Did the Romans actually spend their time feasting? | EUROtoday
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HAS Rome, doing because the Romans would they wish to lie down for hours on benches, drink from wine till drunk, get vomited to higher begin once more and mate to the stolen between dessert and digestive . In brief, the orgy. As typically, the peplums or the adventures of Asterix and Obelix lead us straight within the entice of the clichés. The actuality is kind of completely different. “The Roman standard is the measure, self -control,” says Dimitri Tilloi d’Ambrosi who invitations us to the desk of the Romans in his newest work The Roman eating regimen: cooking and well being in historic Rome (PUF, 2024).
“According to the ideal, a good citizen, in all circumstances, must be able to express the dignity which is attached to his person. It is “virtue” (virtus) against mollitia, softness, which results in pleasure, table, sex, baths … This dichotomy is central and is above all in a moral discourse. »»
“Vomitorium” in palaces
Of course, everyone does not respect this ideal. Thus, Suetone says that during her dinners, Caligula was making love with the women of her guests, or with her own sisters, in the middle of the dishes and “in entrance of everybody” (Suetona, Caligula, 24 and 36 ). Nero, he was served in public by courtesans and flute players who we imagine that the function was not only to play their instrument (Suetona, Nero, 27). But these descriptions, sometimes caricatured, are excellent ways to discredit these “dangerous emperors”.
“The bad emperor, the emperor tyrant, is the one who drowns in pleasures. He is not able to control his body, so how could he control the state? It is a translation of his excess and his hubris, ”says Dimitri Tilloi d’Ambrosi. The civilized man knows how to hold back and does not succumb to his primary impulses.
Read too The Romans, these big polluters of antiquityIt is also a vision that we find in French reflection on gastronomy. “We were right to say that one of the privileges of the human species is to eat without being hungry and to drink without being thirsty. This pleasure cannot belong to the animals, ”writes Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, one of the pioneers of reflection on gastronomy in Taste physiology (1825).
One of the most stubborn myths wants that, to eat as much as possible, the Romans were vomited between two dishes. There were even “vomitoriums” dedicated to this practice in the palaces. But it is a great historical misunderstanding. Vomitorium existed, but it was actually a term to designate an outing, especially in the arenas, to “vomit the gang”. This rumor is voluntarily propagated to condemn excess.
“Obesity, image of hubris and extra”
“Tell me what you eat, I’ll let you know what you might be,” said Brillat-Savarin. And precisely, to understand the Romans, you have to look at their plate. The menus were rather frugal. The vast majority of the population nourished mainly on vegetables and cereals, in the form of porridge and pancakes; Or fruit: figs, peaches, grapes.
“The Romans like to represent themselves as a people descending from cultivators, of shepherds. The frugality of the table is a way of linking to its origins. Moreover, “Fruges” in Latin, where the word frugality comes from, designates the products of the earth. Conversely, seafood, poultry and complex sauces embody the luxury of the table. »»
Read too How did the Romans wakened up? Maintaining your body is fundamental. It is the famous “wholesome spirit in a wholesome physique”. Dietetics is a serious matter in Rome. “Medicine and morality will cross. There is a real global reflection on lifestyle, ”explains Dimitri Tilloi d’Ambrosi. “Everything is a question of measurement. Obesity is the symbol of hubris and excess. Conversely, a frail body is seen as sickly. In ancient thought, to be an active citizen, useful in his city, you must have a good physical constitution. »»
To uncover
The kangaroo of the day
Answer
A great thinker should due to this fact preserve his physique. But it’s fairly a query of jogging every now and then than turning into obsessive about its muscle groups. Seneca, in letter 15 to Lucilius, underlines the significance of the care given to the physique by presenting an inventory of sports activities practices which he recommends to those that need to stay as a thinker. Thus, he advises working or the observe of excessive bounce to remain in form.
However, he makes enjoyable of athletes stuffed with animal protein and whose musculature is overdeveloped. “It is certainly an absurd occupation, my pricey Lucilius, and little or no appropriate for a literate man, to train his arms, to thicken his neck, and to strengthen his flanks. When your fattening has efficiently succeeded, and your muscle groups may have developed, you’ll by no means equal the forces or the burden of a sacrifice beef. »»
https://www.lepoint.fr/eureka/les-romains-passaient-ils-vraiment-leur-temps-a-festoyer-26-02-2025-2583421_4706.php