Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality for most, reflecting agricultural hardship, but a great diversity of ingredients was known, and wealthy Greeks were known to celebrate with elaborate meals and feasts.
The cuisine was founded on the "Mediterranean triad" of cereals, olives, and grapes,The expression originates in Sir Colin Renfrew's The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in The Third Millennium BC, 1972, p.280. which had many uses and great commercial value, but other ingredients were as important, if not more so, to the average diet: most notably legumes. Research suggests that the agricultural system of ancient Greece could not have succeeded without the cultivation of legumes.
Modern knowledge of ancient Greek cuisine and eating habits is derived from textual, archeological, and artistic evidence.
Meals
In the Homeric epics of the Iliad and Odyssey, three meals are mentioned. Ariston (ἄριστον) Dorpon (δόρπον) or Dorpos (δόρπος) Deipnon (δεῖπνον)
Ariston was the early meal, while dorpon was the late meal. Deipnon could be either, without reference to time.Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Cena
In the later age, Greeks had the below meals: Acratisma (ἀκράτισμα) Ariston Deipnon
Acratisma was the early meal (similar to the ariston of the homeric age), ariston was the middle meal and deipnon was the evening meal (similar to the dorpon of the homeric age).
Prochoos (πρόχοος) or prochous (πρόχους) was a jug or ewer used for washing the hands before and after meals.Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), GutturniumA Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Mappa
Description of the meals
Breakfast Breakfast ( akratismós and ἀκράτισμα akratisma, acratismaA Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Acratisma) consisted of barley bread dipped in wine ( ákratos), sometimes complemented by figs, dates or olives.Flacelière, p.205. They also ate a sort of pancake called (tēganítēs)ταγηνίτης, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus or (tagēnías),, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus all words deriving from (tágēnon), "frying pan"., Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus The earliest attested references on tagenias are in the works of the 5th century BCE poets CratinusCratinus, 125, Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta and Magnes.Magnes, 1
Tagenites were made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk, and were served for breakfast.Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti, Meals and recipes from ancient Greece, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007, p.111Andrew Dalby, Siren feasts: a history of food and gastronomy in Greece, Routledge, 1996, p.91Gene A. Spiller, The Mediterranean diets in health and disease, AVI/Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991, p.34 Another kind of pancake was (staititēs), from (staitinos), "of flour or dough of spelt",, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus derived from (stais), "flour of spelt"., Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae mentions staititas topped with honey, sesame and cheese.Atheneaus, The Deipnosophists, 646b, on PerseusAthenaeus and S. Douglas Olson, The Learned Banqueters, Volume VII: Books 13.594b-14, Loeb Classical Library, 2011, pp.277–278
Lunch A quick lunch ( áristonAt the time of Homer and the early tragedies, the term signified the first meal of the day, which was not necessarily frugal: in Iliad 24:124, Achilles's companions slaughter a sheep for breakfast.) was taken around noon or early afternoon.Flacelière, p.206.
Dinner Dinner ( deīpnon), the most important meal of the day, was generally taken at nightfall. An additional light meal ( hespérisma) was sometimes taken in the late afternoon. / aristódeipnon, literally "lunch-dinner", was served in the late afternoon instead of dinner.Alexis fgt.214 Kock = Athenaeus 47e.
Epideipnis (ἐπιδειπνίς) was a second course at dinner.Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Epideipnis
Eating customs Men and women took their meals separately.Dalby, p.5. When the house was small, the men ate first and the women afterwards.Dalby, p.15. Respect for the father who was the breadwinner was obvious.Politics 1323a4. Slaves waited at dinners. Aristotle notes that "the poor, having no slaves, would ask their wives or children to serve food."
The ancient Greek custom of placing terracotta miniatures of furniture in children's graves gives a good idea of its style and design. The Greeks normally ate while seated on chairs; benches were used for banquets.Dalby, pp.13–14. Tables - high for normal meals, low for banquets - were initially rectangular. By the 4th century BCE, most tables were round, often with animal-shaped legs (for example lion's paws).
Loaves of flat bread were occasionally used as plates; terracotta bowls were more common.Flacelière, p.209. Loaves were usually flat, circular and indented into four or more parts, but there are instances which were also made in other forms, such as cubes.A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Pistor Dishes became more refined over time, and by the Roman period plates were sometimes made out of precious metals or glass. Cutlery was not often used at the table. Use of the fork was unknown; people ate with their fingers.Sparkes, p.132. Knives were used to cut the meat. Spoons were used for soups and broths. Pieces of bread ( apomagdaliai) could be used to spoon the food or as napkins to wipe the fingers.Aristophanes Knights 413–16; Pollux 6.93. In Greek dining customs, guests washed their hands before and after meals. Slaves assisted by carrying a basin (λέβης, χέρνιψ, χειρόνιπτρον) to catch the water poured from a jug (πρόχους). Another slave provided a linen napkin (χειρόμακτρον, ἐκμαγεῖον) for drying the hands.
Social dining
As with modern dinner parties, the host could simply invite friends or family; but two other forms of social dining were well documented in ancient Greece: the entertainment of the all-male symposium, and the obligatory, regimental syssitia.
Symposium
The symposium ( sympósion), traditionally translated as "banquet", but more literally "gathering of drinkers",Flacelière, p.212. was one of the preferred pastimes for Greek men. It consisted of two parts: the first dedicated to food, generally rather simple, and a second part dedicated to drinking. However, wine was consumed with the food, and the beverages were accompanied by snacks ( tragēmata) such as chestnuts, beans, toasted wheat, or honey cakes, all intended to absorb alcohol and extend the drinking spree.Flacelière, p.213.
The second part was inaugurated with a libation, most often in honor of Dionysus,Flacelière, p.215. followed by conversation or table games, such as kottabos. The guests would recline on couches ( klínai); low tables held the food or game boards.
Dancers, acrobats, and musicians would entertain the wealthy banqueters. A "king of the banquet" was drawn by lots; he had to direct the slaves as to how strong to mix the wine.
With the exception of courtesans, the banquet was strictly reserved for men. It was an essential element of Greek social life. Great feasts could only be afforded by the rich; in most Greek homes, religious feasts or family events were the occasion of more modest banquets.
The banquet became the setting of a specific genre of literature, giving birth to Plato's Symposium, Xenophon's work of the same name, the Table Talk of Plutarch's Moralia, and the Deipnosophists (Banquet of the Learned) of Athenaeus.
Syssitia
The syssitia ( tà syssítia) were mandatory meals shared by social or religious groups for men and youths, especially in Crete and Sparta. They were referred to variously as hetairia, pheiditia, or andreia (literally, "belonging to men").
They served as both a kind of aristocratic club and as a military mess. Like the symposium, the syssitia was the exclusive domain of men – although some references have been found to substantiate all-female syssitia. Unlike the symposium, these meals were hallmarked by simplicity and temperance.
Ingredients and dishes
Grains
Breads, cakes and biscuits
Cereals formed the staple diet. The two main grains were wheat ( sītos) and barley ( krithē).Dalby, pp.90–91.
When Greece was conquered by Rome during the 2nd century B.C., commercial bakeries were well known and spread. In fact, Pliny the Elder suggests that the production of bread moved from the family to the "industrial" thanks to the work of skilled artisans (according to Pliny, starting from 171 BCE). Plato favored home production over commercial production and in Gorgias, described Thearion the baker as an Athenian novelty who sells goods that could be made at home.
In ancient Greece, bread was served with accompaniments known as opson , sometimes rendered in English as "relish".Dalby, p.22. This was a generic term which referred to anything which accompanied this staple food, whether meat or fish, fruit or vegetable.
Cakes may have been consumed for religious reasons as well as secular. Philoxenus of Cythera describes in detail some cakes that were eaten as part of an elaborate dinner using the traditional dithyrambic style used for sacred Dionysian hymns: "mixed with safflower, toasted, wheat-oat-white-chickpea-little thistle-little-sesame-honey-mouthful of everything, with a honey rim".
Athenaeus says the charisios was eaten at the "all-night festival", but John Wilkins notes that the distinction between the sacred and secular can be blurred in antiquity.
Melitoutta (), was a honeycakeSuda, mu, 526Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 3.114fHenry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, μελιτό-εις and oinoutta (οἰνοῦττα) was a cake or porridge of barley mixed with wine, water, and oil.Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, οἰνοῦττα Placenta cake was a thin, flat cake of flour, mixed with cheese and honey.Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), placenta
Itrion (ἴτριον), was a biscuit/cake made with sesame seeds and honey, similar to the modern Sesame seed candy.
Kopte sesamis (κοπτὴ σησαμίς), sometimes called simply κοπτὴ, was a cake made from pounded sesame.Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, κοπτός
Psamiton (Ψάμιτον) was a kind of a cake.Harpocration, Valerius, Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, Hekates NesosSuda, Hekate's islandSuda, Psamite
Crepis (Κρηπίς) was a type of cake or pancake filled with fruit.A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Crepida
Diakonion (Διακόνιον) had multiple meanings in ancient sources. Some described it as the crust of a pastry. The writer Menekles explained that during the Athenian festival for Apollo, when the Eiresione was made, round pastries were included and called diakonion. Similarly, Amerias noted that diakonia (διακόνια; plural of diakonion) were pastries prepared for Apollo during this ritual. However, other sources describe it as a type of broth, while some say it was a kind of barley cake.Suda, delta, 589
Elater (Ἐλατήρ) was a flat, hand-pressed cake or pastry, named from being flattened with the hands. It could also be a hollow loaf of bread used to hold bean stew for offerings at altars. The genitive form ἐλατῆρος denotes a kind of unleavened cake, which Euripides calls pepta (πεπτά). There were also flattish cakes named lagarοdeis from lagaron (λαγαρόν; "hollow"), while Euripides used the term pelanoi (πέλανοι).Suda, Elathr
Philoxenean flat cakes (Φιλοξένειοι πλακοῦντες), named after Philoxenus.Suda, Phi, 395Suda, Phi, 398Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 1.8-1.9