Lesson plan
Apicius
Apicius, also known as De re culinaria or De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), is a collection of Roman cookery recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century AD, or earlier. Its language is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin, with later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ficatum, bullire) added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as iecur, fervere). The book has been attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE" or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It has also been attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. The book also may have been authored by a number of different Roman cooks from the first century AD. Many of the recipes contain the ingredient silphium, which is speculated to have become extinct in the first century AD, which supports the earlier date. However, based on textual analysis, the food scholar Bruno Laurioux believes that the surviving version dates only from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of De Re Coquinaria indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".
Article summary
Apicius, also known as De re culinaria or De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), is a collection of Roman cookery recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century AD, or earlier. Its language is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin, with later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ficatum, bullire) added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as iecur, fervere). The book has been attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE" or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It has also been attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. The book also may have been authored by a number of different Roman cooks from the first century AD. Many of the recipes contain the ingredient silphium, which is speculated to have become extinct in the first century AD, which supports the earlier date. However, based on textual analysis, the food scholar Bruno Laurioux believes that the surviving version dates only from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of De Re Coquinaria indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.