In the 4th century, an official with the title defensor civitatis became widespread in the Roman Empire. His task was to protect the poor from administrative injustices. Noteworthy were his powers regarding taxation, which served the state’s fiscal goals by protecting sources of tax revenue. Initially, the defensor enjoyed a certain level of independence, but over time the position became subordinated to the local elites. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the original function of this official was distorted.
Ancient Christian literature is a source of an enormous wealth of information, including observations of the eating habits of the Roman Empire inhabitants in the fourth and fifth centuries. Due to the obvious reasons, those accounts are scarce as they are usually found on the margins of other descriptions. Moreover, the information provided does not shed much light on the dietary habits of the people in late antiquity. The accounts gathered by me have references to eating bread, vegetables, fish, meat (rarely), wine and olive oil. There are sporadic cases where the Fathers of the Church mention in their writings other products consumed by the inhabitants of the Roman Empire.
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