Wednesday, July 26, 2023

 

Picnic

Vergil, Aeneid 7.107-111 (tr. C. Day Lewis):
Aeneas, his lieutenants and fair Ascanius
Sat themselves down beneath the boughs of a tall tree
To have a meal. Now it happened—Jupiter prompted the action—
They laid the viands on flat cakes of meal about the grass,
Using those cereal mats to heap the fruits of the earth on.

Aeneas primique duces et pulcher Iulus
corpora sub ramis deponunt arboris altae,
instituuntque dapes et adorea liba per herbam
subiciunt epulis (sic Iuppiter ipse monebat)        110
et Cereale solum pomis agrestibus augent.
A newly discovered fresco from Pompeii shows what they may have been eating (at the left side of the platter):
See Farrell Monaco, "Adoreum: the newly discovered flatbread fresco of Pompeii," BBC News (June 30, 2023), an excellent article.

Related post: Proto-Pizza?



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