While many kinds of merchandise traveled along the Silk Road, the name comes from the popularity of Chinese silk in the west and especially in Rome. The Silk Road routes stretched from China through India, Asia Minor, up throughout Mesopotamia, to Egypt, the African continent, Greece, Rome, and Britain. This Road was an ancient network...
Agrippina the Younger was the great-granddaughter of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. Her parents were general, Germanicus, and Agrippina the Elder. Her brother was Emperor Caligula, and her sisters were Drusilla and Livilla. She was born at Ara Ubiorum (modern-day Cologne) on 6 November 15 C.E. In 28. A.D. at the age of 13, she...
The story of thyme goes back to Sumerians some 5,500 years ago. As far as we know, they were the first to use it as a condiment and medicine. In ancient Egypt it was among the ingredients they used to mummify the dead. In ancient Greece, since Homer years thyme apart from condiment it was...
Garlic has a long history starting some 6,000 years before Christ. The first who found the plant and used it were the Indians in Asia. The Indian merchants, in turn, made it known to Babylonians and Assyrians and they brought it to all important civilizations of that era. In Egypt, it was consumed by all...
Valencia on the east coast of Spain, is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, with around 1.5–2.5 million depending on how the metropolitan area is defined. The Port of Valencia is the 5th busiest container port in Europe and the busiest container port...
The Dauphiné is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes. In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon (c.1095–1142) bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed “le Dauphin” (French for dolphin). His descendants...
I am sure most of you have heard or seen the movie “300” talking about the brave resistance and the heroic death of the 300 Spartans fighting the Persians during the Persian Wars in ancient Greek history. What perhaps you may not know is that Spartan community was a very strict, military oriented society with...
Although paprika is mostly known as Hungarian, truth is that its homeland is south America. In several vessels that were found in Incas tombs dated thousand years ago there were pictured capsicum plants. Incas also buried their dead as mummies with capsicum plants with them. Some historians believe that a doctor traveling with Christopher Columbus...
In many of my posts I have described several of Hercules’ Labors in order to be forgiven for the deaths of his wife and children after Hera’s spell that made him lose his mind. When Hercules completed the cycle of the labors he planted an olive tree outside Hera’s temple in ancient Olympia. Olympia was...
Pies with or without phyllo are an essential part of Greek culture and kitchen. Throughout Greece there is a vast range of diverse types of pies that are made locally with goods that can be found in nature. Basically, there are two types of pies; the ones with meat and the meatless. Meatless pies are...
