Martin Zázik – Miroslava Daňová:
The Food of the Gods in the Empire of Man. Mushrooms and their use in everyday life and medicine in classical antiquity

Abstract

The Food of the Gods in the Empire of Man. Mushrooms and their use in everyday life and medicine in classical antiquity

In antiquity, references to a very specific type of food began to appear for the first time in literary works. This food had already been noticed by the Greeks, who remained very skeptical about its consumption. The Romans, on the contrary, highly valued it. It became very popular, especially with the wealthy class of Roman society. This food changed history at least once – when it became the tool for the murder of Emperor Claudius. And while Emperor Tiberius paid 200,000 sesterces to establish whether or not this was the best type of food, the Roman intelligent class warned ordinary people about it. We are talking about mushrooms, the food of the gods.

Language: english

Keywords: Classical antiquity; mushrooms; medicine; diet; poisoning; toadstool; boletus; fungi; suillus; truffles.