Julius Caesar and "Bagoong"

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama X (10) October 1958

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Julius Caesar and "Bagoong” TAT hen Julius Caesar’s army went to sea, it ate saltid anchovies and oil-preserved tuna, and the of ficers took along their bathtubs. Terracotta jars and bathtubs from the bottom of the Tyrrhenian sea have revealed these facts to scient ists. The jars and tubs, as well as many other curious objects, were found recently in a number of wrecked Roman ships on the seabeds off Corsica and Sardinia and the coasts of Liguria and Salerno. Thee oar and sail boats date back to the first cen tury before Christ, during the reign of Julius Caesar, and were used by him for quick transport to the con quered lands of France and England. Much of the ship’s cargoes, however, have been fairly easily recovered. Many of the amphoras, or ter racotta jars, were found intact and contained residues of spiced-salted anchovies or tuna preserved in olive oil. Others jar were filled with a wheat flour or wine. There were also a number containing a kind of fish sauce called Garum. Garum was made of several species of fish cut up into small pieces and, together with most of their in side, put into a receptacle which was exposed to the sun. This broth-like mixture was then stirred until it fer mented. It was used as a condiment for many meats and fish in ancient times. Experts who studied some of the Albenga ship wrecks said there were about 3,000 wine amphoras in a single ship’s cargo and that each of the amphoras con tained 20 liters (five gallons) of wine. After nearly 2,000 years the wine had retained only a slight pinkish color, no longer alcoholic. It had a watery taste but was not salty. —H. V. Maclennon October 1958 65

pages

65

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