（书籍翻译）拜占庭的味道：传奇帝国的美食 （第七部分）

作者生平：

          安德鲁·达尔比（Andrew Dalby）是一位古典学者、历史学家、语言学家和翻译家，以他关于食物史（尤其是希腊和罗马帝国）的书籍而闻名。 《Siren Feasts》 是安德鲁·达尔比的第一本美食书籍，获得了 Runciman（朗西曼）奖，他的第二本书《dangerous Tastes》在2001年获得了美食作家协会年度美食书籍。他还是《The Classical Cookbook》和《Empire of Pleasures》以及巴克斯和维纳斯的传记的作者。

《Tastes of Byzantium ：The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire》于 2003 年首次出版

ISBN: 978 1 84885 165 8

本书完整的 CIP 记录可从大英图书馆、美国国会图书馆获得

由 Thomson Press India Ltd 在印度印刷和装订

Some Byzantine spices

一些拜占庭香料

Saffron was grown in several Mediterranean localities, though its historic origin was said to be the limestone depression of Corycus near the coast of Cilicia (south-eastern Turkey). The expansion of Islam eventually brought into Muslim control not only Cilicia but also the historic plantations of saffron in Iran and in Kashmir; the Byzantine Empire, however, continued to demand saffron, which was henceforth imported. The reader will learn in chapter 6 that saffron 'is cold and dry, is bad for the stomach, causes pain and heaviness in the head, is soporific, and cheers the heart' (text 2 section vii). With such a range of powers it will not be in everyone's daily diet but must be available to the careful physician to prescribe whenever a heart might need cheering.

          藏红花生长在地中海的几个地区，据说它起源于西里西亚（土耳其东南部）海岸附近的科里库斯的石灰岩洼地。伊斯兰教的扩张，最终不仅让穆斯林控制了西里西亚，而且还控制了伊朗和克什米尔历史悠久的藏红花种植园；然而，拜占庭帝国一直需求藏红花，藏红花因此被其常年进口。读者将在第 6 章中了解到藏红花“性寒、干燥、对胃不利、导致头部疼痛和沉重、催眠、振奋人心”等功效（文本 2 第 vii 节）。 藏红花拥有如此广泛的功效，这使得它不会出现在每个人的日常饮食中，所以必须让细心的医生在病人急需“振奋”心脏时开出处方。

Mastic, frequently used in baking bread and cakes in Constantinople, is produced in only one location in the world, the island of 'Chios, where the Saint and Martyr Isidore is buried. This island produces mastic, good wine and all kinds of fruits,' asserts the Russian traveller Daniel. Chios no doubt continued to manufacture and export medicinal mastic oil and mastic wine, as it had done in Roman times; but a large proportion of the annual production of mastic was probably exported from Chios in pure form, to be used in cookery and to be chewed, for mastic is the original, natural and health-giving chewing-gum of the Mediterranean world. Chios fell to Genoa in the fourteenth century, and mastic then became a staple of the Genoese economy. One of the impulses for Christopher Columbus's exploration was the hope of discovering a new source of mastic, a hope that was fated to be disappointed. Nowadays mastic ouzo and liqueur, successors to the old medicinal products, are still produced on the island and remain a favourite with discriminating drinkers in Greece. Some Greeks still like the flavour of mastic in toothpaste and chewing gum, but peppermint and spearmint, heavily sweetened, have tended to supplant it - a bad thing for dental health.

          君士坦丁堡经常用于烘烤面包和蛋糕的乳香，仅在世界上的一个地方生产，即圣徒伊西多尔 (Saint and Martyr Isidore) 埋葬的希俄斯岛。这个岛出产乳香、优质葡萄酒和各种水果，俄罗斯旅行者丹尼尔断言。毫无疑问，希俄斯继续生产和出口药用乳香油和乳香酒，就像在罗马时代所做的那样。但乳香年产量的很大一部分可能是从希俄斯以纯净的形式出口的，用于烹饪和食用，因为乳香是地中海世界原始、天然和有益健康的口香糖。希俄斯在 14 世纪落入热那亚手中，然后乳香成为热那亚经济的主要产品。克里斯托弗·哥伦布探索的动力之一是希望发现一种新的乳香源，但这种希望注定要落空。如今，作为旧药材的继承者的乳香茴香酒和利口酒仍然在岛上生产，并且仍然是希腊挑剔的饮酒者的最爱。一些希腊人仍然喜欢牙膏和口香糖中乳香的味道，但重度甜味的薄荷和留兰香往往会取代它——这对牙齿健康不利。

A third typically Byzantine aroma is that of storax, recommended by Hierophilus the Sophist (it must be the best storax, of course) in a 'dry soup' required for reasons of humoral theory to be taken in January.' The pilgrim Daniel was told of the storax harvest in southwestern Asia Minor and describes it with some admixture of fantasy.

      From Samos to Rhodes it is 200 versts, and from Rhodes to Macrie 60. This last town, and the country round as far as Myra, produces black incense [some MSS. red] and benzoin. This is how it comes: it runs from a tree like a sort of pith, and is collected with an iron blade. The tree is called zygia and resembles alder. Another small tree, resembling the aspen and called raka [some MSS. stourika, stiouriaka, i.e., storax] is gnawed under the bark by a fat worm, a sort of big caterpillar. What it has gnawed, resembling wheat bran, falls from the tree and collects on the ground like the resin of cherry trees. It is collected, mixed with the product of the first tree, and cooked together in a cauldron. That is how they prepare the benzoin incense, which is sold to merchants in skins.

          第三种典型的拜占庭香气是 storax，由智者 Hierophilus 推荐（当然，它必须是最好的 storax）在“干汤”中，因为体液理论的原因需要在一月份服用。 朝圣者丹尼尔被告知在小亚细亚西南部收获了 storax，并用一些幻想来描述它。

          从萨摩斯到罗得岛是 200 俄里，从罗得岛到麦克里是 60 俄里。这最后一个城镇，以及远至迈拉的乡村，都生产黑香 [一些 MSS。红色]和安息香。 它是这样来的：它像一种髓一样从树上跑出来，用铁刀片收集。 这棵树被称为zygia，类似于桤木。 另一种类似白杨的小树，叫做 raka [一些 MSS。 stourika, stiouriaka, i.e., storax] 在树皮下被一条肥虫啃咬，一种大毛虫。它咬过的东西，像麦麸一样，从树上掉下来，像樱桃树的树脂一样聚集在地上。它被收集起来，与第一棵树的产物混合，并在大锅中一起煮熟。他们就是这样准备安息香的，然后用皮子卖给商人的。

Like these three, balsam of Mecca, the resin of Commiphora Opobalsamum, was also produced within Byzantine frontiers - but only down to the time of the earliest Islamic conquests, in the seventh century. This is because, although it is native to southern Arabia, there had been plantations of the precious tree in Egypt and in Palestine, the latter very ancient and associated in legend with the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon. Palestine, in fact, became the main economic source of balsam of Mecca to the Roman Empire. Pierre Belon, the last recorded observer of the manufacture of fish sauce in Constantinople, was also the last person who saw balsam growing at 'Materea' (al-Matariyah) near Cairo. Merchants told him that this was transplanted and maintained at Cairo at great cost and trouble, and that the ordinary trade balsam all came from Arabia - which is evidence that by his time the balsam groves of Palestine were a thing of the past. Perhaps they were finally ruined by the Crusades. However, that may be, balsam of Mecca came to Constantinople from Muslim territory after the seventh century, which explains why the Book of the Eparch, around 895, refers to balsam under its Arabic name barzen, which was evidently by then the normal trade term, instead of the classical Greek balsamon. The latter word certainly remained familiar, because of its use in the Bible, but eventually ceased to have a specific everyday meanimg.

          像这三种香脂一样，麦加香脂，无花果的树脂，也在拜占庭边境内生产——但直到最早的伊斯兰征服时期（在七世纪）。这是因为，虽然它原产于阿拉伯南部，但也在埃及和巴勒斯坦种植了这种珍贵的树，后者非常古老，传说与示巴女王访问所罗门有关。事实上，巴勒斯坦成为罗马帝国麦加香脂的主要经济来源。皮埃尔·贝隆（Pierre Belon）是君士坦丁堡最后一位有记录的鱼露生产观察员，也是最后一位在开罗附近的“Materea”（al-Matariyah）看到香脂生长的人。商人告诉他，这是在开罗移植和维护的，其付出了（遇到）巨大的代价与麻烦，而普通的贸易香脂都来自阿拉伯——这证明了在他那个时代，巴勒斯坦的香脂树已经存在。也许他们最终被十字军东征摧毁了。然而，很有可能是，麦加的香脂在七世纪之后从msl领土来到君士坦丁堡，这就解释了为什么在 895 年左右的《大纪元》以阿拉伯语 barzen 来指代香脂，这显然是当时的正常贸易术语，而不是古典的希腊香脂。后一个词当然很熟悉，因为它在圣经中使用，但最终不再具有特定的日常含义。

Sugar, ginger and sandalwood came to the Byzantine Empire from India, though their original habitats were much further east. Spikenard, apparently a very popular aromatic in Constantinople, also came from India, aloeswood from south-east Asia. Nutmeg, mace and cloves came from the far-off Spice Islands of eastern Indonesia, where no Byzantine - so far as we know - ever went. Cinnamon came from Sri Lanka or southern China: most likely, at least by the ninth century, supplies of cinnamon came from both places, since the Book of Ceremonies and Simeon Seth, both quoted above, recognize more than one quality. Nowadays the cinnamon of Sri Lanka, the inner bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, is universally recognized as the best.

          糖、姜和檀香木从印度来到拜占庭帝国，尽管它们的原产地在更远的东部。 Spikenard，显然是君士坦丁堡非常受欢迎的香料，也来自印度，来自东南亚的沉香木。肉豆蔻和丁香来自遥远的印度尼西亚东部香料群岛，据我们所知，没有拜占庭人去过那里。 肉桂来自斯里兰卡或中国南部：很可能，至少到 9 世纪，肉桂供应来自这两个地方，因为上面引用的《仪式书》和西缅赛斯都承认不止一种品质。 如今，斯里兰卡的肉桂，即肉桂的内层树皮，被公认为是最好的。

Whatever may be said of the effect of possible monopolies, it remains the fact that all such spices as these were inevitably very rare and extremely costly. The slowness and the real and reputed dangers of travel, whether by land or by sea, ensured their extremely high price. They were commodities quite as valuable in their way as gold, silver and precious stones. It is not surprising that when Byzantine troops invaded Persia, in 626, spices had an important place among the booty that was taken.

      In the palace at Dastagerd the Roman soldiers found ... goods which had been left behind: aloes and aloeswood of seventy or eighty pounds; silk; so many linen shirts as to be beyond counting; sugar, ginger, and many other goods ... In these palaces they also found countless numbers of ostriches, antelopes, wild asses, peacocks and pheasants. Huge lions and tigers lived in Chosroes' hunting grounds.

          无论如何评论对可能的垄断所产生的影响，所有这些香料都非常稀有且极其价值，这仍然是一个事实。无论是陆路还是海路，旅行的缓慢和真实而著名的运输威胁确保了它们极高的价格。 它们是与黄金、白银和宝石一样有价值的商品。 毫不奇怪，当拜占庭军队于 626 年入侵波斯时，香料在掠夺的战利品中占有重要地位。

          在达斯塔格德的宫殿里，罗马士兵发现了……遗留下来的货物：沉香和沉香木，重达七十或八十磅； 丝绸; 亚麻衬衫多得数不胜数； 糖，姜，还有很多其他的东西……在这些宫殿里，他们还发现了无数的鸵鸟、羚羊、野驴、孔雀和野鸡。 巨大的狮子和老虎住在乔斯罗斯的狩猎场。

But prices are fixed by the interplay of supply and demand. Supply difficulties ensured that, if they were wanted at all, the price would be high. But why were they wanted? Why, for example, was it thought necessary to use cinnamon, pepper and sugar in cookery?

          但是价格是由供求关系决定的。供应困难确保了货物价值，如果他们需要，货物价格会很高。但是为什么需要它们？例如，为什么认为有必要在烹饪中使用肉桂、胡椒和糖呢？

未完待续！