A fishy tale of Christianity in Ancient Rome

[Aurelia]

In Ancient Rome lions ate Christians, so we are told. But what did early Christians eat? A lot of fish, according to recent research on bones from the Roman catacombs.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/f...icle6073834.ece

[caldrail]

Thats interesting in itself, but isn't that diet true of most Romans within easy reach of the coast, whether pagan or not?

[Aurelia]

Thats interesting in itself, but isn't that diet true of most Romans within easy reach of the coast, whether pagan or not?

 

Well, according to the article, there is a difference. Early Christians are believed to have eaten mostly freshwater fish whereas their non-Christian Roman contemporaries ate sea fish. This suggests that they (Christians) were considerably poorer than other groups.

 

“When Romans ate fish at all, they are normally believed to have consumed sea fish. Freshwater fish has not been considered as an essential ingredient in the classical Roman diet.” In AD301, the Emperor Diocletian’s Edict on Prices tried to fix the cost of freshwater fish at around a half to a third of its marine equivalent, so that even the poor could eat it. Roman fish probably came from the Tiber, and would have been a free or cheap source of protein.

 

On this basis, Rutgers and his colleagues conclude “that at least the small selection of early Christians analysed were all simple folk, suggesting that the inclusion of freshwater fish is indicative of a relative lack of wealth rather than of religiously motivated ascetic behaviour”.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Aurelia