BASIC FOODS

Food and diet provide an obvious direct reference to the environment and nature in antiquity. Food had long been associated with human well-being, and this was reflected in the medical literature. The Corpus Hippocraticum, a collection of medical texts from the fifth to the third centuries bc, contains a document about diet which particularly describes a right lifestyle and also addresses the question of food and knowing what is beneficial for humans:

With regard to food supply in ancient times, the ancient historian P. Garnsey distinguishes between ‘food crises’, which he considers to be endemic, and ‘famines’, which he sees as having appeared only occasionally. Moreover, he explains that in cases of food shortages and emergencies, chronic malnutrition or insufficient diet must be assumed. The assumption that the state of health of the population was generally good in Graeco-Roman times is thus called into question. Garnsey accordingly points to illnesses caused by an inadequate diet or vitamin deficiency, such as bladder stones, eye complaints and rickets. One should also note the ‘famine food’ mentioned by the Roman doctor Galen (ad 129–c. 216), which could replace or ‘stretch’ the food supply in bad times. Children and women were particularly affected by poor diet; overall, the urban population was disadvantaged compared with the rural population.