Fruit farming started around 6000 BC with crops such as figs, plums and grapes in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Two species of fig were known to the ancient Egyptians, the sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus) and the common fig (Ficus carica).
Sycomore fig trees were personified as goddesses in Egyptian art, and were perceived as dispensers of nourishment. The tree goddess is often shown in paintings and reliefs as a small figure crouched in the top of a tree or as a standing figure from whose head grows a small sycomore tree.
In ancient Egypt the sycomore fig was highly value for its fruit or syconia. Fig also can be fermented in to a fig wine. The species was widely use in Pharaonic medicine and is still use in folk medicine.
At that time, a special tool was used for the purpose of gashing sycomore fruits. Theophrastus (372-287 BC) witnessed this practice and correctly notes that after gashing.
The sycamore fig is referred to frequently in ancient Egyptian texts, thus in the Eighteenth Dynasty and in 251 BC sycamore wood to be used for building a boat is mentioned, and in the Twentieth Dynasty statues of the wood and sycamore gardens are also mentioned.
History of fig in ancient Egypt
Food History is a resource for anybody interested in food history. Articles exploring various issues of food history will be featured regularly. Learning food history means that cultural study which involves multidisciplinary approaches from economics, sociology and demography, and even literature.
Saturday, October 06, 2018
THE MOST POPULAR POSTS
-
Pancakes are ancient food. The word pancakes appears in print as early as 1430. Pancakes may have been around since Neolithic humans domest...
-
History of Appetizers and Hors d’oeuvre Appetizers and hors of d’oeuvre the latter literally meaning “outside of the work”- assume a wide v...
-
5000 B.C. Wheat flour, believed to originate in the Middle East, serves as the basis of the first “noodles.” Chinese ate pasta as early as 5...
-
Falafel is an ancient dish that has been popular in Egypt and now the rest of the Middle East. The history of falafel goes back to the day...
-
Maggi is owned by Nestlé: seasonings are their main products. Maggi really grew on its dehydrated soups-an instant food at the start of the ...
-
The advent of agriculture changed the lives of the people. The Nomads started to settle, built villages and kept cattle. But even in the adv...
-
History of Milk The Holstein breed outnumbers all others used in the United States for the production of milk. Jersey and Guernsey breeds...
-
Food History The Cro-Magnon were highly skilled and inventive hunters, who varied their techniques according the season and prey. Probably t...
