Reference is made to the mullet of Mendi by the Cypriot writer Sopater of Paphos.
Name - Origin
Κέφαλος.
Mendisios> mullet from Mendi: Ancient Mendi, a city founded in Pallini, the westernmost peninsula of Chalkidiki, in the 8th century BC.
The preparation method used for 'Mendisios' was salting (see Supplementary Information).
Functional and symbolic role
Sopater of Paphos, a writer of Cypriot origin, refers to the consumption of roasted salted mullet. Fish remains have been found in almost all excavated sites on the island (Michaelides 2008, 26).
Additional information and bibliography
Mendisios or 'mullet of Mendi' is mentioned by Sopater of Paphos (4th century BC) in his play 'Μυστάκου θητίον'. Extracts are preserved by Athenaeus (2nd-3rd century AD) in his play 'Deipnosophists'. 'And the Mendi mullet is tasty when salted and roasted in the blond rays of the flame' by Sopater of Paphos 'Μυστάκου θητίον' in: Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 3.119a (translation: Hadjioannou 1975)
Athenaeus, Dipnosophistae 9.393a in: Gulick, C.B. translation (1969) Athenaeus-The Deipnosophists, Loeb Classical Library vol.1. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 300-301.
Columella, On agriculture 11.3.27 in: Forster E.S., Heffner E.H. (translation) (1993). Collumella- On agriculture (Loeb Classical Library vol.3), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 144-145.
Michaelides, D. (1998) 'The Food in Ancient Cyprus' in: Lysaght, P., Food and the Traveller-Migration, Immigration, Tourism and Ethnic group, Intercollege Press, Nicosia.
Natassa Charalambous
Αρχαίο κείμενο
Foods
Antakeos - sturgeon
Ancient name for a fish, which identifies with sturgeon. According to Sopatros of Paphos, antakaios was consumed salted.