The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Index Database

Results for
Please note: the results are produced through a computerized process which may frequently lead to errors, both in incorrect tagging and in other issues. Please use with caution.
Due to load times, full text fetching is currently attempted for validated results only.
Full texts for Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts is kindly supplied by Sefaria; for Greek and Latin texts, by Perseus Scaife, for the Quran, by Tanzil.net

For a list of book indices included, see here.

All subjects (including unvalidated):

subject	book bibliographic info
diet	Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 243, 244 Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 87, 88, 89 Cadwallader (2016), Stones, Bones and the Sacred: Essays on Material Culture and Religion in Honor of Dennis E, 74 Champion (2022), Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education, 96, 97 Gardner (2015), The Origins of Organized Charity in Rabbinic Judaism, 33, 91 Gera (2014), Judith, 66, 75, 267, 359, 368, 369, 371, 374 Huffman (2019), A History of Pythagoreanism, 137, 188, 364, 365, 366, 368, 369, 569 Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 14, 59, 60, 156, 233 Kazantzidis and Spatharas (2012), Medical Understandings of Emotions in Antiquity: Theory, Practice, Suffering, 106 Luck (2006), Arcana mundi: magic and the occult in the Greek and Roman worlds: a collection of ancient texts, 67, 189 Malherbe et al. (2014), Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity: Collected Essays of Abraham J, 126, 229 Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 213, 214, 256, 258, 260, 264, 270, 271, 284, 286, 366, 370 Trapp et al. (2016), In Praise of Asclepius: Selected Prose Hymns, 118, 132, 135 Viglietti and Gildenhard (2020), Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic, 12, 81, 89, 94, 99, 103, 141, 143, 144, 146, 194, 195, 203, 299, 304, 315, 317, 326, 332, 374 Wilson (2012), The Sentences of Sextus, 31, 145, 146, 375 Woolf (2011). Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West. 32 van 't Westeinde (2021), Roman Nobilitas in Jerome's Letters: Roman Values and Christian Asceticism for Socialites, 93, 128 van der EIjk (2005), Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity: Doctors and Philosophers on Nature, Soul, Health and Disease, 52, 305, 326
diet, affects characters, posidonius, stoic	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 96, 97, 258
diet, also affects character, galen, platonizing ecletic doctor	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 256
diet, and divination	Johnston (2008), Ancient Greek Divination, 14, 15
diet, and sleep, plotinus, neoplatonist, reduced	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 271
diet, and the agricultural way of life in egypt	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 102, 103
diet, and virtue	Champion (2022), Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 60, 61, 62, 153, 154, 160
diet, as educational discipline	Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 133, 134
diet, champollion, j.-f., of	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 148
diet, egyptian	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 11
diet, fasting	Champion (2022), Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education, 57, 60, 61, 62, 204, 205, 207, 208
diet, food and	O'Daly (2012), Days Linked by Song: Prudentius' Cathemerinon, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 113, 114, 133
diet, for achilles, animals as	Braund and Most (2004), Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen, 251, 278, 279
diet, galen, platonizing ecletic doctor, irrational forces trained by music, gymnastics	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 257, 258
diet, habituation e.g. by rhythms and scales, posidonius, stoic, training of irrational capacities starts in the womb, following plato, and involves seed, behaviour of mother	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 96, 97, 128, 258
diet, habituation, and	Champion (2022), Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education, 53, 55, 56, 57
diet, in ethnographic imagination	Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 505, 506, 508
diet, in his ethnographic descriptions, diodorus siculus, featuring of	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 92, 93
diet, in moral formation	Malherbe et al. (2014), Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity: Collected Essays of Abraham J, 125
diet, in pythagorean acusmata	Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 11, 12, 16
diet, music, exercise, plato, training to balance them with reason starts in the womb, involves gymnastics, aesthetic surroundings	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 96, 256, 258, 264, 270, 271
diet, noah	Pomeroy (2021), Chrysostom as Exegete: Scholarly Traditions and Rhetorical Aims in the Homilies on Genesis, 90
diet, of fisheaters, icthyophagoi, hapalos	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 104
diet, of wild honey, john the baptist, and	Taylor (2012), The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea, 319
diet, persians, portrayals of in the babylonian talmud, and	Mokhtarian (2021), Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests: The Culture of the Talmud in Ancient Iran. 43, 44, 51, 58
diet, prayer of esther, and esther’s	Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 87, 88
diet, primitive	Jouanna (2012), Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, 146
diet, pythagoreans, vegetarianism, and sparse	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 271
diet, role in epicurean/horatian outlook	Yona (2018), Epicurean Ethics in Horace: The Psychology of Satire, 180, 181, 182
diet, see also illness, vows	Rüpke and Woolf (2013), Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE. 72, 83, 194, 199
diet, submitted to, vegetarian	Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 28, 290, 340
diet, therapeutae, ascetic	Kraemer (2010), Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, 70
diet, vegetarian	Stuckenbruck (2007), 1 Enoch 91-108, 367, 723
diet/lifestyle, horace	Yona (2018), Epicurean Ethics in Horace: The Psychology of Satire, 114, 180, 181, 182, 239
dietary, restrictions, diet, and	Swartz (2018), The Mechanics of Providence: The Workings of Ancient Jewish Magic and Mysticism. 96, 127, 128, 129, 130, 134, 237, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244
diets	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 93, 209, 210
diets, agricultural, diets,	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 89, 90
diets, and health	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 85, 86, 87
diets, in one for the king and one for everyone egypt , dual else	Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 99, 100, 101, 102
diet”, “provincial koinon	Huttner (2013), Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 61, 66, 118, 119, 243, 278

List of validated texts:

10 validated results for "diet"

1. Hebrew Bible, Esther, 2.9 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Prayer of Esther, and Esther’s diet • diet

Found in books: Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 87; Gera (2014), Judith, 75, 369, 371

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2.9 וַתִּיטַב הַנַּעֲרָה בְעֵינָיו וַתִּשָּׂא חֶסֶד לְפָנָיו וַיְבַהֵל אֶת־תַּמְרוּקֶיהָ וְאֶת־מָנוֹתֶהָ לָתֵת לָהּ וְאֵת שֶׁבַע הַנְּעָרוֹת הָרְאֻיוֹת לָתֶת־לָהּ מִבֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ וַיְשַׁנֶּהָ וְאֶת־נַעֲרוֹתֶיהָ לְטוֹב בֵּית הַנָּשִׁים׃'' None

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2.9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her ointments, with her portions, and the seven maidens, who were meet to be given her out of the king’s house; and he advanced her and her maidens to the best place in the house of the women.'' None

2. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 9.4 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Diet, Vegetarian • Noah, diet

Found in books: Pomeroy (2021), Chrysostom as Exegete: Scholarly Traditions and Rhetorical Aims in the Homilies on Genesis, 90; Stuckenbruck (2007), 1 Enoch 91-108, 367

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9.4 אַךְ־בָּשָׂר בְּנַפְשׁוֹ דָמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ׃'' None

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9.4 Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.'' None

3. None, None, nan (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • diet, in ethnographic imagination • diets,, agricultural diets

Found in books: Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 89; Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 505

4. Herodotus, Histories, 3.22-3.23 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • diet, in ethnographic imagination • diets • diets,, agricultural diets

Found in books: Bosak-Schroeder (2020), Other Natures: Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography, 89, 90, 209; Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 508

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3.22 ταῦτα δὲ εἴπας καὶ ἀνεὶς τὸ τόξον παρέδωκε τοῖσι ἥκουσι. λαβὼν δὲ τὸ εἷμα τὸ πορφύρεον εἰρώτα ὅ τι εἴη καὶ ὅκως πεποιημένον· εἰπόντων δὲ τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων τὴν ἀληθείην περὶ τῆς πορφύρης καὶ τῆς βαφῆς, δολεροὺς μὲν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἔφη εἶναι, δολερὰ δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ εἵματα. δεύτερα δὲ τὸν χρυσὸν εἰρώτα τὸν στρεπτὸν τὸν περιαυχένιον καὶ τὰ ψέλια· ἐξηγεομένων δὲ τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων τὸν κόσμον αὐτοῦ, γελάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ νομίσας εἶναι σφέα πέδας εἶπε ὡς παρʼ ἑωυτοῖσι εἰσὶ ῥωμαλεώτεραι τουτέων πέδαι. τρίτον δὲ εἰρώτα τὸ μύρον· εἰπόντων δὲ τῆς ποιήσιος πέρι καὶ ἀλείψιος, τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον τὸν καὶ περὶ τοῦ εἵματος εἶπε. ὡς δὲ ἐς τὸν οἶνον ἀπίκετο καὶ ἐπύθετο αὐτοῦ τὴν ποίησιν, ὑπερησθεὶς τῷ πόματι ἐπείρετο ὅ τι τε σιτέεται ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ χρόνον ὁκόσον μακρότατον ἀνὴρ Πέρσης ζώει. οἳ δὲ σιτέεσθαι μὲν τὸν ἄρτον εἶπον, ἐξηγησάμενοι τῶν πυρῶν τὴν φύσιν, ὀγδώκοντα δὲ ἔτεα ζόης πλήρωμα ἀνδρὶ μακρότατον προκεῖσθαι. πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Αἰθίοψ ἔφη οὐδὲν θωμάζειν εἰ σιτεόμενοι κόπρον ἔτεα ὀλίγα ζώουσι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν τοσαῦτα δύνασθαι ζώειν σφέας, εἰ μὴ τῷ πόματι ἀνέφερον, φράζων τοῖσι Ἰχθυοφάγοισι τὸν οἶνον· τούτῳ γὰρ ἑωυτοὺς ὑπὸ Περσέων ἑσσοῦσθαι. ^3.23 ἀντειρομένων δὲ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἰχθυοφάγων τῆς ζόης καὶ διαίτης πέρι, ἔτεα μὲν ἐς εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν τοὺς πολλοὺς αὐτῶν ἀπικνέεσθαι, ὑπερβάλλειν δὲ τινὰς καὶ ταῦτα, σίτησιν δὲ εἶναι κρέα τε ἑφθὰ καὶ πόμα γάλα. θῶμα δὲ ποιευμένων τῶν κατασκόπων περὶ τῶν ἐτέων, ἐπὶ κρήνην σφι ἡγήσασθαι, ἀπʼ ἧς λουόμενοι λιπαρώτεροι ἐγίνοντο, κατά περ εἰ ἐλαίου εἴη· ὄζειν δὲ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ὡς εἰ ἴων. ἀσθενὲς δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς κρήνης ταύτης οὕτω δή τι ἔλεγον εἶναι οἱ κατάσκοποι ὥστε μηδὲν οἷόν τʼ εἶναι ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ ἐπιπλέειν, μήτε ξύλον μήτε τῶν ὅσα ξύλου ἐστὶ ἐλαφρότερα, ἀλλὰ πάντα σφέα χωρέειν ἐς βυσσόν. τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ τοῦτο εἴ σφι ἐστὶ ἀληθέως οἷόν τι λέγεται, διὰ τοῦτο ἂν εἶεν, τούτῳ τὰ πάντα χρεώμενοι, μακρόβιοι. ἀπὸ τῆς κρήνης δὲ ἀπαλλασσομένων, ἀγαγεῖν σφεας ἐς δεσμωτήριον ἀνδρῶν, ἔνθα τοὺς πάντας ἐν πέδῃσι χρυσέῃσι δεδέσθαι. ἔστι δὲ ἐν τούτοισι τοῖσι Αἰθίοψι πάντων ὁ χαλκὸς σπανιώτατον καὶ τιμιώτατον. θεησάμενοι δὲ καὶ τὸ δεσμωτήριον, ἐθεήσαντο καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένην τράπεζαν.'' None

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3.22 So speaking he unstrung the bow and gave it to the men who had come. Then, taking the red cloak, he asked what it was and how it was made; and when the Fish-eaters told him the truth about the color and the process of dyeing, he said that both the men and their garments were full of deceit. ,Next he inquired about the twisted gold necklace and the bracelets; and when the Fish-eaters told him how they were made, the king smiled, and, thinking them to be fetters, said: “We have stronger chains than these.” ,Thirdly he inquired about the incense; and when they described making and applying it, he made the same reply as about the cloak. But when he came to the wine and asked about its making, he was vastly pleased with the drink, and asked further what food their king ate, and what was the greatest age to which a Persian lived. ,They told him their king ate bread, showing him how wheat grew; and said that the full age to which a man might hope to live was eighty years. Then, said the Ethiopian, it was no wonder that they lived so few years, if they ate dung; they would not even have been able to live that many unless they were refreshed by the drink—signifying to the Fish-eaters the wine—for in this, he said, the Persians excelled the Ethiopians. ^3.23 The Fish-eaters then in turn asking of the Ethiopian length of life and diet, he said that most of them attained to a hundred and twenty years, and some even to more; their food was boiled meat and their drink milk. ,The spies showed wonder at the tale of years; whereupon he led them, it is said, to a spring, by washing in which they grew sleeker, as though it were of oil; and it smelled of violets. ,So light, the spies said, was this water, that nothing would float on it, neither wood nor anything lighter than wood, but all sank to the bottom. If this water is truly such as they say, it is likely that their constant use of it makes the people long-lived. ,When they left the spring, the king led them to a prison where all the men were bound with fetters of gold. Among these Ethiopians there is nothing so scarce and so precious as bronze. Then, having seen the prison, they saw what is called the Table of the Sun.'' None

5. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 1.8-1.16 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Prayer of Esther, and Esther’s diet • diet

Found in books: Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 87; Gera (2014), Judith, 75, 267, 369, 374

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1.8 וַיָּשֶׂם דָּנִיֵּאל עַל־לִבּוֹ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִתְגָּאַל בְּפַתְבַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ וּבְיֵין מִשְׁתָּיו וַיְבַקֵּשׁ מִשַּׂר הַסָּרִיסִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִתְגָּאָל׃ ^1.9 וַיִּתֵּן הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־דָּנִיֵּאל לְחֶסֶד וּלְרַחֲמִים לִפְנֵי שַׂר הַסָּרִיסִים׃' '^1.11 וַיֹּאמֶר דָּנִיֵּאל אֶל־הַמֶּלְצַר אֲשֶׁר מִנָּה שַׂר הַסָּרִיסִים עַל־דָּנִיֵּאל חֲנַנְיָה מִישָׁאֵל וַעֲזַרְיָה׃ ^1.12 נַס־נָא אֶת־עֲבָדֶיךָ יָמִים עֲשָׂרָה וְיִתְּנוּ־לָנוּ מִן־הַזֵּרֹעִים וְנֹאכְלָה וּמַיִם וְנִשְׁתֶּה׃ ^1.13 וְיֵרָאוּ לְפָנֶיךָ מַרְאֵינוּ וּמַרְאֵה הַיְלָדִים הָאֹכְלִים אֵת פַּתְבַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ וְכַאֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֵה עֲשֵׂה עִם־עֲבָדֶיךָ׃ ^1.14 וַיִּשְׁמַע לָהֶם לַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וַיְנַסֵּם יָמִים עֲשָׂרָה׃ ^1.15 וּמִקְצָת יָמִים עֲשָׂרָה נִרְאָה מַרְאֵיהֶם טוֹב וּבְרִיאֵי בָּשָׂר מִן־כָּל־הַיְלָדִים הָאֹכְלִים אֵת פַּתְבַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ ^1.16 וַיְהִי הַמֶּלְצַר נֹשֵׂא אֶת־פַּתְבָּגָם וְיֵין מִשְׁתֵּיהֶם וְנֹתֵן לָהֶם זֵרְעֹנִים׃'' None

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1.8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the officers that he might not defile himself. ^1.9 And God granted Daniel mercy and compassion in the sight of the chief of the officers. ^1.10 And the chief of the officers said unto Daniel: ‘I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces sad in comparison with the youths that are of your own age? so would ye endanger my head with the king.’ ^1.11 Then said Daniel to the steward, whom the chief of the officers had appointed over Daniel, Haiah, Mishael, and Azariah: ^1.12 ’Try thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. ^1.13 Then let our counteces be looked upon before thee, and the countece of the youths that eat of the king’s food; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.’ ^1.14 So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and tried them ten days. ^1.15 And at the end of ten days their counteces appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king’s food. ^1.16 So the steward took away their food, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse.'' None

6. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 6.18-6.31 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Prayer of Esther, and Esther’s diet • diet

Found in books: Brakke, Satlow, Weitzman (2005), Religion and the Self in Antiquity. 87; Gera (2014), Judith, 369

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6.18 Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine's flesh.'" "^6.19 But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh,'" "^6.20 as men ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life.'" "^6.21 Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal which had been commanded by the king,'" "^6.22 o that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them.'" "^6.23 But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs which he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades.'" "^6.24 Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life, he said, 'lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion,'" "^6.25 and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age.'" "^6.26 For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty.'" "^6.27 Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age'" "^6.28 and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.'When he had said this, he went at once to the rack.'" "^6.29 And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness.'" "^6.30 When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: 'It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him.'" "^6.31 So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.'"" None

7. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 108.14, 108.21 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Diet • diet

Found in books: Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 214; Viglietti and Gildenhard (2020), Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic, 315; Wilson (2012), The Sentences of Sextus, 145

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108.14 And in truth, when he began to uphold poverty, and to show what a useless and dangerous burden was everything that passed the measure of our need, I often desired to leave his lecture-room a poor man. Whenever he castigated our pleasure-seeking lives, and extolled personal purity, moderation in diet, and a mind free from unnecessary, not to speak of unlawful, pleasures, the desire came upon me to limit my food and drink. ^108.21 therefore, while holding to your own view, keep the whole question in abeyance in your mind. If the theory is true, it is a mark of purity to refrain from eating flesh; if it be false, it is economy. And what harm does it do to you to give such credence? I am merely depriving you of food which sustains lions and vultures." '' None

8. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 8.19 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • diet • diet, in Pythagorean acusmata

Found in books: Huffman (2019), A History of Pythagoreanism, 137, 368; Wolfsdorf (2020), Early Greek Ethics, 11

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8.19 Above all, he forbade as food red mullet and blacktail, and he enjoined abstinence from the hearts of animals and from beans, and sometimes, according to Aristotle, even from paunch and gurnard. Some say that he contented himself with just some honey or a honeycomb or bread, never touching wine in the daytime, and with greens boiled or raw for dainties, and fish but rarely. His robe was white and spotless, his quilts of white wool, for linen had not yet reached those parts.'' None

9. Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 3.13 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Diet • Plato, Training to balance them with reason starts in the womb, involves diet, music, exercise, gymnastics, aesthetic surroundings • Plotinus, Neoplatonist, Reduced diet and sleep • Pythagoreans, Vegetarianism, and sparse diet • diet

Found in books: Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 271; Wilson (2012), The Sentences of Sextus, 145

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3.13 Pythagoras, therefore, having been benefited by Thales in other respects, and especially having learned from him to be sparing of his time; for the sake of this he entirely abstained from wine and animal food, and still prior to these from voracity, and confined himself to such nutriment as was slender and easy of digestion. In consequence of this, his sleep was short, his soul vigilant and pure, and his body confirmed in a state of perfect and invariable health. In possession of such advantages, therefore, he sailed to Sidon, being persuaded that this was his natural country, and also properly conceiving that he might easily pass from thence into Egypt. Here he conversed with the prophets who were the descendants of Mochus the physiologist, and with others, and also with the Phœnician hierophants. He was likewise initiated in all the mysteries of Byblus and Tyre, and in the sacred operations which are performed in many parts of Syria; not engaging in a thing of this kind for the sake of superstition, as some one may be led to suppose, but much rather from a love and desire of contemplation, and from an anxiety that nothing might escape his observation which deserved to be learnt in the arcana or mysteries of the Gods. Having been 10previously instructed therefore in the mysteries of the Phœnicians, which were derived like a colony and a progeny from the sacred rites in Egypt, and hoping from this circumstance that he should be a partaker of more beautiful, divine, and genuine monuments of erudition in Egypt; joyfully calling to mind also the admonitions of his preceptor Thales, he immediately embarked for Egypt, through the means of some Egyptian sailors, who very opportunely at that time landed on the Phœnician coast under mount Carmelus, in whose temple Pythagoras, separated from all society, for the most part dwelt. But the sailors gladly received him, foreseeing that they should acquire great gain by exposing him to sale. But when, during the voyage, they perceived with what continence and venerable gravity he conducted himself, in conformity to the mode of living he had adopted, they were more benevolently disposed towards him. Observing, likewise, that there was something greater than what pertains to human nature in the modesty of the youth, they called to mind how unexpectedly he had appeared to them on their landing, when from the summit of mount Carmelus, which they knew was more sacred than other mountains, and inaccessible to the vulgar, he leisurely descended without looking back, or suffering any delay from precipices or opposing stones; and that when he came to the boat, he said nothing more than, “Are you bound for 11Egypt?” And farther, that on their answering in the affirmative, he ascended the ship and sate silent the whole time of the voyage, in that part of the vessel where he was not likely to incommode the occupations of the sailors. But Pythagoras remained in one and the same unmoved state for two nights and three days, neither partaking of food, nor drink, nor sleep, unless perhaps as he sate in that firm and tranquil condition, he might sleep for a short time unobserved by all the sailors. To which we may add, that when the sailors considered how, contrary to their expectations, their voyage had been continued and uninterrupted, as if some deity had been present; putting all these things together, they concluded that a divine dæmon had in reality passed over with them from Syria into Egypt. Hence, speaking both to Pythagoras and to each other with greater decorum and gentleness than before, they completed, through a most tranquil sea, the remainder of their voyage, and at length happily landed on the Egyptian coast. Here the sailors reverently assisted him in descending from the ship; and after they had placed him on the purest sand, they raised a certain temporary altar before him, and heaping on it from their present abundance the fruits of trees, and presenting him as it were with the first fruits of their freight, they departed from thence, and hastened to their destined port. But Pythagoras, whose body through 12such long fasting was become weaker, did not oppose the sailors in assisting him to descend from the ship, and immediately on their departure eat as much of the fruits as was requisite to restore his decayed strength. From thence also he arrived safe at the neighbouring lands, constantly preserving the same tranquillity and modesty of behaviour.'' None

10. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 2.45.4 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Diet • diet

Found in books: Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 284; Wilson (2012), The Sentences of Sextus, 145

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2.45.4 45.Hence a defence of this kind has appeared to be necessary even to enchanters; though it is not efficacious with them on all occasions. For they invoke evil daemons for lascivious purposes. So that purity does not belong to enchanters, but to divine men, and such as are divinely wise; since it everywhere becomes a guard to those that use it, and conciliates them with a divine nature. I wish, therefore, that enchanters would make use of purity continually, for then they would not employ themselves in incantations, because, through this, they would be: deprived of the enjoyment of those things, for the sake of which they act impiously. Whence becoming full of passions, and abstaining for a short time from impure food, they are notwithstanding replete with impurity, and suffer the punishment of their illegal conduct towards the whole of things, partly from those whom they irritate, and partly from Justice, who perceives all mortal deeds and conceptions. Both inward, |72 therefore, and external purity pertain to a divine man, who earnestly endeavours to be liberated from the passions of the soul, and who abstains from such food as excites the passions, and is fed with divine wisdom; and by right conceptions of, is assimilated to divinity himself. For such a man being consecrated by an intellectual sacrifice, approaches to God in a white garment, and with a truly pure impassivity of soul, and levity of body, and is not burdened with foreign and external juices, and the passions of the soul.

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