Ancient Egypt - Fruit and Vegetables

Ancient Egypt: Fruit and vegetables
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Ancient Egypt: Vegetables, fruit and oil
Fruit and vegetables
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Many
Egyptians had a
garden adjacent
to their house,
where they grew
vegetables and
fruit. Vegetables the "crop of the
year" - were
grown all year
round, irrigated
by hand and
formed an
important part of
their diet.
May the
king give
an offering
(to) Osiris, the great god, that he may
grant an invocation offering of bread,
beer, cattle, fowl, and every good and
pure thing, every kind of vegetable...
Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith
Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith
(Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
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Vegetables
How basic vegetables were on the ordinary
Egyptian's menu can be seen in this complaint of
striking workers during the reign of Ramses III
We are starving hungry. Our tongue
wasted away in thirst. No cloth is left.
We are lacking oil. We have no fish, not
even vegetables.
Onions, which celibate priests were forbidden to
eat because of their aphrodisiacal effects, were a
staple food.
On the pyramid (of Cheops) it is
declared in Egyptian writing how much
was spent on radishes and onions and
leeks for the workmen, and if I rightly
remember that which the interpreter
said in reading to me this inscription, a
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sum of one thousand six hundred

talents of silver was spent;
Herodotus, Histories II, Project Gutenberg
Garlic was highly valued. According to Pliny

Garlic and onions are invoked by the Egyptians ,
when taking an oath, in the number of their deities.
Ramses III ordered garlic to be distributed in large
quantities in the temples. The Israelites who had
become accustomed to the Egyptian diet of bread,
fish and vegetables, complained when they were
wandering in the desert [3]
5 We remember the fish , which we
did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers,
and the melons, and the leeks, and the
onions, and the garlick.
Numbers 11
Leeks [6] are also mentioned in the Ebers papyrus

and in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor the
narrator found all kinds of food on his deserted
island:
When I grew hungry and looked
about for food, I found all ready for
me within easy reach: figs and grapes,
all manner of good herbs, berries and
grain, melons of all kinds, fishes and
birds for the taking.
Egyptian melon, faience
Middle Kingdom
Source: Keimer, op.cit
Radishes,
choriander,
cabbages, endive [7],
cucumbers, watermelons, melons [13] and raphanus, a
wild radish tasting like turnip, were grown widely.
According to Athenaeus the Egyptians ate boiled
cabbage before all the rest of the food considering it
one of the most delicate vegetables. The tubercular
Arum colocasia, one of the plants loosely referred
to as lotus, was also relished [5]. Mallow was added
to soups [12].
The poor ate the roots of papyrus and other plants
gathered in the marshes. The lotos mentioned by
Herodotus with its round root was possibly the
White Lotus.
When the river has become full and
the plains have been flooded, there
grow in the water great numbers of
lilies, which the Egyptians call lotos;
these they cut with a sickle and dry in
the sun, and then they pound that which
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grows in the middle of the lotos and

which is like the head of a poppy, and
they make of it loaves baked with fire.
The root also of this lotos is edible and
has a rather sweet taste: it is round in
shape and about the size of an apple.
Herodotus, Histories II, 2.92
Project Gutenberg
A second 'lily' variety Herodotus describes was

probably the Sacred Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, an
import from India, and not the traditionally depicted
blue lotus.
There are other lilies too, in flower
resembling roses, which also grow in
the river, and from them the fruit is
produced in a separate vessel
springing from the root by the side of
the plant itself, and very nearly
resembles a wasp's comb: in this there
grow edible seeds in great numbers of
the size of an olive-stone, and they are
eaten either fresh or dried. Besides
this they pull up from the fens the
papyrus which grows every year, and
the upper parts of it they cut off and
turn to other uses, but that which is left
below for about a cubit in length they
eat or sell: and those who desire to
have the papyrus at its very best bake
it in an oven heated red-hot, and then
eat it.
Herodotus, Histories II, 2.92
Project Gutenberg
Broad beans, Vicia faba L., the Egyptian used a

Semitic loanword,
,[16] for them, have been a
popular food in Egypt for a long time. The oldest
known broad beans have been found in 5th dynasty
tombs.[14]
Beans, Vigna sinensis, Egyptian
,[15]
have been known since earliest historic times.[14]
They were mentioned in one of Ramses II's paeans
on himself:
Lower Egypt rowed to Upper Egypt for
you, with barley, wheat, salt and beans
without number.
Stela of Ramses II, year 8-9 (Kairo CG 34504)
After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus
Linguae Aegyptiae website, Altgyptisches Wrterbuch, BerlinBrandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften => Historischrhetorische Knigstexte (19.Dynastie) => Heliopolis => Stele
Ramses II. Jahr 8-9 (Kairo CG 34504) => Stele
Statuenanfertigung
In medicine beans were used in remedies against
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constipation, in a remedy for a sick tongue or a

treatment for male urinary complaints.[14] According
to Herodotus, who travelled through Egypt in the
Late Period, beans were ritually unclean and were
not grown for human consumption:
Beans moreover the Egyptians do
not at all sow in their land, and those
which they grow they neither eat raw
nor boil for food; nay the priests do
not endure even to look upon them,
thinking this to be an unclean kind of
pulse.
Herodotus, Histories II
Project Gutenberg
Egyptian melon, faience
Middle Kingdom
Source: Keimer, op.cit
Diodorus thought that the

Egyptians were forbidden to eat
beans and chick peas in order to
teach them the value of
abstention. But legumes were found as offerings in
tombs. During the times of Ramses III the priests of
Thebes and Memphis received donations of beans.
Lupins, lentils, chick peas and peas (since the
Middle Kingdom) were also consumed. Lentils, easy
to keep while dry, were a commodity occasionally
used in trading. According to the story of
Wenamen's journey 21 measures of lentils were part
of the payment the Egyptian ambassador gave to the
ruler of Byblos for a shipload of timber.
The lettuce was dedicated to the god Min, and
was often protected by a little statue of the god. Its
leaves were eaten whole, dipped in oil and salt, and
were frequently part of votive offerings, having a
reputation for being an aphrodisiac and enhancing
fertility.
Fruit
Since the middle of the third
millennium BCE dates were
grown, though they were not of
high quality. The palmtree,
imposing when fully grown, was
also planted for shade
there is a large city
named Chemmis in the
Theban district near Neapolis, and in
this city there is a temple of Perseus
the son of Danae which is of a square
shape, and round it grow date-palms.
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and its form influenced architecture

for the tomb of Amasis also, though
it is further from the sanctuary than
that of Apries and his forefathers, yet
this too is within the court of the
temple, and it consists of a colonnade
of stone of great size, with pillars
carved to imitate date-palms, and
otherwise sumptuously adorned
Apple (tpHtepeh), olive

(Dtdjet), and pomegranate
(nhmnehem) [11], trees were
brought to Egypt during the reign
of the Hyksos or later. Mulberry
trees reached Egypt from
Armenia or Persia before or during the New
Kingdom. Pears, peaches, almonds and cherries
were not introduced until the Roman period, but
figs, grapes and the not always very tasty sycamore
figs [4] which could be harvested from April to
December, were known from early times [2].
Coconuts were an imported luxury fruit affordable
only to the rich.
May I walk every day unceasingly on
the banks of my water, may my soul rest
on the branches of the trees which I
have planted, may I refresh myself in
the shadow of my sycamore.
Egyptian tomb inscription, ca. 1400 BCE
Other fruit trees grown were the Dellach palm

tree, mimusops, the shrublike jujube (Chinese date,
Ziziphus jujuba ) and the drought resistant balanites
which has datelike fruit and succulent leaves that
are excellent feed for goats.
Ramses III allotted the Amen-Re temple figs,
grapes, dom-palm fruit, pomegranates. Other items
are not as well specified: there are two instances of
all (kinds of) fine fruit and of fruit and a number of
fruit have not been identified:
Mehiwet: cakes 3100
Khitana-fruit: heket 310
Khitana-fruit: bundles 6200
James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four,
240
Some of these fruit were only eaten fresh, but

many were dried in order to preserve them. Jars of
raisins were allotted by the thousands to the Nile
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god temple by Ramses III, as were dried dates.

The Egyptian climate was not
favourable to growing olives; and
olive oil, known by the Semitic
zayit meaning olive continued to
be imported.
The Arsinoite Nome (i.e.
the Fayum) is the most
remarkable of all, both on account of
its scenery and its fertility and
cultivation. For it alone is planted with
large, perfect, and richly productive
olive-trees, and the oil is good when
carefully prepared; those who are
neglectful may, indeed, obtain oil in
abundance, but it has a bad smell. In
the rest of Egypt the olive-tree is never
seen, except in the gardens of
Alexandria, where under favourable
circumstances they yield olives, but no
oil.
Strabo, Geography, Book XVII, 35
Oil
Olive oil [1][8] was used for lighting, but one may
surmise it was used in the preparation of food as
well. Olive oil jars were labelled
[.... olive oil from the great] olive tree
plantation(?) of the House of the
Million [Years belonging to the king of
Upper and Lower Egypt ...... in the
temple of Amen lying on the banks(?)
of Ka : [...] jars.
Inscription on an olive oil jar fragment
Ostracon Qurna 619/5
Other trees were grown for oil before the

introduction of the olive, among them the Moringa.
From the little that we know, it appears that
Egyptian ointments were made with nut oil, but it is
probable that animal as well as vegetable grease was
employed for this purpose too. The common people,
both men and women anointed themselves with the
oil of the kikki (castor-berry, Ricinus communis) [9].
And for anointing those of the
Egyptians who dwell in the fens use oil
from the castor-berry, which oil the
Egyptians call kiki, and thus they
do:--they sow along the banks of the
rivers and pools these plants, which in
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a wild form grow of themselves in the

land of the Hellenes; these are sown in
Egypt and produce berries in great
quantity but of an evil smell; and when
they have gathered these some cut
them up and press the oil from them,
others again roast them first and then
boil them down and collect that which
runs away from them. The oil is fat and
not less suitable for burning than
olive-oil, but it gives forth a
disagreeable smell.
Oils were also pressed from almonds, sesame

(since Ptolemaic times), linseed (flax), raphanus,
selgam (cole-seed), and seemga.
Seasonality
A small number of fruit and vegetables like garlic,
onions, carobs, dates, or nuts, kept for quite a while,
some could be preserved by drying, a technique
known to the ancient Egyptians, although the
frequency of its implementation with perishable
food stuffs is unknown. But most had to be
consumed when they were ripe or processed into a
product that would keep. Surplus produce could also
be marketed locally, but few vegetables could be
sent far afield without spoiling. Therefore, people
mostly had to make do with what they themselves or
their neighbours grew in their gardens, which
resulted in their choice being much more limited
than a list of fruit and vegetables known to have
been grown in Egypt [10] might suggest.
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Spring
figs
sycamore
figs
plums
water
melons
lettuce
colocynth
leeks
melons
tiger nuts
cucumbers
fenugreek
melons
sycamore figs
tiger nuts
cucumbers
fenugreek
dates
pomegranates
grapes
olives
cumin
ziziphus
carobs
carobs
lettuce
garlic
celery
radishes
lentils
black
cumin
coriander
peas
sycamore
figs
garlic
celery
radishes
lentils
black
cumin
coriander
peas
broad
beans
onions
chick pea
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Bibliography:
Joan Pilsbury Alcock Food in the Ancient World, 2006
Greenwood Press
Hames H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Chicago 1906,
5 volumes
Herodotus, Euterpe
Ludwig Keimer, Sur quelques petits fruits en faence maille
datant du Moyen Empire, BIFAO 28 (1929)
M. Lichtheim Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume One
Pliny, Natural History, (eds. John Bostock, H.T. Riley)
Strabo, Geography
Picture sources:
[ ] Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith: Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston
[ ] Photos of date palm, olive tree and sycamore: Andr
Dollinger
Footnotes:
[3] This reference from the bible should not be considered a
contemporary historical source, but rather a reflection of the
traditional view the Hebrews had of their sojourns in Egypt.
Even if there is no direct historical evidence for this, the
assumption that the semi-nomadic Israelites reached the Nile
occasionally in their wanderings seems reasonable.
[4] Sycamore figs do not ripen properly unless a little fly enters
them. In the absence of these flies, notching the fruit a few days
before picking will cause it to ripen, a fact known since the
Middle Kingdom at least:
I found figs and grapes there, all sorts of fine
vegetables, sycamore figs, unnotched and
notched
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
M. Lichtheim, p. 212
Pliny described the sycamore in his Natural History not always

quite accurately (the fruit does contain seeds of course, it is
sweet during spring, but not very much so in summer and
autumn, etc.):
It bears fruit, not upon branches, but upon the
trunk itself: the fig is remarkable for its
extreme sweetness, and has no seeds in it. This
tree is also remarkable for its fruitfulness,
which, however, can only be ensured by making
incisions in the fruit with hooks of iron, for
otherwise it will not come to maturity. But
when this has been done, it may he gathered
within four days, immediately upon which
another shoots up in its place. Hence it is that
in the year it produces seven abundant crops,
and throughout all the summer there is an
abundance of milky juice in the fruit. Even if
the incisions are not made, the fruit will shoot
afresh four times during the summer, the new
fruit supplanting the old, and forcing it off
before it has ripened.
Pliny, Natural History, Book XIII, chapter 14
Faience sycamore fruit, Middle Kingdom
The fruit itself is reddish-brown, the excised part black, a
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truthful rendering of what happened to real fruit where the

originally white sap coloured the cut (and the hand cutting
it) black.
Source: Keimer, op.cit , plate I
Nowadays the incision is generally made

near the ostiolum, on some Middle
Kingdom faience sycamore fruit, on the other hand, the cut is
indicated on the side of the fruit (Ludwig Keimer, op.cit , p.52)
[5]
Among the varieties of the bulb, too, there is
the plant known in Egypt by the name of
"aron." In size it is very nearly as large as the
squill, with a leaf like that of lapathum, and a
straight stalk a couple of cubits in length, and
the thickness of a walking-stick: the root of it
is of a milder nature, so much so, indeed, as to
admit of being eaten raw.
Pliny, Book XIX
[6] The Egyptian soil, enriched by the annual Nile flood, seems
to have rewarded the efforts of the leek growers with
outstanding results:
It is a remarkable fact, that, though the leek
stands in need of manure and a rich soil, it has
a particular aversion to water; and yet its
nature depends very much upon the natural
properties of the soil. The most esteemed leeks
are those grown in Egypt, and next to them
those of Ostia and Aricia
Pliny, Book XIX, 33
[7] Pliny gives a list of Egyptian edible plants, not all of which
have been identified:
the wild endive is known as "cichorium," the
cultivated kind being called "seris." This last
is smaller than the other, and the leaves of it
more full of veins.
Pliny, Book XX, 29
In Egypt, next to the colocasia, it is the

cichorium that is held in the highest esteem, a
plant which we have already spoken of under
the name of wild endive. It springs up after the
rising of the Vergiliae, and the various
portions of it blossom in succession: the root is
supple, and hence is used for making withes
even. The anthalium grows at a greater
distance from the river; the fruit of it is round,
and about the size of a medlar, but without
either kernel or rind; the leaves of the plant
are similar to those of the cyperus. The people
there eat the fruit of it cooked upon the fire, as
also of the oetum (the earth pistachio), a plant
which has a few leaves only, and those
extremely diminutive, though the root is large
in proportion. The arachidna (possibly a kind
of vetch), again, and the aracos have numerous
branchy roots, but neither leaves nor any
herbaceous parts, nor, indeed, anything that
makes its appearance above ground.
The other plants that are commonly eaten in
Egypt are the chondrylla, the hypochoeris, the
caucalis, the anthriscum, the scandix, the
come, by some persons known as the
tragopogon, with leaves very similar to those
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of saffron, the parthenium, the trychnum, and

the corchorus (Corchorus olitorius L.); with
the aphace and acynopos, which make their
appearance at the equinox. There is a plant
also, called the epipetron, which never
blossoms; while the aphace, on the other hand,
as its flowers die, from time to time puts forth
fresh ones, and remains in blossom throughout
the winter and the spring, until the following
summer.
Pliny,Book XXI, 52
[8] Pliny considered Syrian olives superior to the Egyptian

variety
In Egypt, too, the berries, which are
remarkably meaty, are found to produce but
very little oil
Pliny, Book XV, 4
[9]
A third oil is that made of the fruit of the cicus,
a tree which grows in Egypt in great
abundance; by some it is known as croton, by
others as sili, and by others, again, as wild
sesamon...Our people are in the habit of
calling it "ricinus," from the resemblance of
the seed to that insect. It is boiled in water, and
the oil that swims on the surface is then
skimmed off: but in Egypt, where it grows in a
greater abundance, the oil is extracted without
employing either fire or water for the purpose,
the seed being first sprinkled with salt, and
then subjected to pressure: eaten with food this
oil is repulsive, but it is very useful for burning
in lamps.
Pliny, Book XV, 7
[11] tpH (19th dynasty) , Dt , nhm (Middle Kingdom) are

semitic loanwords.
[12] Alcock 2006, p.58
[13] Seeds of melons and watermelons were (and still are)
eaten as snacks in the whole Near East.
[14] Lise Manniche, An ancient Egyptian herbal, University of
Texas Press, 1989, p. 154
[15] MdC transliteration jwr.yt, Wb 1, 56.14-15
[16] MdC transliteration prj, Wb 1, 531.12. Arabic ful, still a
staple food in Egypt.
Food
Index of Topics
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[1] Farming at Karanis (University of Michigan)

[2] History of Horticulture by Jules Janick
(Purdue University)
[10] Fruit and vegetable species from selected
sites (University College London)
Feedback: Please report broken links, mistakes - factual or otherwise, etc. to

me. Thanks.
2000
Updates:
November 2010
February 2007
February 2005
August 2004
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