Opson
Encyclopedia
Opson is an important category in Ancient Greek foodways.
First and foremost opson refers to a major division of ancient Greek food: the 'relish' that complements the sitos (σίτος) the staple part of the meal, i.e. wheat or barley.
Opson is therefore equivalent to Banchan
in Korean cuisine and Okazu
in Japanese cuisine.
Because it was considered the more pleasurable part of any meal, opson was the subject of some anxiety among ancient Greek moralists, who coined the term opsophagia
to describe the vice of those who took too much opson with their sitos.
Although any kind of complement to the staple, even salt, could be categorized as opson, the term was also commonly used to refer to the most esteemed kind of relish: fish. Hence a diminutive of opson, opsarion (ὀψάριον), provides the modern Greek word for fish: psari (ψάρι)
, and the term opsophagos
, literally opson-eater', is almost always used by classical authors to refer to men who are fanatical about seafood, e.g. Philoxenus of Cythera
.
Finally, opson can be used to mean a 'prepared dish' (plural opsa). Plato, probably mistakenly, derived the word from the verb ἕψω - 'to boil'.
The central focus of Greek personal morality on self-control
made opsophagia a matter of concern for moralists and satirists in the classical period. The complicated semantics of the word opson and its derivatives made the word a matter of concern for Atticists during the Second Sophistic
.
First and foremost opson refers to a major division of ancient Greek food: the 'relish' that complements the sitos (σίτος) the staple part of the meal, i.e. wheat or barley.
Opson is therefore equivalent to Banchan
Banchan
Banchan refers to small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. This word is used both in the singular and plural....
in Korean cuisine and Okazu
Okazu
is a Japanese word meaning a side dish to accompany rice. They are typically made from fish, meat, vegetable, or tofu and designed to add flavor to the rice. In modern Japanese cuisine, Okazu can accompany noodles in place of rice....
in Japanese cuisine.
Because it was considered the more pleasurable part of any meal, opson was the subject of some anxiety among ancient Greek moralists, who coined the term opsophagia
Opsophagos
Opsophagos was an ancient Greek term used to describe one who exhibited a seemingly uncontrollable desire for opson or 'relishes'. The vice of the opsophagos was opsophagia for which the closest English equivalent is gourmandise...
to describe the vice of those who took too much opson with their sitos.
Although any kind of complement to the staple, even salt, could be categorized as opson, the term was also commonly used to refer to the most esteemed kind of relish: fish. Hence a diminutive of opson, opsarion (ὀψάριον), provides the modern Greek word for fish: psari (ψάρι)
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
, and the term opsophagos
Opsophagos
Opsophagos was an ancient Greek term used to describe one who exhibited a seemingly uncontrollable desire for opson or 'relishes'. The vice of the opsophagos was opsophagia for which the closest English equivalent is gourmandise...
, literally opson-eater', is almost always used by classical authors to refer to men who are fanatical about seafood, e.g. Philoxenus of Cythera
Philoxenus of Cythera
Philoxenus of Cythera was a Greek dithyrambic poet, an exponent of the "new music."On the conquest of the island by the Athenians he was taken as a slave to Athens, where he came into the possession of the dithyrambic poet Melanippides, who educated him and set him free...
.
Finally, opson can be used to mean a 'prepared dish' (plural opsa). Plato, probably mistakenly, derived the word from the verb ἕψω - 'to boil'.
The central focus of Greek personal morality on self-control
Sophrosyne
Sophrosyne is a Greek philosophical term etymologically meaning healthy-mindedness and from there self-control or moderation guided by knowledge and balance....
made opsophagia a matter of concern for moralists and satirists in the classical period. The complicated semantics of the word opson and its derivatives made the word a matter of concern for Atticists during the Second Sophistic
Second Sophistic
The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his Lives of the Sophists...
.