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Pisma Orybazjusza jako źródło informacji o pożywieniu ludzi w późnym Cesarstwie Rzymskim

100%

Jagusiak K., Kokoszko M.

Vox Patrum

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2013

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vol. 59

339-357

EN

The article makes an attempt at the presentation of medical works written by Oribasius (ca. 325 – ca. 400 A.D.), well educated physician from Pergamon, and a close friend of Julian the Apostate. It discusses the content of the treatises, reasons for their compiling and circumstances accompanying the creation of three of his extant writings, notably Collectiones medicae, Synopsis ad Eustathium filium, and Libri ad Eunapium. Moreover, the study presents available information about his lost medical work, whose title is now unknown. The authors focused on these parts of Oribasius’ works, which concern food and dietetic, i.e. five books of Collectiones medicae (from I to V), book IV of Synopsis ad Eustathium filium and a part of book I of Libri ad Eunapium. The above-mentioned books enlist the most important foods like cereals, cereal products (breads, cakes, groats, pancakes), vegetables, fruits, meats, fishes, and seafood, dairy products, soft and alcoholic drinks as well as enumerating some specific diets and groups of food divided according to their properties or influence on human body. An important part of the article is a succinct presentation of sources of Oribasius’ dietetic expertise, and moreover a brief discussion of the medic’s impact on medical systems in three different cultural circles, namely the Byzantine, Arab, and Latin. The authors’ research corroborates the already existing view that major dietetic parts of Collectiones medicae, Synopsis ad Eustathium filium and Libri ad Eunapium are based on writings of Galen (which he, however, reworked with a view of their simplification), but there are many fragments taken from other authorities, for instance Pedanius Dioscurides, Athenaeus from Attalia, Diocles of Carystus, Rufus of Ephesus to mention but a few. As for medical authors, who excerpted or translated Oribasius’ works, the most renowned are Aetius of Amida, Paul of Aegina, Alexander of Tralles, Hunayn ibn Ishāq, and the representatives of the medical school of Salerno. Finally, the authors claim, that Oribasius’ heritage is important especially for two reasons. First of all, it helped preserve a large amount of citations from ancient works, which today are lost, and known only thanks to the physician’s painstaking work. Secondly, it contains a cornucopia of information about food, which reflect culinary habits of Late Roman society, and specifically of the Late Roman food market.

2

Proso w gastronomii antyku i wczesnego Bizancjum

84%

Rzeźnicka Z., Kokoszko M.

Vox Patrum

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2013

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vol. 59

401-419

EN

The present article deals with some culinary applications of millet in Antiquity and Byzantine period, as demonstrated in select Greek and Roman literary sources (Athenaeus of Naucratis, Pedanius Dioscurides, Galen, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, Alexander of Tralles, Symeon Seth, Geoponica, Byzantine lexica, Cato, Columella, Antimus and Apicius). The authors of the article start their analysis with presenting two kinds of millet, which ancient and Byzantine people were familiar with, namely Latin – milium, i.e. broomcorn millet, Latin – panicum, i.e. foxtail millet. Subsequently, they demonstrate suitability of the cereals for bread baking. As result, they prove that millet bread was fairly popular and appreciated, even though Greek dietitians promoted the doctrine that millet was suitable for the purpose of bread production only in the time of scarcity of other, better quality grains. Accordingly, they specify various kinds of bread and describe diverse sorts of ovens (furnus, furniculus) it was baked in. The authors also write about one of the ancient desserts, occasionally made of millet flour, namely about libum. Then, the authors of the article discuss Roman puls, which were two kinds of foods eaten (instead of bread) by a considerable fraction of ancient and Byzantine society and which could also be prepared from the analyzed cereal. The discussion is exemplified with some extant recipes. Ultimately, the authors of the study refer to the evidence left by medical writers (Galen, Oribasius, Aetius of Amida, Alexander of Tralles), as they discuss soups/ gruels and beverages prepared from millet, which were said to possess some medical values (and, as the sources reveal, were profited from mostly to cure alimentary tract disorders).

3

Owies w greckich traktatach medycznych starożytności i Bizancjum (V w. prz. Chr. - XI w. po Chr.)

84%

Kokoszko M., Jagusiak K., Rzeźnicka Z.

Vox Patrum

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2013

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vol. 59

421-447

EN

The common oat (Avena sativa) is a kind of cereal which is fairly well attested in the ancient and Byzantine Greek sources. It is to be noted that medical literature of the abovementioned periods is especially informative as far as the subject in question is concerned. The body of evidence shows that both in Antiquity as well as over the Byzantine period (i.e. between the Vth and the XIth centuries) oats belonged to the crops which did not enjoy much appreciation nor special attention on the part of both mass consumers as well as medical specialists. Generally the cereal was thought to be worse than other crops and therefore lending itself to being animal fodder. It was made use of almost exclusively as an emergency food in case of shortages of other cereals. Though there are very few recipes that refer directly to the ways of preparing oats as food, some guidelines can be formulated on the basis of information pertaining to other cereals. The analyzed sources appear to suggest that it was used to prepare thin soups (on the basis of oats cooking liquor). Moreover, the cereal was also cooked into gruel-like soups. Having been finely ground, it could also be utilized to prepare bread, which, however, was not highly appreciated for its taste nor dietetic value. Medical sources characterize oats in reasonable detail. The cereal is said to be not very appealing in its flavour (which reveals unbalanced humours), characteristic of limited wholesomeness, slightly astringent (and therefore slowing down the work of the alimentary tract), hard to digest, delicately desiccating, heating and cooling at the same time. The same material suggests that oats were used for therapeutic purposes. Mainly they were profited from to treat diarrhea, stomach problems, liver ailments, prepare cataplasms to stimulate diaphoresis, help remove mucus from the bronchi and feed the feverish.

4

Dieta monastyczna w świetle nauki medycznej. Teodoret z Cyru i medycy o soczewicy

67%

Kokoszko M., Dybała J., Jagusiak K., Rzeźnicka Z.

Vox Patrum

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2014

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vol. 62

297-329

EN

The present article discusses one of the most important ingredients of the Syrian ascetic diet (from the beginning of the IVth to the mid Vth century) as described by Theodoret of Cyrus in his Historia religiosa, namely lentils (fakÒj). The basis of the research is constituted by ancient and byzantine medical treatises composed between the Ist and the VIIth centuries by Dioscurides, Galen, Oribasiusa, Aetius of Amida and Paul of Aegina. The aim of the article is to describe the role of the legume and thereby opine on compatibility or incompatibility of the monastic dietetic pattern with the one described by the medical doctors. First, the authors of the study try to show the importance of lentils as food across the area of the Mediterranean. Subsequently, they proceed to sketch its dietetic characteristics developed by ancient and Byzantine medical doctors and conclude that the evaluation was not fully appreciative of the foodstuff. Thirdly, the authors come to show applications of lentils in medical procedures, since both in Antiquity as well as in Byzantium the plant was considered to be a medicine. The discussion on lentils is concluded by introducing culinary uses of lentils, which abound in medical writings. The authors also note that all the preserved recipes envisage the cooking of the food, i.e. a procedure which was usually avoided by the Syrian ascetics.

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Pisma Orybazjusza jako źródło informacji o pożywieniu ludzi w późnym Cesarstwie Rzymskim

Proso w gastronomii antyku i wczesnego Bizancjum

Owies w greckich traktatach medycznych starożytności i Bizancjum (V w. prz. Chr. - XI w. po Chr.)

Dieta monastyczna w świetle nauki medycznej. Teodoret z Cyru i medycy o soczewicy