What was the diet of ancient Greek slaves from Crete?

Hi, 

The idea of slavery in Ancient Crete (and Greece for that matter), was
much different than what we think of slavery today. There were many
reasons you could be or become a slave. Slaves in many cases had a set
of rights laid down by the local or country law. Care of slaves was
seen as a symbol of the owners status in society. Slaves could own
property, hold positions of business managers, and public
administrators. What they ate, in many cases was what their owners
ate, though perhaps not in the same room depending on the day or
occasion.

Slaves were seen as property, and treated as such. People didn't go
around breaking holes in their own walls or letting their fields go to
seed and weed, and they didn't let slaves starve, nor did they let
them go without proper clothing. Again, the treatment and care of
one's slaves often reflected on the owner's social status, so often
the slaves wore very fine clothing and jewelry.

To become a slave, you could be taken in war, owe money to a family,
be born into slavery, or if things were very rough in your life, offer
yourself to a family as a slave for duration of time. Once a slave you
became the owners property and could be sold or traded as they saw
fit, unless you had a contract with then that stated otherwise.

In Ancient Greece, slavery was often used as a form of apprenticeship
as well. A youth was put in slavery to a family with the idea of
learning a trade, or to learn in general. Slave was a "class" in these
times. Slaves were often awarded sums of money and property on their
owner's death as well.

Crete was a business community. Very little general law was in place,
most law dealt with small areas and ports of the island. In 450 bc
Crete took on the Laws of Gorty. The first of these laws starts out
like this :

" I. Whoever intends to bring suit in relation to a free man or slave,
shall not take action by seizure before trial; but if he do seize him,
let the judge fine him ten staters for the free man, five for the
slave, and let him release him within three days."
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/450-gortyn.html ) 

Which might be a little surprising to us today and the way we think of
a slave's life, but was normal then. Again, slaves were a class of
society and seen as a required class.

Another law regarding the treatment of female slaves from the same
source: " If one debauch a female house-slave by force he shall pay
two staters, but if one already debauched, in the daytime, an obol,
but if at night, two obols."

And another of interest might be : " XI. If a slave going to a free
woman shall wed her, the children shall be free; but if the free woman
to a slave, the children shall be slaves; and if from the same mother
free and slave children be born, if the mother die and there be
property, the free children shall have it; otherwise her free
relatives shall succeed to it."

As we can see there were many ways of becoming a slave even under these laws. 

Available foods:

Crete was not lacking in variety of foods. The people of Crete had
available locally mountain greens, legumes, pulses, meat, fish, honey,
a variety of cheese and wines. Olive oil was a large export and used
in religious ceremonies, medicine and pastry creation.

People and General History:

The people of ancient Crete are called Minoans typically, and had a
decentralized culture based on the land's natural resouces and a huge
amount of commercial activity, with Egypt, Syria, Cyprus and the Greek
mainland.

Evans, an archaeologist who excavated Knossos, named "Minoan" after
the legendary King Minos, divided the Minoan civilization into three
eras, based on the changes of pottery styles. His chronology included
an Early (3000-2100 BC), a Middle (2100-1500 BC), and a Late Minoan
period (1500-1100 BC).
(http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/minoan.html )


" As historians have carefully examined specific slave systems, they
have often expressed surprise over the privileges and even freedom
enjoyed by certain individual slaves. In ancient Babylonia and Rome,
as in the medieval Islamic world and sub-Saharan Africa, slaves served
as soldiers, business agents, and high administrators."
(http://www.yale.edu/glc/forum/davis.html )


" GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC PERIOD (900 - 500 B.C.)

Ever since 900 BC, following the Dorian Rule in Crete, the basic
political system was monarchy. There were more than 100 city-states
such as Gorty, Phaestos, Knossos, Tylissos, Littos, Rizenia,
Hersonissos, Lapa, Lissos, Tara, Milatos, Terapytne, Cydonia, Itanos,
Sitia, Praissos and Olounda. There were three social classes :
?Periiki? who enjoyed limited political rights, but owned land and
were involved in trade; ?Minoites? who worked as slaves in the
construction of public works and ?Afamiotes? or ?Klarotes? who were
the personal slaves of the Dorians and did all the hard, agricultural
work. Art and science were influenced by both Dorian and eastern
elements, as indicated by pots, jewels, metallic items etc. Daedalus,
the sculptor, created a new technique in sculpture, called ?Daedalic?
style. Many works of this school are exhibited in Cretan museums.
During the 7th century BC, Crete was the cultural and art center of
Greece. Unfortunately, the next century was characterized by the
constant fight between the Cretan cities and the enemy invasions from
mainland Greece and Asia. Life was based on the strict models of
Sparti, as attested to by the ?Laws of Gorty? (5th century BC), found
during the excavation in Gorty."
(http://www.hri.org/infoxenios/english/crete/history.html )

" ARAB RULE (824-961)
In 824 AC, the Saracene Arabs , led by Abbu Chaffs, conquered Crete.
This period was characterized by constant raids and the island has
become the biggest slave-bazaar in the East."
(http://www.hri.org/infoxenios/english/crete/history.html )

" The Arab Occupation and the Byzantine Years 824-1204
In 824, Crete was captured by Arab raiders, who ravaged the island,
destroyed Gortys and other towns, burned every basilica church and
succeeded to many atrocities against the Greek population. To protect
from the relief expeditions of the Byzantines, they built their
capital, El Khandak, where today is the site of Iraklion.

Crete, because of its position had become the slave-trading capital of
the East Mediterranean and a constant threat for the Byzantine
Empire."
( http://www.explorecrete.com/history/crete-history.html )

Reference Links

History of Minoan
http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/minoan.html

Minoans: History
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MINOA/HISTORY.HTM

History of  Crete
http://www.explorecrete.com/history/crete-history.html


The Law Code of Gortyn (Crete), c. 450 BCE
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/450-gortyn.html

Search Strategies. 

+"Crete" +Slavery
+Crete +"Laws of Gorty" +slave
+Crete +food +ancient +slave
+Crete +Diet


thanks, 

webadept-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by david4497-ga on 28 Mar 2005 15:43 PST

My apologies, but I reviewed the material and did not find an answer
to my question. I asked about the diet of slaves in ancient Crete, not
just slaves or diet in general. Also, I would appreciate it if you
could find a recipe for at least one item that these cretan slaves
ate.

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 28 Mar 2005 16:52 PST

I seem to be the one that mis-understood. I'll see what I can find out
for you as a source of food areas and recipes which Crete slaves would
eat. As my previous research showed, it would be common food which was
eaten at the time. Probably not fancy dishes or dishes requiring
imported foods.

Be back in a bit with some more info for you. Below fp-ga put some
links for you, I haven't checked them yet, but thank you fp-ga for
doing that.

webadept-ga

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 28 Mar 2005 17:53 PST

"World renowned heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the world's
first heart transplant in 1967. After 30 years of surgery he has come
to the conclusion that most heart attacks are unnecessary - we have
the power to prevent them. He states that our diet lacks sufficient
fruits and vegetables, is not properly balanced and that we should
live like the people of Crete. Here heart disease is almost unknown,
and along with other dietary norms fruit and vegetables are the
mainstay of the diet and their consumption of meat is 32% less than in
northern Europe (121). This is of course the typical 'Mediterranean'
diet that has many elements to it that support a far more healthier
way of eating."
http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/reportschildrenshealth.htm

Possibly some good recipes here
http://www.plata.gr/crete/recipes/index.asp

"Despite its inefficient agriculture, Crete is one of Greece's leading
regions in the production of olives and olive oil, grapes, citrus
fruits, and carob bean, all exported mostly to the mainland.
Vegetables, fruits, nuts, and some barley and oats are grown for
domestic consumption. One-fifth of the island's land is entirely
unproductive, and nomadic grazing of sheep and goats is widespread."
http://www.ellada.com/creteall.html

Mediterranean Diet (Creteian)
http://stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/med_diet.htm

Another break down of the general Mediterranean Diet
http://www.nyloo.com/html/ent/696/ent.18696.1.asp

Fassolada (Crete equivalent of chicken soup)
http://www.inkmonitor.com/recipes.html

Mousaka
http://stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/recipes/mousaka.htm

Caper
http://stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/recipes/kaparibr.htm

Kaltsounia
http://stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/recipes/kaltsouni.htm

"The Minoans dressed in bright colours, and dined on cheese, fish,
wild fruit, milk and wine, flavoured with honey, salt and herbs. "
http://www.makrigialos.com/minoans.htm

Cretan Recipes --(common recipes)
http://www.makrigialos.com/recipes.htm



We know that chicken was around ... ."..In Egypt we find mention of
chickens as early as the Second Dynasty...references in Greek writings
of the fourth century B.C. to the fact that the Egyptians kept
chickens and , moreover, that they were able to incubate large numbers
of eggs...Indeed it was no accident that Egypt, like ancient China,
was a mass society which mastered the technology of large-scale
incubation. Some four thousand years ago the Egyptians invented
incubators capable of hatching as many as ten thousand chicks at a
time...From Greece, the chicken spread to Rome...When the Romans
conquered Britain, they brought chickens with them...But they also
found domestic fowl already there."
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmeats.html



Other sites of interest

http://www.greeklandscapes.com/greece/crete/culture.html

The Food Timeline
http://www.foodtimeline.org/

Let me know if that fits your question better. I kept away from the
huge amount of "fluff" recipe sites, keeping to what a typical house
meal would consist of as much as possible, since these appear to be
what you are looking for.

webadpet-ga

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 28 Mar 2005 18:06 PST

Here is another site that talks about the basics of society
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancient_history/societies/greece/minoan_society/minoan_lives/Minoansociety_lives.html

And here is a page that makes some very good points about some of
those recipes I gave you earlier

Ancient Foods the Old world did not eat
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/food/qt/ancientfoods.htm

webadpt-ga

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 28 Mar 2005 18:10 PST

From all of this research I would guess a basic meal would be a basic
grain bread with olive oil, small pieces of lamb or goat, goat cheese,
and fruit (citrus and figs).

webadept-ga

"Food in the Ancient World, An A-Z" by Andrew Dalby (2003):

http://www.routledge-ny.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?isbn=0415232597

https://ecommerce.tandf.co.uk/catalogue/DetailedDisplay.asp?ISBN=0415232597&ResourceCentre=SEARCH&RedirectPage=PerformSearch%2Easp&curpage=1