Use of Carrots by the Ancients (original) (raw)

The first ancient societies arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Middle East, in the Indus valley region of what are now Pakistan and India, in the Huang He (Yellow River) valley of China, on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea, and in Central America. All these civilizations had certain features in common. They built cities and invented forms of writing. They learned to make pottery and use metals. They domesticated animals, and they created fairly complex social structures with class systems.

The single, decisive factor that made it possible for humankind to settle in permanent communities was agriculture. A turning point in human history, the invention of farming and the tremendous changes it brought about have been called the agricultural revolution. After farming was developed in the Middle East about 6500 BCE, people living in tribes or family units did not have to be on the move continually searching for food or herding their animals. Once people could control the production of food and be assured of a reliable annual supply of it, their lives changed completely.

The documentary record on the use or cultivation of carrots by ancient civilisations is very sketchy and conflicting.

It is said that temple drawings from Egypt in 2000 BC show what could be construed as a "carrot" shaped plant, which some Egyptologists believe could be a purple carrot. Egyptian papyruses containing information about treatments with seeds were found in pharaoh crypts, but there is no direct reference to carrot.

Water Co-Management edited by Velma I. Grover, Gail Krantzberg 2013

Technology and Science in Ancient Civilizations edited by Richard G. Olson 2009

What follows are lists of the most common foodstuffs that have been established either archeologically or from literary sources for each major civilization during its early years, supplemented by lists of major items appropriated through cultural exchanges at a later period but before the end of antiquity for each civilization. These lists have been compiled from the food texts in the bibliography. Where I am aware of disputes about whether a foodstuff was available or not, I have generally not included it. In many cases, those foods listed as indigenous came originally from elsewhere but were in place by the time that writing began and/or large cities came into existence.

In almost all cases, grains and vegetables were smaller, harder, differently coloured, and, in the case of vegetables, more bitter, than present day varieties. Classical Greece and Rome had access to almost all foodstuffs in use in Mesopotamia and Egypt, especially after Alexander the Great's conquests (by 323 BCE.) and the maximum extension of the Roman Empire (by 100 ad.) respectively, so I have chosen to emphasize their indigenous foodstuffs and those that they consciously chose to adopt extensively. Mesopotamia: Original grains: einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, barley. Later additions: durum wheat, spelt wheat, bread wheat, millet.

Original vegetables: onions, lettuce, leeks, peas, beans (green, kidney), garlic, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, eggplant, radishes, beets, turnips, chickpeas, lentils. Original fruits: dates, apples, figs, pomegranates, apricots, cherries, pears, plums, quinces. Later additions: grapes. Original meats: sheep, goat, cattle, pig, ducks, geese, quail, fish (about 50 varieties), shellfish, locusts. Later additions: chicken. Dairy products: milk (lower class), butter, cheeses. Original other salt, flax seed, eggs, anise, asafoetida, bay, capers, coriander, cress, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, marjoram, mustard, mint, rue, saffron, sage, thyme. Later additions: sesame, olives, honey, pepper. Egypt: Original grains. emmer wheat, barley. Later additions: bread wheat, spelt wheat. Original vegetables: onions, garlic, leeks, water melons, squashes, cos lettuces, celery, papyrus, lotus, radishes, turnips, mustard greens, lentils, peas, chickpeas, lupines, fenugreek.

Later additions: fava beans. Original fruits: dates, grapes, pomegranates, figs, carobs. Original meats: pigs, sheep, goats, donkeys, cattle, ducks, pigeons, geese, game, freshwater fish, crocodiles. Later additions: chickens. Dairy products: none widely used. Original other salt, duck and goose eggs, linseed, honey, aniseed, asafetida, basil, chervil, cumin, dill, juniper, marjoram, mint, rosemary, rue, sage. Later additions: hens' eggs, olives, safflower, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander.

Turnips were widely used in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, though they were usually a food for the poor or for emergency use when other vegetables were not available. Carrots were widely known but not extensively used, and parsnips were known to the Romans but were not widely used in the ancient world. (Note carrots and parsnips were often inter-changeable)

Handbook of Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Stephen Bertman [Facts on File:New York NY] 2003 (p. 291-293)

The staple crop of ancient farmers around the world was always grain. In Mesopotamia, the chief crop was barley. Rice and corn were unknown, and wheat flourished on a soil less saline than exists in most of Mesopotamia. Thus barley, and the bread baked from its flour, became the staff of life. Mesopotamian bread was ordinarilly coarse, flat, and unleavened, but a more expensive bread could be baked from finer flour. Pieces of just such a bread were...found in the tomb of Queen Puabi of Ur, stored there to provide her spirit with sustenance in the afterlife.

Bread could also be enriched with animal and vegetable fat; milk, butter, and cheese; fruit and fruit juice; and sesame seeds....The gardens of Mesopotamia, watered by irrigation canals, were lush with fruits and vegetables...Among the fruits were apples, apricots, cherries, figs, melons, mulberries, pears, plums, pomegranates, and quinces. The most important fruit crop, especially in southern Mesopotamia, was the date. Rich in sugar and iron, dates were easily preserved. Like barley, the date-palm thrived on relatively saline soil and was one of the first plants farmers domesticated...As for vegetables, the onion was king, along with its cousin, garlic. Other vegetables included lettuce, cabbage, and cucumbers; carrots and radishes; beets and turnips; and a variety of legumes, including beans, peas, and chickpeas.

Curiously, two mainstays of the Mediterranean diet--olives and grapes...were seldom found in Mesopotamian cuisine...to appreciate Mesopotamian daily life our imagination must breath in the pungent aroma of the seasonings that once rose from ancient stoves and filled the air...Coriander, cress, and sumin; fennel, fenugreek, and leek; marjoram, mint, and mustard; rosemary and rue; saffrom and thyme...Cumin...Sheep played an important role in the Mesopotamian economy...Like goats and cows, ewes produced milk that was converted into butter and cheese, but sheep were also slaughtered for meat. Beef was in short supply...pork from pigs [suppelmentd]...Game birds, deer, and gazelle were hunted as well. On farms, domesticated geese and ducks supplied eggs...and from canals and private ponds, came some 50 types of fish, a staple of the Mesopotamian diet. Generally, meats were either dried, smoked, or salted for safekeeping, or they were cooked by roasting, boiling, broiling, or barbecuing.

Cooking in Ancient Civilizations By Cathy K. Kaufman 2006

The most widely consumed vegetables were onions, garlic and leeks. Other vegetables included ancient forms of lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, lentils, chickpeas, broad beans and peas.