Marcus Gavius Apicius
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Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet
and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius
. The Roman cookbook Apicius
is often, but incorrectly, attributed to him. He was the subject of On the Luxury of Apicius, a famous work, now lost, by the Greek grammarian Apion
. M. Gavius Apicius apparently owed his cognomen
(his third name or "nickname") to an earlier Apicius
, who lived around 90 BC, whose family name it may have been: if this is true, Apicius had come to mean "gourmand" as a result of the fame of this earlier lover of luxury.
Evidence for the life of M. Gavius Apicius derives partly from contemporary or almost-contemporary sources but is partly filtered through the above-named work by Apion, whose purpose was presumably to explain the names and origins of luxury foods, especially those anecdotally linked to Apicius. From these sources the following anecdotes about M. Gavius Apicius (hereafter called Apicius) survive: to what extent they form a real biography is doubtful.
Several recipes were named after Apicius, and probably M. Gavius Apicius is the person intended:
Throughout Roman literature Apicius is named in moralizing contexts as the typical gourmet or glutton. Seneca, for example, says that he "proclaimed the science of the cookshop" and corrupted the age with his example (Seneca, Consolatio ad Helviam 10). Around the 4th and 5th centuries, Apicius begins to be named as an author: this may be an indication that cookbooks titled Apicius were in circulation by that time. The first such reference may be that in the Scholia on Juvenal (4.22), which assert that Apicius wrote about how to arrange dinners, and about sauces.
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
. The Roman cookbook Apicius
Apicius
Apicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
is often, but incorrectly, attributed to him. He was the subject of On the Luxury of Apicius, a famous work, now lost, by the Greek grammarian Apion
Apion
Apion , Graeco-Egyptian grammarian, sophist and commentator on Homer, was born at the Siwa Oasis, and flourished in the first half of the 1st century AD....
. M. Gavius Apicius apparently owed his cognomen
Cognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
(his third name or "nickname") to an earlier Apicius
Apicius (1st century BC)
Apicius is the name of a Roman lover of luxury who lived in the 90s BC and was said to have outdone all his contemporaries in lavish expenditure...
, who lived around 90 BC, whose family name it may have been: if this is true, Apicius had come to mean "gourmand" as a result of the fame of this earlier lover of luxury.
Evidence for the life of M. Gavius Apicius derives partly from contemporary or almost-contemporary sources but is partly filtered through the above-named work by Apion, whose purpose was presumably to explain the names and origins of luxury foods, especially those anecdotally linked to Apicius. From these sources the following anecdotes about M. Gavius Apicius (hereafter called Apicius) survive: to what extent they form a real biography is doubtful.
- SejanusSejanusLucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius...
(20 BC – 18 October 31), afterwards well known as the minister and confidant of the emperor TiberiusTiberiusTiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, had in his youth "sold his body to Apicius": TacitusTacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, AnnalsAnnals (Tacitus)The Annals by Tacitus is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this...
4.1. - Apicius dined with Maecenas (70 – 8 BC), AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
's adviser: MartialMartialMarcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
, Epigrams 10.73. It is possible that Martial drew this idea from a facile comparison made by SenecaSeneca the YoungerLucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
between Maecenas, cultural adviser, and Apicius, gastronomic adviser. - DrususJulius Caesar DrususNero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar was the only child of Roman Emperor Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina...
(13 BC - 14 September AD 2323Year 23 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pollio and Vetus...
), son of Tiberius, was persuaded by Apicius not to eat cymae, cabbage tops or cabbage sprouts, because they were a common food: Pliny the ElderPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, Natural History 19.137. - The consuls of AD 28, Junius BlaesusJunius BlaesusQuintus Junius Blaesus was a Roman novus homo who lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius...
and Lucius Antistius Vetus, dined luxuriously at Apicius' house: AelianClaudius AelianusClaudius Aelianus , often seen as just Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222...
, Letters nos 113-114 Domingo-Forasté . - Tiberius saw a big red mullet in the market and wagered that Apicius or Publius Octavius would buy it. Both men began bidding for it and Octavius won: Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 95.42.
- Apicius lived at Minturnae (Campania). Having heard of the boasted size and sweetness of the shrimpShrimpShrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
s taken near the LibyaLibyaLibya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n coast, Apicius commandeered a boat and crew, but when he arrived, disappointed by the shrimps he was offered by the local fishermen who came alongside in their boats, he turned round and returned to Minturnae "without going ashore": AthenaeusAthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
, DeipnosophistaeDeipnosophistaeThe Deipnosophistae may be translated as The Banquet of the Learned or Philosophers at Dinner or The Gastronomers...
1.7a. - Apicius was "born to enjoy every extravagant luxury that could be contrived". He advised that red mulletRed mulletThe red mullets or surmullets are two species of goatfish, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus, found in the Mediterranean Sea, east North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. Both "red mullet" and "surmullet" can also refer to the Mullidae in general.Though they can easily be distinguished—M...
were at their best if, before cooking, they had been drowned in a bath of fish sauce made from red mullet: Pliny, Natural History 9:66. - Apicius advised that flamingo's tongue was of superb flavour: Pliny, Natural History '10:133
- Based on existing methods of producing goose liver (foie grasFoie grasFoie gras ; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding...
), Apicius devised a similar method of producing pork liver. He fed his pigs with dried figFicusFicus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s and slaughtered them with an overdose of mulsum (honeyed wine): Pliny, Natural History 8.209. - Having spent a fortune of 100 million sestertii on his kitchen, spent all the gifts he had received from the Imperial court, and thus swallowed up his income in lavish hospitality, Apicius found that he had only 10 million sestertii left. Afraid of dying in relative poverty, he poisoned himself: Seneca, Consolatio ad Helviam 10.
Several recipes were named after Apicius, and probably M. Gavius Apicius is the person intended:
- A method of cooking cabbage, marinading in oil and salt and using soda to retain greenness: Pliny, Natural History 19.143.
- A kind of cake: Chrysippus of Tyana quoted by Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 647c.
- Seven recipes in the ApiciusApiciusApicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
cookbook .
Throughout Roman literature Apicius is named in moralizing contexts as the typical gourmet or glutton. Seneca, for example, says that he "proclaimed the science of the cookshop" and corrupted the age with his example (Seneca, Consolatio ad Helviam 10). Around the 4th and 5th centuries, Apicius begins to be named as an author: this may be an indication that cookbooks titled Apicius were in circulation by that time. The first such reference may be that in the Scholia on Juvenal (4.22), which assert that Apicius wrote about how to arrange dinners, and about sauces.