​

Towards the end of the 2nd century B.C.E., the Han dynasty of China also began to officially open up trade with its western neighbors. Around 130 B.C.E., a caravan left China laden with goods such as silk to trade with. And that was the beginning of one of the most famous of all trading routes, the Silk Road.

 

In truth, the Silk Road was more than just one road. It comprised a network of routes that linked the Far East with the Middle East and then later to Europe. Along these routes, trade flowed in both directions. From the West to the East went, amongst others, weapons, horses, blankets, rugs and textiles as well as precious metals. And, in return, from the East to the West came silk, precious stones, dyes, China and porcelain, ivory and tea and gunpowder – now, we actually have a great episode on the History of Tea, so do go and check it out if you have time – and, of course, for the subject of our story, spices. And, indeed, the maritime routes of the Silk Road, also became commonly known as the Spice Routes.

 

Now, you might be asking why spices, including ingredients that we use today with such abandon – so America, please stop putting so much cinnamon in apple pie, blech – anyway, were considered of enough worth to be part of shipments carrying such other precious cargos? And, it’s a great question.

 

Before we move on, I guess as we always do, let’s be sure we define what it is we’re talking about, as the term “spice” can often be misused. Particularly, as I’ve seen people often confuse the term “herb” with the term “spice.”

 

The term “spice” is derived from the word “species,” which was applied in Rome and the Middle Ages to groups of food that they considered “exotic.”

 

Our chums at Merriam Webster define spice as,

 

Quote

“Any of various aromatic vegetable products (such as pepper or nutmeg) used to season or flavor foods.”

End Quote.

 

Whereas, they describe herbs as,

 

Quote

“A plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory or aromatic qualities.”

End Quote.

 

These definitions explain where the confusion can come from as both elements are vegetable based and both can be used, amongst other things, for their flavor and aroma.

 

The way I’ve seen it best described is that a herb is taken from the leaf part of a vegetable – think rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, etcetera – whereas spices are taken from all of the non-leafy parts, which could include roots like ginger and turmeric; berries like cloves and allspice; bark like cinnamon; flowers like saffron; or seeds like cumin and coriander. In some cases, of course, plants can produce both herbs and spices from the same plant, such as cilantro or fennel.

 

For the reasons why spices were so important in the ancient world and beyond, we have to look not just at their culinary use but also to some of the other purposes for which they were considered important in the ancient world.

 

Many of the spices that we use today have their origins either in what we now call the Middle East or in territory that is now Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

 

Back then, people used spices not only for their culinary benefits, but also in medicinal preparations, perfumes and in ritual use where priests burned spices to ward off evil.

 

In the 6th – perhaps 7th – century B.C.E., the major medical work known as Sushruta Samhita or Sushruta’s Compendium mentions spices. This work is authored by Sushruta, an ancient Indian physician who is known as the “Father of Indian Medicine.” His Compendium lists over 300 surgical procedures, and identifies 700 herbs and spices for their use in medicine.

 

A 3rd century B.C.E. ancient Indian text known as the “Arthashastra” – which translates from Sanskrit as “The Science of the Material Gain” and is authored by Kautiliya, who was a philosopher and royal adviser to the Indian Emperor Chandragupta – talks about the key points to running an empire. Among the mentions of diplomacy and war, Kautiliya also mentions the people of the empire eating many spices such as cinnamon, pepper, and turmeric in their diet and when used as medicine.

 

As well as their use in the lands from where they originated, spices soon became a valuable part of the cultures with whom these countries traded.

 

Ancient Egypt sat right at the heart of the early spice trade between the Far East and the cities of ancient Greece and later, ancient Rome. This was particularly true after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt around 332 B.C.E. Although he was personally only in Egypt for a few months, his impact of reforming Egyptian society was immense. This included founding the city of Alexandria in 331 B.C.E. and purportedly designing the city itself. Building on Alexander the Great’s alleged vision for the city, Ptolemy – Alexander’s army general who became Egypt’s ruler in 323 B.C.E. – and the Ptolemaic Dynasty developed Alexandria’s port into the ancient world’s primary trading location, allowing the spices from the east to reach not only Egypt but the rest of Europe.

 

Spices became an important, actually, essential, part of life. Coriander, for example, was considered a spice with aphrodisiacal qualities, whereas cumin seeds were considered a sign of loyalty and faithfulness.

 

Cinnamon was perhaps the most prized of spices in ancient Egypt. Although, Egyptians in the time of the Pharaohs may actually have been consuming Cassia bark rather than Cinnamon. Cinnamon from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree originated in Sri Lanka and the Malabar coast of India, but Cassia, which comes from several trees including the Cinnamonum Aromatium tree, originated in China. But then again, it was possible that ancient Egyptians used both Cinnamon and Cassia. Interestingly, much of the cinnamon that you would purchase today would be of the Cassia family, rather than the cinnamon from Sri Lanka.

 

If you ever do go to a spice store, look out for the real stuff from Sri Lanka. It is delicious and noticeably different.

 

In any event, traders transported Cinnamon and Cassia over perilous and arduous land routes. They were significantly more expensive than other spices and subsequently only used by those in the upper echelons of society rather than by those lower down the social scales. The Arab traders who would bring these spices to the west would often offer up wonderous stories about the dangers of collecting these spices to help drive up the prices when they were sold.

 

In the 4th century B.C.E. work, the “History of Herodotus,” the Greek historian offers up two stories of the tales that Arab traders wove. The first story goes a little bit like this:

 

Quote

“We have described how the Arabians procure their frankincense; their mode of obtaining the cassia is this: – The whole of their body, and the face, except the eyes, they cover with skins of different kinds; they thus proceed to the place where it grows, which is in a marsh not very deep, but infested by a winged species of animal much resembling a bat, very strong, and making a hideous noise; they protect their eyes from these, and then gather the cassia.”

End Quote.

 

Yeah, really.

 

And the second story goes like this:

 

Quote

“Their manner of collecting the cinnamon is still more extraordinary. In what particular spot it is produced, they themselves are unable to certify. There are some who assert that it grows in the region where Bacchus was educated, and their mode of reasoning is by no means improbable. These affirm that the vegetable substance, which we, as instructed by the Phenicians, call cinnamon, is by certain large birds carried to their nests constructed of clay, and placed in the cavities of inaccessible rocks. To procure it thence, the Arabians have contrived this strategem: – they cut in very large pieces the dead bodies of oxen, asses, or other beasts of burden, and carry them near these nests: they then retire to some distance; the birds soon fly to the spot, and carry these pieces of flesh to their nests, which not being able to support the weight, fall in pieces to the ground. The Arabians take this opportunity of gathering the cinnamon, which they afterwards dispose of to different countries.”

End Quote.

 

Fantastic – or fantastical stories, right? But it does show you just how important these spices were.

 

Once cinnamon finally reached Egypt, it had a number of uses. It was used as an ingredient in perfume. In his 4th or 3rd century B.C.E. work, “De Odoribus” or “On Odors,” the well-traveled philosopher and chum of Aristotle, Theophrastus, writes of a perfume called, “The Egyptian,” that is costly to make.

 

Quote

“The ‘Egyptian’ is made from several ingredients, including cinnamon and myrrh. . . . the Egyptian [and another perfume] are the most troublesome to make, since no others involve the mixture of so many and such costly ingredients.”

End Quote.

 

Another key Egyptian use for cinnamon was in the process of embalming, that is, the mummification of the bodies after death. First century B.C.E. Greek author Diodorus Siculus wrote in his major work, “The Library of History,” about the Egyptian post-death process saying,

 

Quote

“The men called embalmers, however, are considered worthy of every honour and consideration, associating with the priests and even coming and going in the temples without hindrance, as being undefiled. When they have gathered to treat the body after it has been slit open, one of them thrusts his hand through the opening in the corpse into the trunk and extracts everything but the kidneys and heart, and another one cleanses each of the viscera, washing them in palm wine and spices. And in general, they carefully dress the whole body for over thirty days, first with cedar oil and certain other preparations, and then with myrrh, cinnamon, and such spices as have the faculty not only of preserving it for a long time but also of giving it a fragrant odour.”

End Quote.

 

The many mentions of spices in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, reflect their availability in ancient times. However, it is interesting to note that amongst all their other uses, there are only a few references to spices being used as a flavoring in food and drink, one of which occurs in the Song of Songs Chapter 8, verse 2.

 

Quote

“I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother – she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.”

End Quote.

 

Primarily, the spices are mentioned in similar terms of their uses elsewhere such as medicine, perfumes, or in ritual use, as well as being used in the preparation of anointing oils.

 

As I mentioned earlier, although Alexander the Great’s forays east in 332 B.C.E. and his establishment of Alexandria in Egypt in 331 B.C.E. opened up the routes for the flow of spices to ancient Greece and ancient Rome, the ancient Greeks were already knowledgeable of spices.

 

Theophrastus, who we mentioned earlier with reference to perfumes in Egypt, and who is often referred to as the “Father of Botany,” wrote a major work around the 4th or 3rd century B.C.E. called, “De Causis Plantarum” or Enquiry into Plants. In it, he gives a detailed account of plants that were grown in Greek territories as well as listing many spices that had become available in Greece after Alexander’s conquests. He gives one of the first detailed descriptions of pepper. In fact, he talks about two styles of pepper. One that is round and not unlike the one we use today, and the other, a more bitter version, which we can still find today and it’s called “long pepper.”

 

Indeed, ancient Greeks valued spices for their many, shall we say, “varied,” uses.

 

According to the book, “Mediterranean Urbanization: 800-600 BC,” the first mention of spices we find in ancient Greek literature associated them with

 

Quote

“precious exotica,”

End quote.

 

It comes in the poem, “The Wedding of Hector and Andromache,” from the 6th century B.C.E. poet, Sappho of Lesbos, where the author talks of

 

Quote

“perfume and cassia and incense were mixed and all the older women shouted out, and all the men cried out a fair loud song…..”

End Quote.

 

Of course, the ancient Greeks also used spices for medicinal use.

 

The “Father of Medicine,” Hippocrates, who lived from 460 B.C.E. to 370 B.C.E., spoke about many spices in his writings, including ginger, cinnamon and coriander, giving particular note to how they should be prepared for medicinal use.

 

The ancient Greeks did have culinary uses for spices though, which is just as well as this is a podcast about food. The 4th century B.C.E. Greek – by way of Sicily – writer, Archestratus of Gela, who is one of the first people in history we could justifiably recognize as a true travel gourmand – my kind of person – wrote a now lost poem called “Hēdypatheia” or “The Life of Luxury.” In it, he lists where to find and how to prepare the best food, particularly fish. We know about it because 62 fragments of the book are quoted later – around 200 C.E. – by another author, Athenaeus, who must have had a copy of “Hēdypatheia” and quoted Archestratus in Athenaeus’ own book, “Deipnosophistai” or “The Deipnosophists” or “The Gastronomers.” In it, Athenaeus notes that Archestratus makes reference to a fish called sharp-toothed dog or Carcharias, which apparently is a type of shark.

 

Quote

“In fair Torone's town 'tis best to cook
The hollow entrails of the sharp-tooth'd dog.
Then strew the fish with cummin, sparing be
Of salt, then roast him, and add nothing else
Saving some sea-green oil. Then when 'tis done,
Serve him up with some little seasoning.
. . .

'Tis but few mortals know this wondrous food;
And those who have thick stupid heavy souls,,
Refuse to taste it, but are all alarm'd,
Because they say this dog's a cannibal,
And feeds on human flesh. But there is not
A fish that swims which does not like man's flesh
If he can only chance to come across it.”

End quote.

 

There are many species of sharks that are now on the endangered species list, but apparently, back in the days when they were eaten, according to Archestratus, they go very well with cumin.

 

Where the ancient Greeks were quite sparing with the use of spices in food and tended to add them only when they believed that the spices were going to add some medicinal benefit, the Romans began to add spices to their food for pleasurable reasons.

 

The Romans, who had greater sea power that the ancient Greeks, were able to create direct trade routes with India, and this increased their consumption of spices, particularly pepper. This was a journey that originally took two years, hence the cost of spices that were imported.

 

However, in the middle of the 1st century C.E., a Greek sailor by the name of Hippalus, discovered how the Arab traders who had tried to keep a monopoly on the trade, used the monsoon winds to speed up their journey and the round trip was cut to a year. This led to an explosion in the import and consumption of the Romans’ favorite spice, as well as others that were used. So great must the demand for spices have become, Emperor Domitian created a special market and storage place in the ancient Roman Forum known as the “Horrea Piperataria” for its sale.

 

In the major culinary work of the Roman period, “De re Coquinaria” or “Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome,” attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, who lived in the 1st century C.E. under the reign of Tiberius, the author presents around 500 recipes. And his top 10 most used ingredients include black pepper and cumin. Even Apicius’ “Home-Made Sweets” recipe, or “Dulcia Domestica,” contained pepper.

 

On top of which, Apicius was fond of adding spices to drink. In his book, he gives a recipe for a drink known as “Conditum Paradoxum,” which was a spiced wine; this contains wine, honey, crushed pepper, and saffron.

 

Quote

“THE COMPOSITION OF [this] EXCELLENT SPICED WINE [is as follows]. INTO A COPPER BOWL PUT 6 SEXTARII OF HONEY AND 2 SEXTARII OF WINE; HEAT ON A SLOW FIRE, CONSTANTLY STIRRING THE MIXTURE WITH A WHIP. AT THE BOILING POINT ADD A DASH OF COLD WINE, RETIRE FROM STOVE AND SKIM. REPEAT THIS TWICE OR THREE TIMES, LET IT REST TILL THE NEXT DAY, AND SKIM AGAIN. THEN ADD 4 OZS. OF CRUSHED PEPPER, 3 SCRUPLES OF MASTICH, A DRACHM EACH OF [nard or laurel] LEAVES AND SAFFRON, 5 DRACHMS OF ROASTED DATE STONES CRUSHED AND PREVIOUSLY SOAKED IN WINE TO SOFTEN THEM. WHEN THIS IS PROPERLY DONE ADD 18 SEXTARII OF LIGHT WINE. TO CLARIFY IT PERFECTLY, ADD [crushed] CHARCOAL TWICE OR AS OFTEN AS NECESSARY WHICH WILL DRAW [the residue] TOGETHER [and carefully strain or filter through the charcoal].”

End Quote.

 

Apicius also used other spices in dishes that seem to have a medicinal purpose. One of my favorites is known as “Oxyporum,” which means “easy passage,” and appears to be an early recipe for a laxative or a dish to ease the system. The dish involves plump dates and honey as well as saltpeter and plenty of pepper. It also requires cumin, which is interesting particularly as Apicius not only tells us how much of the spice to use – 2 ounces – but also the locations of the best sources of cumin to use. For the record, he says,

 

Quote

“Aethiopian, Syrian or Libyan.”

End Quote.

 

Which shows that not only was the use of spices very prevalent in Roman cuisine, but also that the trade was sophisticated enough that they had multiple sources and preferences for the type of spice they used, which I think is a sign of a robust culinary supply chain.

 

Not everyone was fond of the cost of this supply chain, however. Pliny The Elder was so alarmed at how much was being spent by the empire on the spice trade that in his work, “The Natural History,” he declared,

 

Quote

“It is worthy to be observed, that there is not a Year but it costs our State to furnish into India, 500,000 Sesterces, (fifty millions of Sesterces.) For which the Indians send back Merchandise, which at Rome is sold for a hundred times as much as it cost.”

End Quote.

 

But the rich people of ancient Rome seemed to still pay that cost, and as Reay Tannahill put it in her book, “Food in History,”

 

Quote

“Indian Pepper was so important that it was numbered amongst the five essential luxuries on which the whole foreign trade of the empire was to be based.”

End Quote.

 

Tannahill notes that the remaining other luxuries included silk from China, ivory from Africa, amber from Germany, and incense from Arabia.

 

And it’s a passion that the Romans passed on to many of the people with whom they had contact – be they the people they had conquered or people who were challenging their might in Roman territories.

 

In 410 C.E., the Visigoths, a Germanic people under their King, Alaric, laid siege to Rome. The Greek historian Zosimus says that, in the form of a ransom, the people of Rome agreed to pay Alaric and his men

 

Quote

“After long discussions on both sides, it was at length agreed, that the city should give five thousand pounds of gold, and thirty thousand of silver, four thousand silk robes, three thousand scarlet fleeces, and three thousand pounds of pepper.”

End Quote.

 

While the ancient Romans did spread their love of spices to the far reaches of their empire, the reality is, however, that during the period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in 476 C.E., we begin to see the Arabian Islamic countries of the Middle East being the primary source of spices into Europe, particularly with the spice trade going through Constantinople – present day Istanbul in Turkey – which was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Spices also arrived in Europe via those people who returned to Europe after the Crusades, which began in 1095. Through the period of the Middle Ages, various principalities battled to develop the key trading relationships for spices with the Arabic traders. The principals among these were the maritime states, such as Venice and Genoa, who by the 10th century had developed substantial trading relationships and wealth through the trade of spices. The amount of money to be earned was astronomical.

 

On their journey from India and Asia, spices had often changed hands through so many traders, all wanting to make profits, that the price for a spice could easily be as high as 40 times the amount paid when it was first purchased at source. The wealthy of the Medieval world, however, were willing to pay such a price, not only for the pleasure of using spice in their food and for its medicinal benefits, but also because the appearance of spices in their household would be the equivalent today of parking a Ferrari in your driveway – a symbol of your wealth and status. However, as European powers started colonizing distant lands, spices also began to find their way into the cuisines of the not-so-wealthy.

 

It’s worth stopping here for a second to dispel one of the oldest culinary myths and that is that spices were used in Medieval times to cover up the smell and taste of meat that was old or spoiled. To the contrary, records show that medieval laws actually prohibited this kind of practice and that any spoiled meat – even when covered with spices – would still result in food poisoning. So, covering up bad meat with spices that are very expensive does not make any sense at all.

 

It’s also worth noting that the concept of spices being used as a preservative of meat does not seem to have much historical substance either. The only spice – as we saw from talking about embalming in ancient Egypt – that had any properties in preservation would have been cinnamon, and that would have been far too expensive to use in such a lowly task. Instead, it would have been salt, vinegar, garlic and mustard, or dehydration that would have helped store meat in the days before refrigeration.

 

If you have chance, please do check out my friend, Professor Paul Freedman’s excellent blog on the Yale University website, called “Spices, How the Search for Flavors Influenced Our World.” We’ll add the link to the annotated transcript. In it, he talks not only about how the initial use of spices in Medieval Europe was both culinary and medicinal – often in the same dish – but also about how,

 

Quote

“culinary stalwarts as pepper, cinnamon and ginger were sold in many varieties and in different medical prescriptions.”

End Quote.

 

He also takes us through some examples of the 100 or so medieval cookery books that are still in existence today as an example of how spices would have been used throughout Europe.

 

In 1520, Ruperto De Nola, also known as Maestre Robert, a Catalan chef for his patron the King of Naples, wrote the “Libre del Coch.” In this recipe book, he lists about 200 recipes –many of which contain ingredients such as cinnamon, ginger, saffron and sugar, which at the time was considered a spice.

 

In another example, Freedman also lists spices ordered for the wedding of George “The Rich,” Duke of Bavaria and his intended bride, Jadwiga of Poland in 1475. This list includes 386 pounds of pepper, 286 pounds of ginger, 257 pounds of saffron, 205 pounds of cinnamon and 85 pounds of cloves and nutmeg.

 

Don’t tell the Mrs., but that’s my kind of wedding.

 

The rivalry between maritime states, particularly Genoa and Venice, became increasingly hostile. And, towards the tail end of the 14th century, we see the two economic powers coming to blows during the Naval War of Chioggia, which lasted from 1378-1381. This war saw the dominance in the region pass from the former to the latter and Venice having a monopoly of the spice trade into Europe for almost the next century.

 

European states began to look for ways to source spices without the cost of purchasing them at often exorbitant prices through a Venetian middleman. In part, this was because of the increasing demand in Europe for spices. And, in part, it is because the pressures put on the supply of spices via the traditional land routes. The Silk Roads had been in operation since their opening by the Han Dynasty in 130 B.C.E., but were closed when much of the area through which they travelled became part of the Ottoman Empire. They finally ceased to operate in 1453.

 

It might be too reductive to suggest, as some have done, that this closure prompted the era of Discovery. However, we definitely do start to see the beginning of a period of history that would completely change the world we live in today. As explorers from other nations began to build ships that were capable of long-distance travel which they hoped, amongst other entrepreneurial adventures, would take them to spice producing lands. These would be lengthy and dangerous travels from which many would never return – such as when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan lost his life in the Mactan Islands in the Philippines while looking for an alternative trade route – but for the successful ones, the riches and rewards could be astronomical.

 

Which reminds me, I recently visited the Mactan Islands and the location of where the Philippine natives fought Magellan. And we shall post a link on the website of some of the pictures the Mrs. took when we were there. So please do go and check it out.

​