![]() ![]() Ībraxas depicted with the head of a chicken During attacks and wars between Iranians and Greeks, the chickens of Hellanic breed came to Iran and about 1000 BC Hellanic chickens came into Sindh through Medan". After the attacks of the Aria people, these fowls spread from Sindh to Balakh and Iran. "About 3200 BC chickens were common in Sindh. Delos seems to have been a center of chicken breeding (Columella, De Re Rustica 8.3.4). In ancient Greece, chickens were still rare and were a rather prestigious food for symposia. Pictures of chickens are found on Greek red figure and black-figure pottery. In Aristophanes's comedy The Birds (414 BC) a chicken is called "the Median bird", which points to an introduction from the East. ![]() The poet Cratinus (mid-5th century BC, according to the later Greek author Athenaeus) calls the chicken "the Persian alarm". Several of Aesop's Fables reference this belief. The Greeks believed that even lions were afraid of roosters. ![]() The term "Persian bird" for the rooster appears to have been given by the Greeks after Persian contact "because of his great importance and his religious use among the Persians". The alleged last words of Socrates as he died from hemlock poisoning, as recounted by Plato, were " Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius will you remember to pay the debt?", signifying that death was a cure for the illness of life. Due to its valor, the cock is found as an attribute of Ares, Heracles, and Athena. In ancient Greece, chickens were not normally used for sacrifices, perhaps because they were still considered exotic animals. The rooster was one of Helios' sacred animals. This fulfilled his promise to Ares for eternity. In anger over Alectryon's incompetence, Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster (a bird that crows as the sun rises) for his disobedience. However, Alectryon fell asleep and Helios, the sun, saw the two lovers and alerted Hephaestus. In Greek mythology, Ares made Alectryon guard his door and alert him if anybody came near while he was sleeping with Aphrodite, wife of Hephaestus. For the use of poultry and eggs in the kitchens of ancient Rome, see Ancient Roman cuisine. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |