Diet and Daily Routine

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Alex K.

Diet and Daily Routine

Post by Alex K. »

Ok, we know that Alexander rose early, took a siesta in the afternoon, then hunted and practiced with the sword, and then joined his companions for a long feast in the evening. He didn't "exercise" (in fact he loathed professional athletes) and only approved of wrestling, though we don't know if he practiced it. What did Alexander eat though? Did he take breakfast? Lunch before his siesta? He was supposedly trained as a Spartan as far as eating goes, but what about all those nights where he indulged in wine? What would his eating habbits in this big-table feasts be?Also what did his diet consist of? I have only heard of fruits as breakfast in Ancient Greek diets, and that upper classes usually enjoyed meat, stuffed pork with various birds, vegetables and spices inside etc. What would AtG usually go for though given that he was often on campaign and mustn't have had the chance to always have what he would like. If there is no evidence of when, what and how much he ate, what can we reasonably assume given the times, his character, and other evidence we have?
nickw

Re: is there still no answer?

Post by nickw »

Dear Alek ---After 24 hours there is still no answer to your post. That is rare. I suppose it has to do with some assumptions in your questions.Your wrote:"Ok, we know that Alexander rose early, took a siesta in the afternoon, then hunted and practiced with the sword, and then joined his companions for a long feast in the evening."Well, you write "we know", but I wonder where you got this information from. This is surely not common knowlegde in the pothos.org circles. I never heard of Alexander's "siesta's"."He didn't "exercise" (in fact he loathed professional athletes) and only approved of wrestling, though we don't know if he practiced it."Again, I am not aware of any source for this. Are we talking about the same person?"What did Alexander eat though? Did he take breakfast? Lunch before his siesta? He was supposedly trained as a Spartan as far as eating goes, but what about all those nights where he indulged in wine? What would his eating habits in this big-table feasts be?"And seriously, after so many assumptions stated as facts, I have no clue how to answer your post.Please, it would be very informative if you explained the source of your knowledge first.(Alexander hated sleep. That's what the sources say. I don't think he indulged in siesta's.)Regards ---Nick
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amyntoros
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Re: Diet and Daily Routine

Post by amyntoros »

Hi Alex, Alexander definitely ate breakfast - sitting (not reclining), according to Plutarch [Alexander 23]. What he ate was another matter, although I doubt it was just fruit. The only recorded details I know of about breakfast is that of Hephaistion on the day he died where he "sat down to breakfast, devoured a boiled fowl and washed it down with a great cooler-full of wine." [Plutarch, Alexander 72] This may not have been the norm - the wine, I mean - but then again there's no reason to assume that others didn't drink wine at breakfast either. (Someone I've been corresponding with is taking this quote to mean that it was *Hephaistion* who had a serious drinking problem. I don't think it can be interpreted this way unless we know for sure that no one else took wine with their breakfast!) As for the boiled fowl, well it probably wasn't a particularly unusual breakfast. I don't know when the practice began of eating specific "breakfast" foods, but I doubt it existed in ancient times. They don't appear to have eaten lunch, or at least I've found no reference to it. Breakfast and dinner are the only two meals ever mentioned. Again, what Alexander ate for dinner when on campaign is questionable. Even though his tastes are recorded as being frugal [Plutarch, Alexander 22 where he refuses Ada's offer of her cooks] it doesn't necessarily follow that only the simplest food was provisioned for him. As for the banquets, well, it's recorded in Athenaeus [4.146 c - d] that they were expensive affairs. "Alexander the Great, every time he dined with his friends, according to Ephippus of Olynthus, in the book which describes the demise of Alexander and Hephaestion, spent one hundred minas, (1-1/2 talents) there being perhaps sixty or seventy friends at dinner. But the Persian king, as Ctesias and Dionon (in his Persian History) say, used to dine in company with 15,000 men, and four hundred talents were expended on the dinner. This amounts, in the coinage of Italy, to 2,400,000 denarii, which, divided among 15,000 men, make 160 denarii, Italic currency, for each man. Consequently it comes to the same sum as that spent by Alexander, which was one hundred minas, as Ephippus related." Continued. . .
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Continued. . .

Post by amyntoros »

I don't know of a reference to the actual foods served to Alexander, but there's one, also in Athenaeus, about an elaborate Macedonian wedding banquet and I think the dishes would certainly be comparable. This is the wedding of a man called Caranus, and the great grandson of Alexander's childhood nurse, Lanice, was present, so it's pretty much in the right time-frame. The guests were given many gifts during the banquet, some of them containing the actual foods served. The various dishes are as follows:"And after they had emptied their cups, they were each given a bronze platter of Corinthian manufacture, containing a loaf as wide as the platter; also chickens and ducks, and ringdoves, too, and a goose, and an abundance of suchlike viands piled high. . . following which came a second platter of silver, on which again lay a huge loaf, and geese, hares, young goats, and curiously moulded cakes besides, pigeons, turtle-doves, partridges, and other fowl in plenty. . . After dinner, namely a silver platter gilded all over to no little thickness, and large enough to hold the whole of a roast pig - a big one, too - which lay on its back upon it; the belly, seen from above, disclosed that it was full of many bounties. For, roasted inside it, were thrushes, ducks, and warblers, in unlimited number, pease puree poured over eggs, oysters, and scallops; all of which, towering high, was presented to each guest, platters and all. . . our attention was next engrossed in a warm and almost neat drink, the wines at our disposal being Thasian, Mendaean, and Lesbian; and very large gold cups were handed to each guest. After this draught we were all presented with a crystal platter about two cubits in diameter, lying in a silver receptacle and full of a collection of all kinds of baked fish; also a sliver bread-rack containing Cappadocian loaves of which we ate some and gave the rest to the slaves."The above excerpts are all from Athenaeus 4.128 c - 131 e and there's a sarcastic comment towards the end about the differences between this kind of banquet and those held at Athens. "But you, staying in Athens, think it happiness rather to listen to the precepts of Theophrastus, eating wild thyme and rocket-seed and your esteemed rolls while you attend the festivals of the Lenaea and the Pots! We, however, have carried away a fortune from Caranus's banquet instead of trifling portions, and are now looking for houses or lands or slaves to buy."Continued . . .
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Re: Continued. . .

Post by amyntoros »

Of course, even though Alexander's banquets probably consisted of similar dishes, none of this means that Alexander himself over-indulged in the food. In fact, there's another quote from Plutarch (Alexander 23) which suggests that he didn't. " In the matter of delicacies, too, he himself, at all events, was master of his appetite, so that often, when the rarest fruits or fish were brought to him from the sea-coast, he would distribute them to each of his companions until he was the only one for whom nothing remained."Best regards,Amyntoros
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Re: is there still no answer?

Post by amyntoros »

Hi Nick,I've noticed that Pothos often gets quieter Friday thru Sunday so that's probably why no one else has answered. (Took me a while to find the refs for my own answer, BTW) Anyway, Alex's comment about Alexander not exercising didn't register with me - I certainly agree that it isn't true, but there is a quote somewhere about him disliking "professional" athletes. Something about their bodies been out of proportion because of their training in specific events. If no one quotes it I'll look it up.However, there *is* a reference to Alexander taking naps although it was at midday and not in the afternoon. :-) It's in Arrian, I.25.6-7. "They were also troubled by an omen: while Alexander was still besieging Halicarnassus and was taking his midday rest, a swallow circled over his head chattering loudly, and perched here and there on his bed; its song was noisier than the usual swallow's twittering. [7] Alexander was too weary to awaken, but troubled by the sound, he gently brushed the swallow away; but the bird would not fly off when hit; rather it perched on Alexander's very head and kept on till Alexander was fully awake."ATBAmyntoros
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Re: Continued. . .

Post by ruthaki »

I have read (and will try and check references when I get time) that he ran a fair distance every morning and as well, enjoyed the sport where they jump on and off a chariot. All boys in Alexander's time trained in the gymnasium whether they were planning to compete or not. Obviously they kept very fit to march the distances they did, and also by horse-back riding. As for siestas, I'm sure it was the same then as now for those hot countries that people rest at midday to get out of the boiling sun. And as for drinking wine -- (mabye mixed with water when taken early in the day) -- the water wasn't always fit to drink.
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Re: Continued. . .

Post by elpinice »

More to the point, what didn't he eat? That's amazing.
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Re: Diet and Daily Routine

Post by chris »

The concept that ATG didn't enjoy "exercise" tickles me. Where does hunting fit in here, or being fit enough to go into battle?
Gary

Re: Continued. . .

Post by Gary »

While we don't have a description of an actual meal, I think it is reasonable to surmise what he ate, at least on campaign, based on the many mentions in the sources of foraging parties. I took that to mean that he ate what the soldiers ate, which was usually the locals' cattle, sheep, grains, fruit, or root crops. Of course, occasionally they would have had wild fish or fowl. And I seem to recall there was at one point delight that a baggage train from Macedonia had met the army, bringing fresh supplies of wine and figs and other foodstuffs.Gary
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