A pig's womb was a delicacy for Cypriots in ancient times.
Name - Origin
Γουρουνίσια μήτρα.
According to Sopater of Paphos, in order to consume a boiled womb, it was dipped either in vinegar and salt or in the bitter juice of the rue plant (see Supplementary Information).
Functional and symbolic role
The pig's womb is one of the few 'delicacies' we know that the ancient Cypriots consumed. In fact, the ancient passage also informs us about the way the pig's womb was cooked and the garnish that was used to make it more palatable. Just as in later times, the Cypriots tried to use every part of an animal in some way, so that it would not go to waste.
Additional information and bibliography
The boiled pig's womb is mentioned as a cooked dish in three tragicomedy passages by Sopater of Paphos, a Cypriot writer who lived in the 4th c. BC. Passages from 'Hippolytus', 'Physiologon' and 'Silphes' are preserved by Athenaeus (2nd-3rd c. AD) in his work 'The Diphysophists'. Quotes: 'Sopater in "Hippolytus" says: But how much the womb on the plate, well boiled and white twitches the body! And in "The Physiologist" The slice of the pig's womb must not be overboiled with the spicy salt and vinegar inside. And in the Silphes When you eat a slice of pig's womb, dipping it in the bitter juice of the curd' Athenaeus 3.101 a,b (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.
Michaelides, D. (1998) 'The Food in Ancient Cyprus' in: Lysaght, P., Food and the Traveller-Migration, Immigration, Tourism and Ethnic group, Intercollege Press, Nicosia.
Hadjioannou, K. (1975) Η Αρχαία Κύπρος εις τας Ελληνικάς Πηγάς, vol 3a. Nicosia: Holy Archbishopric of Cypruspublications, 30-31
Natassa Charalambous
ΚΕΙΜ.1 Το απόσπασμα όπου γίνεται αναφορά στην μήτρα και την κατανάλωσή της (Αθήναιος, Δειπνοσοφισταί 3.101a,b)