I’ve mentioned how one of the complicated aspects of using Roman comedy as evidence for the social history of Rome is that the Roman plays were based on Greek comedies. At the same time, the Roman authors Plautus and Terence did not simply translate the Greek plays: they stitched together different plots, changed around characters and furthermore were quite happy to occasionally import Roman place names and customs into the plays. Neither Plautus nor Terence nor their audience were interested in these comedies being set firmly in either Rome or Athens. The laughs were more important.
This intermingling gives scholars a lot to do in terms of finding patterns of how the Romans used the Greek materials. For example, in his article “Cooks in Plautus”, Lowe argues that based on what we know about cooks in Greek comedies, we can tell which cooks in Plautus’ plays he has Romanized.
The topic sounds simple, but gets complicated quite quickly. The word that the 4th and 3rd century Greek comedians used to describe the cooks in their plays is μάγειρος (mageiros). However, in the 5th century, it is not clear that this word had that connotation. Instead, in that time a mageiros appears to have been somebody who in addition to being a butcher and a cook was also a professional sacrificer, that is, someone who had a certain amount of religious expertise. Mageiroi are also described as selling meat in marketplaces. In this time period, while a mageiros might occasionally cook, he when he did so it was for special meals.
There is no evidence in the later Greek comedies that he retained these religious functions. However, cooks in later Greek comedies are incorigible boasters, much like the cook I mentioned yesterday in Athenaeus. This boasting is likely somesort of remainder of their previous expertise, although it is clear in Greek comedy that Mageiroi are still somewhat expert cooks. Maeiroi in Greek comedy are frequently hired to cook special meals, such as for a wedding feast. Lowe takes this expertise and the fact that they are hired to indciate that it is safe to assume that in Greek comedy all mageiroi are freemen unless otherwise marked. He does hedge this somewhat extreme position by arguing that mageiroi that have names associated with slaves as freedmen.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about cooks in Roman society and then move onto the question of recognizing how Plautus uses and adopts Greek cooks in his plays.
This intermingling gives scholars a lot to do in terms of finding patterns of how the Romans used the Greek materials. For example, in his article “Cooks in Plautus”, Lowe argues that based on what we know about cooks in Greek comedies, we can tell which cooks in Plautus’ plays he has Romanized.
The topic sounds simple, but gets complicated quite quickly. The word that the 4th and 3rd century Greek comedians used to describe the cooks in their plays is μάγειρος (mageiros). However, in the 5th century, it is not clear that this word had that connotation. Instead, in that time a mageiros appears to have been somebody who in addition to being a butcher and a cook was also a professional sacrificer, that is, someone who had a certain amount of religious expertise. Mageiroi are also described as selling meat in marketplaces. In this time period, while a mageiros might occasionally cook, he when he did so it was for special meals.
There is no evidence in the later Greek comedies that he retained these religious functions. However, cooks in later Greek comedies are incorigible boasters, much like the cook I mentioned yesterday in Athenaeus. This boasting is likely somesort of remainder of their previous expertise, although it is clear in Greek comedy that Mageiroi are still somewhat expert cooks. Maeiroi in Greek comedy are frequently hired to cook special meals, such as for a wedding feast. Lowe takes this expertise and the fact that they are hired to indciate that it is safe to assume that in Greek comedy all mageiroi are freemen unless otherwise marked. He does hedge this somewhat extreme position by arguing that mageiroi that have names associated with slaves as freedmen.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about cooks in Roman society and then move onto the question of recognizing how Plautus uses and adopts Greek cooks in his plays.