Copy 1, Volume 2

The history of the manners and customs of ancient Greece / By J.A. St. John.

  • St. John, James Augustus, 1795-1875.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of the manners and customs of ancient Greece / By J.A. St. John. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    quivers curiously adorned, feathered arrows, and bows of polished horn, tipped at either end with gold. From these gorgeous and costly commodities the reader, we fear, will be reluctant to accompany us into the kitchen, where we must pick our way among kneading-troughs, pots and pans, Delphian cutlery^ and honey-jars.^ But as without these the warriors, as Homer himself acknowledges, could make but little use of their weapons, it is absolutely necessary we should inquire into their cooking conveniences. To commence, however, we must allow ^ Clearchos of Soli, to enumerate a few of the articles found among the furniture of this important part of the house. There was, first, says he, a three-legged table, then a chytra, or earthen pot, which, as in France, was always preferred for making soup. It was not, however, of coarse brown ware, as with us; for, Socrates, in his conversation with Hippias on the Beautiful, observes that, when properly made, round, smooth, and well-baked, the chytra was very handsome, particularly that large sort which con¬ tained upwards of seven gallons. It had two handles, and was evidently glazed.^ In stirring the chytra while boiling, the Attic cook made choice of a ladle turned from the wood of the fig-tree, which, it is said, communicated an agreeable flavour to the soup, and, in Socrates’s opinion, was prefer¬ able to one of gold which, being very weighty, might chance to crack the pot, spill the broth, and extinguish the fire.^ There was used in the kitchen a sort of candela¬ brum, or lamp-stand, which Clearchos merely names. Then followed the mortar, the stool, the sponge, the cauldron, the kneading-trough, the mug, the oil- 1 Hesych. v. AeXcpiKrj fid^aipa. ^ Athen. xiv. 60. 2 Athen. xi. 50, dlivrj, a vi- Plat. Hipp. Maj. t. v. p. 425, negar cruet.—Sch. Aristoph. Eq. sqq. 1301. ^ pickle-jar.—Vesp. ^ Plat. 0pp. t. v. p. 429. seq. 676. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 244.