Read Ebook: The Pantropheon; Or History of Food Its Preparation from the Earliest Ages of the World by Soyer Alexis

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 6908 lines and 218185 words, and 139 pages

EGYPTIAN LABOURERS.--No. 1, Egyptian Labourer. No. 2, Sketch of a Plough. No. 3, Basket. No. 4, Egyptian with Sickle, drawn by Horses 12

GREEK AND ROMAN PLOUGHS.--Nos. 1 and 2, Greek and Roman Ploughs. No. 3, Plough, turned once or twice. No. 4, Plough, as used by the Gauls 14

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.--No. 1, Plain Sickle. No. 2A, Plough, from the Georgics of Virgil. No. 3, Scythe. No. 4, Spade. No. 5, Pick-axe. Nos. 6 and 7, Mattocks 16

ALCINOUS'S HAND-MILL 25

JUMENTARIAE MILLS 26

PLAUTUS'S HAND-MILL 27

CAPPADOCIA BREAD.--No. 1, Loaf of Bread. No. 2, Pastry Mould. No. 3, Cappadocia Bread. No. 4, Mould for ditto 38

SCALES AND WEIGHTS 130

VARRO'S AVIARY 198

APICIUS AND EPICURUS 201

REMAINS OF KITCHEN STOVES.--No. 1, Kitchen Stove. No. 2. Stock Pot. No. 3, Ditto. No. 4, Ladles. No. 5, Brazier 259

STOCK POTS AND BROKEN STEWPAN 261

KITCHEN UTENSILS.--No. 1, Boiler, of Bronze. No. 2, Flat Saucepan. No. 3, Kettle. No. 4, Gridiron. No. 5, Trivet 262

CHAFING-DISH AND SILVER CUP.--No. 1, Chafing-Dish. No. 2, Silver Cup 263

SPOON, FORK, KNIFE, SIMPULUM, &c.--No. 1, Roman Silver Spoon. No. 2, Brass Knife. No. 3, Simpulum. No. 4, Ditto. No. 5, Fork 264

ROMAN SILVER KNIFE-HANDLE, SILVER SPOON, AND DEEP DISH.--No. 1, Silver Knife-handle. No. 2, Spoon. No. 3, Dish 265

ROMAN AND EGYPTIAN PAILS.--No. 1, Pail, of Bronze. No. 2, Pail, with Two Handles 297

DRINKING-CUPS.--No. 1, Drinking-Cups . No. 2, Ditto, Pig's Head and Dog's Head 316

DRINKING-CUPS.--No. 3, Ram's Head. No. 4, Boar's Head 317

DRINKING-HORNS.--Nos. 1 and 2, Drinking-Horns. No. 3, Horn, Aztec's Head 318

CRYSTAL VASE 319

MURRHIN CUP 321

RELICS FROM HERCULANEUM.--No. 1, Wine Press. No. 2, Diogenes. No. 3, Beast of Burthen 325

COLUM NIVARUM 327

VESSELS FOR HOLDING WINE.--No. 1, Amphora. Nos. 2 and 3, Smaller Dolium. No. 4, Long-neck Bottle 328

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Large Vase. No. 2, Glass Vase. No. 3, Glass Bottle, with Cup 363

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Glass Vase. No. 2, Ditto. No. 3, Etruscan, Three Handles. No. 4, Large Silver Vase. No. 5, Cantharus 364

CURIOUS ORNAMENTAL TERRA-COTTA CUPS.--No. 1, Goose. No. 2, Teapot. No. 3, Jupiter's Head 365

HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK'S VASE 366

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Etruscan Flat Vase. No. 2, Marble Vase. No. 3, Metal Vase. No. 4, Greek Etruscan Drinking Vase 370

PROCILLATORES AND TRICLINIUM.--No. 1, Procillatores. No. 2, Triclinium 378

No. 1, Greek Etruscan Vase. No. 2, Greek Terra-Cotta Vase. No. 3, Etruscan Terra-Cotta Vase. No. 4, Glass Amphora, for Falernian Wine. No. 5, Terra-Cotta Amphora, for Falernian Wine 390

CRATER, OR DRINKING CUP 391

No. 1, Curious Silver Dish. Nos. 2 and 3, Silver ditto 392

NERO AND HELIOGABALUS 398

YORK BANQUET 404

WILD BOAR A LA TROYENNE, AND THE HUNDRED GUINEA DISH 406

THREE SILVERED GLASS CUPS 407

THIS WORK

Is Dedicated by the Author

TO THE

GENIUS OF GASTRONOMY.

PANTROPHEON.

Thanks to the impressions received in boyhood, Rome and Athens always present themselves to our minds accompanied by the din of arms, shouts of victory, or the clamours of plebeians crowded round the popular tribune. "And yet," said we, "nations, like individuals, have two modes of existence distinctly marked--one intellectual and moral, the other sensual and physical; and both continue to interest through the lapse of ages."

History has not failed to record, one by one, the battles, victories, and defeats of nations which no longer exist; it has described their public life,--their life in open air,--the tumultuous assemblies of the forum,--the fury of the populace,--the revolts of the camps,--the barbarous spectacles of those amphiteatres, where the whole pagan universe engaged in bloody conflict, where gladiators were condemned to slaughter one another for the pastime of the over-pampered inhabitants of the Eternal City--sanguinary spectacles, which often consigned twenty or thirty thousand men to the jaws of death in the space of thirty days!

It is to that we have devoted our vigils, and, in order to arrive at our aim, we have given an historical sketch of the vegetable and animal alimentation of man from the earliest ages; therefore it will be easily understood why we have taken the liberty of saying to the austere Jew, the voluptuous Athenian, the obsequious or vain-glorious senator of imperial Rome, and even to the fantastical, prodigal, and cruel Caesars: "Tell me what thou eatest, and I will tell thee who thou art."

But, it must be confessed that our task was surrounded with difficulties, and required much laborious patience and obstinate perseverance. It is easy to penetrate into the temples, the baths, and the theatres of the ancients; not so to rummage their cellars, pantries, and kitchens, and study the delicate magnificence of their dining-rooms. Now it was there, and there alone, that we sought to obtain access.

With that view we have had recourse to the only possible means: we have interrogated those old memoirs of an extinct civilisation which connect the present with the past; poets, orators, historians, philosophers, epistolographers, writers on husbandry, and even those who are the most frivolous or the most obscure--we have consulted all, examined all, neglected nothing. Our respectful curiosity has often emboldened us to peep into the sacred treasure of the annals of the people of God; and sometimes the doctors of the Primitive Church have furnished us with interesting traits of manners and customs, together with chance indications of domestic usages, disseminated, and, as it were, lost in the midst of grave moral instruction.

The fatigue of these unwonted researches appeared to us to be fully compensated by the joy we experienced on finding our hopes satisfied by some new discovery. Like the botanist, who forgets his lassitude at the unexpected sight of a desired plant, we no longer remembered the dust of fatidical volumes, nor the numberless leaves we had turned over, when by a happy chance our gastronomic enthusiasm espied a curious and rare dish.

Thus it is that this work--essay, we ought to call it--has been slowly and gradually augmented with the spoils of numerous writers of antiquity, both religious and profane.

We have avoided, as much as possible, giving to this book a didactic and magisterial character, which would have ill-accorded with the apparent lightness of the subject, and might have rendered it tedious to most readers. We know not whether these researches will be considered instructive, but we hope they will amuse.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet