bread

[lucian]

All good points! The shield idea was interesting, because I saw "in the footsteps of Alexander the Great" pita bread being made with some sort of metal cap on top of the bread, and then hot sand and dung (appetizing) poured on top of that metal cap in order to trap heat; which is kind of the pit oven idea, why I was wondering if the soldiers knew this. But yeah, I'd have to agree that it was not levened bread, or even the puffy bread that was most likely made at home, it had to have been a flat bread. I recall reading a instance of Roman history, where the poorer people brought their grain over to a public bakery, and the bakers there made the bread, and maybe that might have been a way to do this? But then 40,000 soldiers in any given day waiting for their English muffins, I don't know. And that leads me to think of another thing, they probably needed a lot more water, and I'm not sure if each soldier's ration of water included the amount for bread or gruel. I didn't think about jerky, that's a good idea. The typical Roman soldier (example) for the most part only carried grain, water, and poor quality wine (some say vinegar). Vegetables and farm animals were for long campaigns when they could raise them themselves, but not on the move, and Alexander was definitly always on the move. Which is why I suggested the 4-5 hour lunch (Marcus :0) ), not because its long, but for 40,000 soldiers,servants, baggage, pack animals, women (maybe some children?) that's actually not a lot of time. Those people probably only ate gruel, until they settled down for the night, and then had some bread.

[lucian]

Come to think of it, I don't think Macedonians had good teeth - all that wheat grinding. And that brings me to another point - most of us look at Alexander as this good looking, charming when he wants to be, brave, maybe what every woman (and some men) want...but..did you all ever consider the bad habits the man might have had? say...chewing with his mouth wide open? spitting?? And regardless of the tales of his flesh being "sweet smelling" come on...nearly 12 years in the desert, barely enough water to drink....yeah.It's the armors I tell you, like a well tuned tuxedo, always helps.

[beausefaless]

Hi Nax,
It's very possible the cooks prepared some sort flat cake maybe a crisps or fritters kind of thing. You would have plenty of animal fat to fry your dried grounded meat but of coarse the cake (pemmican) would be the way to go. Certain dried fruits are also very easy to make. Even on a long hike a variety would be the spice of life.
Everything mentioned on this thread would be easy to pack including animal bladders used for carrying water and wine. What a great question!
Regards, Andrew

[xxx]

However, is there ever a record of a man who took so many baths?

[marcus]

LOL!