Cahn’s Quarterly 1/2020 Recipe from Antiquity The Persian Bird’s Conquest By Yvonne Yiu bustle that ensues following his cry: “When he sings his song of dawning everybody jumps out of bed – smiths, potters, tanners, cobblers, bathmen, corn-dealers, lyre-turning shield-makers; the men put on their shoes and go out to work although it is not yet light.” (Arist., Birds 488-92). Furthermore, cocks fulfilled a number of symbolic and ritual functions, for instance as sacrificial an- imals or as love tokens from the adult male (erastes) to the younger male (eromenos). Not least, cockfighting was a very popular sport. However, the “Persian bird’s" actual con- quest, which enabled it to become the most common bird in the world with a current population estimated at around 23 billion by the FAO, paradoxically did not begin until it found a place on the dinner menu. It is difficult to determine when, exactly, Picentine bread and sala cattabia Apiciana on A PLATE. Clay. Dm. 26 cm. Roman, 3rd-5th cent. A.D. CHF 3,200. A GRATER. Bronze. L. 14 cm. Etruscan, 5th-3rd cent. B.C. CHF 1,800. A KNIFE. Bronze, iron. L. 14.7 cm. Roman, chicken eggs and meat became a significant 1st-3rd cent. A.D. CHF 1,800. A SPOON. Silver. L. 9.5 cm. Roman, 2nd-4th cent. A.D. CHF 2,800. nutritional factor in the Mediterranean. An- drew Dalby assumes that in the course of “Those were terrible times for the Athenians. native to Southeast Asia. The earliest conclu- the Classical Period chickens rapidly sup- The fleet had been lost in the Sicilian Expe- sive evidence of domestication comes from planted the less productive goose, which dition, Lamachos was no longer, Nikias was the Bronze Age Indus Culture and dates from had been the farmyard egg-layer in Greece dead, the Lacedaemonians besieged Attica," ca. 2500-2100 B.C. By the 8th century B.C. at since prehistoric times. (Food in the Ancient the Scholiast explains, pointing out that that the latest, the domestic chicken had spread to World, 2003, 83). The Greeks may also have is why Peisetairos and Euelpides in the com- Mesopotamia, and representations of cocks on played a pioneering role in the consumption edy Birds, with which Aristophanes won the pottery and metalwork from Laconia, Rhodes of chicken meat. The research group led by second prize at the City Dionysia in 414 B.C., and Corinth attest to its presence in Greece by Lee Perry-Gal observed a marked increase decide to leave Athens and to build a city 600 B.C., well ahead of the political expansion in chicken remains in archaeological layers in the sky with the help of the birds. Thanks of the Achaemenid Empire. Nevertheless, it is from the Hellenistic Period at Levantine sites to its strategic location, Peisetairos argues, quite possible that the growth of the Persian and suggested that with the emergence of the this city with the “beautiful and great name” sphere of influence from the 6th century B.C. Hellenistic koine, in which Greek culture and Nephelokokkygia (Cloudcuckoocity) can sep- onwards contributed to the spread of this spe- language became defining factors, older ta- arate the gods from the people and block the cies of bird. In the ancient Persian faith of Zo- boos prohibiting the consumption of chicken passage of sacrificial smoke, thus starving the roastrianism, which was promoted by Darius I meat were abandoned, making it possible for gods into submission. This would restore the and his successors, the cock was considered a the domestic chicken to become an important birds to their original rule, for “it was not the sacred animal that, with its crow, dispelled the source of food. (Earliest Economic Exploita- gods but the birds who governed and reigned demons of the night and exhorted believers to tion of Chicken, PNAS 2015, doi.org/10.1073/ over men in olden times.” To prove this, he pray. Since the cock’s crow was an important pnas.1504236112). cites the example of the cock who “was the part of their daily ritual, Zoroastrians ensured first monarch and ruler of the Persians, long that there were always domestic chickens close It could be that chickens were bred on a large before all those Dariuses and Megabazuses – to their homes and considered it a particular- scale in Egypt as early as the 4th century B.C. so that in memory of that rulership he is still ly meritorious act to make a gift of cocks. (F. In his Historia animalium (6.2), Aristotle ob- called the Persian bird. That is why even now Zeuner, A History of Domesticated Animals, served: “In some cases, as in Egypt, eggs are he struts about like the Great King, wearing 1963, 443-50; I. Mason, Evolution of Domes- hatched spontaneously in the ground, by be- his headgear erect.” (483-7). ticated Animals, 1984, 298-302; F. Simoons, ing buried in dung heaps." Diodorus Siculus Eat not this Flesh, 1994, 154; Cock, in: En- amplified on this in his description of Egypt: Expressions such as the term “Persian bird” cyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 5, fasc. 8, 878-882). “And the most astonishing fact is that, by used by Aristophanes, or the variant “Persian reason of their unusual application to such cock” employed by the slightly older poet Crat- The cock’s usefulness as a timekeeper that matters, the men who have charge of poultry inus (Athenaios, Deipnosophistae 374d), re- roused the sleeper before daybreak was also and geese, in addition to producing them in flect the eastern origin of the domestic chicken valued in ancient Greece. The Greek word for the natural way known to all mankind, raise (Gallus domesticus), which is thought to have cock, alektryon, means “awakener", and Pei- them by their own hands, by virtue of a skill descended from the jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) setairos paints a vivid picture of the sudden peculiar to them, in numbers beyond telling; 10 CQ Cahn’s Quarterly 1/2020 for they do not use the birds for hatching Interestingly, chicken farming appears to tbsp finely chopped dried onions and driz- the eggs, but, in effecting this themselves have depended more heavily on a wealthy zle the dressing over the salad. Sprinkle artificially by their own wit and skill in an clientele than other branches of agriculture. with snow immediately before serving. astounding manner, they are not surpassed Columella points out: “It is only worth while by the operations of nature.” (Bibliotheca to go to these expenses and to this trouble Picentine Bread historica 1.74.1). These hatcheries may have in places near the city, or in other locations (After Pliny, Naturalis historia 18.27) resembled those described by René-Antoine where the prices of hens and their produce Ferchault de Réaumur in his treatise The are high.” Similarly, he recommends fatten- Art of Hatching and Bringing Up Domestick ing “the largest birds for the more sump- Fowls, published in 1750. “These ovens,” he tuous feasts; for thus a worthy recompense noted, “which Egypt ought to be prouder of attends one’s trouble and expense.” (RR 8.4, than of her pyramids, are not buildings that 8.7). If one compares the prices listed in the, strike the eye by their loftiness.” Rather, it admittedly much later, Edict on Maximum was their length and internal structure that Prices issued in 301 A.D. by Emperor Diocle- rendered them remarkable: Numerous in- tian, it is indeed striking that chicken meat cubation chambers, each large enough for and eggs were rather expensive products. 4-5,000 eggs to be spread out on the ground The maximum price for a chicken was fixed were built along a narrow central corridor. at 60 denarii; as such it was cheaper than a Above them, in a second row of chambers, goose (unfattened 100 denarii, fattened 200 dung was burnt in order to produce the re- denarii) but significantly more expensive quired incubation temperature. (14-17). Such than pork or beef (12 resp. 8 denarii for 1 “Picenum,” Pliny notes, “still maintains its hatcheries, which are still operated in Egypt libra/326 g). An egg was priced at 1 denar- ancient reputation for making the bread today, albeit using lamps to regulate the tem- ius, the same amount as 1 libra of dessert which it was the first to invent, alica (spelt perature, have the advantage that the chicks grapes. By comparison, an unskilled worker semolina or groats) being the grain em- can be hatched without a reduction of the earned about 25 denarii per day and a skilled ployed. The flour is kept in soak for nine hens’ laying performance. (O. Thieme et al., worker received 50-75 denarii in addition to days, and is kneaded on the tenth with rai- The Oldest Hatcheries are Still in Use, in: food and lodging per day. The various chick- sin juice, in the shape of long rolls; after Aviculture-Europe, June 2012). en dishes in De re coquinaria, a compilation which it is baked in an oven in earthen of recipes attributed to the gourmet Apicius, pots until they break. This bread, how- In the Roman Empire, chickens were gen- were more likely to be intended for the law- ever, is never eaten until it has been well erally kept on a smaller scale. According to yer, who was allowed to charge 250 denarii soaked, which is mostly done in milk or Columella, writing in the 1st century A.D., for opening a case and another 1,000 denarii mulsum (wine sweetend with honey).” For “200 head are the limit which should be for pleading it.