. An apple or a pear can never match the intense sweetness of a bowlful of sugar-coated crunchy-munchies. So, while making do with less sugar than modern man, perhaps our ancestors were able to enjoy the natural sweetness of fruits and berries far more than we do today.

 

LIVING IN SUGARLESS WORLD

Still, there’s that sweet-tooth thing that makes us all crave sweetness. Rest easy, perhaps life was a little sweeter than we imagine. First, and foremost, they had honey. Evidence of large apiaries producing tons of honey annually have been found in the Holy Land. You can read our post on that HERE. People of that era also produced a number of syrups, molasses-type products, which they incorporated into their cooking in many ways.
 

How effective could fruit syrups be, you ask? The next time you’re in the grocery store stop by the bakery department and check the ingredients on one of their “Sugar-Free” pies. What you will find is that these pies, instead of being sweetened with refined sugar made from sugar cane or sugar beets (sucrose), are sweetened with fruit sugar (fructose).

 

THINK MAPLE SYRUP

Most people have at least a peripheral understanding of the process for making maple syrup. Sap from a sugar maple tree is collected in early spring and transported to the sugaring house. There it is filtered and poured into a shallow evaporator with dividers that allow the operator to move the syrup from one section to the next as it slowly thickens. What comes in on one end as raw sap with barely any detectable sweetness emerges on the opposite end as that golden brown ambrosia we all know and love.
 

In reality, the sugar content of any semi-sweet juice can be increased by boiling to liquid to syrup. The following is a list of the most common syrups produced in the First Century. These syrups, or molasses, are still widely used in the Middle East.

Carob Pods - Green and Mature

CAROB MOLASSES

We mentioned Carob in our post on vegetables and made passing reference to the pods being used as a sweetener. Today, we’ll examine that in greater detail. The syrup is produced by shelling the beans and finely chopping the empty pods into water. This mixture is then cooked to extract the sugars from the pods, It is strained and reduced into a thick syrup, or carob molasses as it is called. Carob molasses is 100% carob extract with a rich aroma, flavor and color. It has a high natural sugar content, and can be used alone as syrup, or as sweetener, colorant, and flavoring agent in ice-cream toppings, cakes, cookies, and sweetmeats.

In Lebanon, the site of the ancient kingdom of Phoenicia, carob molasses is traditionally used as an alternative to sugar. Mixed and served with tahina, or sesame paste, it is eaten as a dessert called dibs bi tahina. Carob molasses is also said to be delicious on pancakes.

Interestingly, carob seeds have a history of their own. The carob seed looks very much like a large watermelon seed. There are about eight seeds to a pod. The gum they contain was used by the Egyptians for binding their mummies. The Italians use the seed to make rosary beads and in Israel they have an annual Carob Festival.

Because carob seeds are very uniform in weight, they were used as a measure for gold and gems. This carob weight has come down through the centuries as the familiar caret weight. One half of a carob seed equals one gram, or five carets.

Bowl of Date Syprup in the Making

DATE SYRUP

The juice of most fruits is obtained by pressing. Dates are different because their soluble solids are too concentrated to be pressed out. A minor exception to this rule is the incidental by-product when bagged dates are heaped on top of each other in a humid warehouse. Over a period of time small amounts of syrup will ooze out due to the force of the downward pressure. Clearly this is no way to produce usable syrup.

 To make date syrup at home, buy the softest dates you can find. Chop or crush them and put them in a narrow pan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes, then put it on the lowest heat and simmer for 30-60 minutes. Very soft dates do not require as much cooking. Remove from heat and let cool. Once the mixture is cool, put it into a blender and run on liquefy. If small pieces remain, pour the syrup through a sieve to remove them. The resulting dark syrup can be used as a replacement for maple syrup or honey when cooking and can also substitute for sugar when baking cookies.

FIG SYRUP

This syrup is made by scoring dried figs, placing them in large pots of water and letting them reconstitute for 12 hours. When the figs have softened, they are boiled and the juice produced is strained off. This juice is then boiled down to thick syrup. Fig syrup is used in cakes, fritters and many desserts. It also replaces maple syrup over French toast, waffles and pancakes.

GRAPE SYRUP

Also known as debash, it is mentioned several times in my Seeds of Christianity™ Series of books. In Greek it is πετιμέζι, pronounced peh-tee-MEH-zee. Grape syrup is naturally sweet and eaten with yogurt, over ice cream, in tea, on pancakes, in baking. In mountainous regions, it is also used to make an impromptu snow cone by pouring it over fresh snow. A teaspoonful will work wonders for sore throats due to colds.

The syrup is made by crushing the grapes and adding a small amount of wood ash to the must, as crushed grapes, juice and skins are called. The mixture is boiled in small batches and then strained. The resulting thickened juice is boiled and reduced to a thick reddish syrup. 

 There is apparently no end to the uses for these ancient syrups and sweeteners. One firm markets product to add to your bath water. It contains syrups from wild figs and grapes along with emollient oils and is said to freshen and soften the skin. We have no information regarding the use of such a product by the Early Christians, however, it seems unlikely to say the least.

POMEGRANATE SYRUP

All of the modern recipes for pomegranate syrup shorten the process by combining the juice with refined sugar in a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts juice before it is reduced. True, pomegranates do have a tart, tangy taste and may require some sweetening, but clearly this is not the way it was done 2,000 years ago. They would have prepared the syrup by first boiling down the pomegranate juice and then sweetened it as needed by adding small amounts of honey.

 

Unlike the other syrups and molasses we’ve been looking at, pomegranate syrup wasn’t used as a topping or sweetener. Instead, it served as a marinade that was brushed onto various meats before grilling. It is still used that way today.

Until next time, Shalom Aleichem!

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THE PYRAMIDS OF NUBIA

Hello My Friend and Welcome. 

Technically, a pyramid is geometric solid with a square base and four isosceles (equal–sided) triangles forming its sides. But to most people a pyramid is any structure that is more or less shaped like a triangle.  

Say the word pyramid, and people immediately think Egypt. But they do exist in other places. An example is the Transamerica Building in downtown San Francisco. Even though it is technically not a pyramid, everyone calls it the Transamerica Pyramid. By this definition, the Assyrian Ziggurats are a type of pyramid as well as the Mayan temples of Central America. The last Egyptian pyramid was built in Abydos by the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Ahmose I, who ruled from 1549-1524 BC. Remember that date; it’s going to become important. 

NOT THE ONLY PYRAMIDS

Interestingly enough, there are other pyramids — real pyramids, not just pointy structures —  on the African continent. As a matter of fact, the ancient kingdom Nubia (now known as The Sudan) had twice as many pyramids as Egypt. And you’ve probably never even heard of them until now. 

It was the Greek philosopher Strabo who, after meeting members of the Nabo tribe in the First Century, dubbed their land Nubia. A thousand years before Strabo was born, the Egyptians had called it Ta-Seti, or the Land of the Bow. In the Old Testament it is known as Kush and the only pyramid builder the Bible mentions is King Taharqa, who ruled from 690 – 664 BC. Let’s revisit those dates. Why did the Nubians…Ta-Setis…Kushites…whatever, begin building pyramids eight centuries after the Egyptians abandoned the practice? 

The answer lies in the historic relationship between the two regions. For over a thousand years the Egyptians dominated Nubia. The frescoes showing the Nubians bringing tribute to the Pharaohs depict them as darker and with curly hair. This was clearly intended to show that the Egyptians were different from, and therefore superior to, the Nubians.  

Frescoe of Nubians Bringing Tribute

But over time Egypt declined and Nubia eventually broke free. However, after thousands of years of commerce and interchange, the Nubians worshipped the same gods and shared the same culture. In 722 BC, when Egypt was at its weakest, the Nubian King, Piye, marched north and conquered his ancestor’s former masters. Rather than seeing themselves as outsiders, he and his successors called themselves Pharaohs and established Egypt’s 25^th Dynasty.  

ELABORATE TOMBSTONES

Yet when Piye died, he was returned to Nubia for burial and above his grave there was…you guessed it…a pyramid! Clearly these rulers saw themselves as cut from the same cloth as Egypt’s great rulers. Rulers who, as a testimony to their power, had been buried within pyramids. 

This is where we encounter another Nubian quirk. Their pyramids were not tombs. This confused grave robbers and archaeologists alike until it was discovered that the Nubians cut their burial chambers in to the bedrock. The stairway leading to the burial chamber would be filled in after burial and the pyramid constructed on top. In order to accomplish this, the deceased successors would have to have constructed the pyramid. In effect the pyramids were nothing more than an elaborate tombstone.

This practice continued for 300 years. Eventually the Assyrians drove the Nubian ruler out of Egypt and the Nubians were forced into a long retreat into the southern reaches of their homeland.  They began building pyramids in an isolated area called Meroe around 270 BC and, out of contact with Egypt and the rest of the world, continued for hundreds of years.

Christianity eventually reached the kingdom of Meroe and sometime around 350 AD a king of Meroe built the last pyramid ever constructed on the African continent.

Queen Amanishaketo"s Gold & Jeweled Bracelet

GOING TOPLESS IN THE DESERT

You can thank treasure hunter Guiseppe Ferlini for the deteriorated condition of the Nubian pyramids. He obtained permission to explore and excavate in 1934 from the governor of Khartoum. After fighting off lions, he arrived at Meroe and struck gold, the jewels of Queen Amanishaketo who ruled around the time of the birth of Christ. Rather than admit that he had discovered her underground burial chamber, he said he found the jewelry in a chamber at the top of the pyramid. When word spread, other treasure-hunters flocked to the area and began tearing open the tops of the pyramids searching for treasure that wasn’t there. The end result was lots of damaged pyramids. 

On Friday, we’ll be examining the ancient game known as Tabula. 

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings. 

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