作者生平：

? ? ? ? ? 安德魯·達(dá)爾比（Andrew Dalby）是一位古典學(xué)者、歷史學(xué)家、語言學(xué)家和翻譯家，以他關(guān)于食物史（尤其是希臘和羅馬帝國）的書籍而聞名。 《Siren Feasts》 是安德魯·達(dá)爾比的第一本美食書籍，獲得了 Runciman（朗西曼）獎(jiǎng)，他的第二本書《dangerous Tastes》在2001年獲得了美食作家協(xié)會(huì)年度美食書籍。他還是《The Classical Cookbook》和《Empire of Pleasures》以及巴克斯和維納斯的傳記的作者。

《Tastes of Byzantium ：The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire》于 2003 年首次出版

ISBN: 978 1 84885 165 8

本書完整的 CIP 記錄可從大英圖書館、美國國會(huì)圖書館獲得

由 Thomson Press India Ltd 在印度印刷和裝訂

Other excitements

其他刺激物

An extensive section of the Book of Ceremonies is devoted co a calendar of festivals and grand dinners at the Palace, with the ritual and the guest list appropriate to each. The reader of this unique and very Byzantine compilation might be forgiven for concluding chat dinner at the Palace was boring and predictable. That was not always true. Anna Comnena, who will have heard the story from her father Alexius I, is able to tell us all about the uncomfortable dinner that he and his brother Isaac enjoyed at the Palace, shortly before they risked their successful coup d"tat in 1081. The reigning Emperor, Nicephorus III, had heard at that very moment that the city of Cyzicus, just across the Sea of Marmara, had fallen to the Turks. The brothers knew perfectly well that they were suspected of disloyalty but they did not know why the atmosphere at dinner was so charged or what the courtiers were muttering about. They were in terror of arrest or poisoning till one of the cooks, whom Isaac had wisely befriended, whispered the news. Hearing of this real disaster to the Empire they were, ironically, able to breathe a sigh of relief: they were not, after all, the focus of the Emperors silent anger and were ready with sympathy and advice when he broached the subject.

? ? ? ? ? 《禮記》中，有一部分專門列出了宮殿的節(jié)日和盛大晚宴的日歷，并附有適合每個(gè)人的儀式和賓客名單。這個(gè)獨(dú)特且非常拜占庭式匯編，能夠讓讀者知道自己在宴會(huì)中該做些什么。但這并不總是正確的。安娜·科穆寧娜(Anna Comnena) 會(huì)從她父親阿列克修斯一世那里聽到這個(gè)故事，她能夠告訴我們所有關(guān)于他和他的兄弟艾薩克 (Isaac) 在 1081 年冒著成功政變的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)之前，在皇宮享用的不舒服的晚餐。在位的皇帝尼西弗魯斯三世，就在此時(shí)聽說馬爾馬拉海對(duì)岸的基齊庫斯城落入了土耳其人之手，兄弟倆明知他們被懷疑不忠，卻不知道為什么會(huì)出現(xiàn)這種氣氛。晚餐時(shí)，他們被指控和朝臣們?cè)卩┼┎恍?。他們害怕被捕或中毒而亡，直到以撒明智地結(jié)交的一位廚師并悄悄地告訴他這個(gè)消息。聽到這個(gè)真正的消息，對(duì)帝國來說，是諷刺的，不過也讓他們能夠松一口氣：他們畢竟不是皇帝沉默憤怒的焦點(diǎn)，在他提出這個(gè)話題時(shí)已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好建議和同情的態(tài)度。

Poison is never mentioned in the Book of Ceremonies, In the real world it was a serious concern. Simeon Seths dietary manual suggests several reliable antidotes and prophylactics, the nicest perhaps being 'dried figs with walnuts and rue, taken before the main meal'. Anna Comnena tells us how at the palace her mother (the Empress Irene) was, as was proper for Byzantine ladies, modestly veiled and was very seldom heard to speak in public. On campaign, however, like it or not, she travelled with her husband and was always to be seen at his side. She was the only taster and guardian against poison that he could trust. I She also shows us that in 1095 a Crusader prince, Bohemond of Taranto, was wisely fearful of Byzantine poison and found his own way to deal with the threat.

? ? ? ? Bohemond went off to the Kosmidion, where lodgings had been made ready for him and a rich table was laid full of food, including fish dishes of all kinds. Then the cooks brought in meat of animals and birds, uncooked.

? ? ? ? 'This seafood, as you see, has been prepared in our customary way,' they said, 'but in case that does not suit you we have here raw meat which can be cooked in whatever way you like.'

? ? ? ? The Emperor had instructed them to do and say exactly this ... The cunning Frank not only refused to taste any of the seafood: he pushed it away without even letting it touch his finger-tips. Saying nothing of his secret suspicions he shared it out among the others present with apparent generosity (in reality, as the reader will see, he was mixing them a cup of death, and so utterly despised those under him that he did not trouble to conceal his trick); meanwhile he told his own cooks to prepare the meat a fa Tarentine.

? ? ? ? On the next day he asked those who had eaten the fish dishes how they felt.

? ? ? ? 'Very well,' they replied: none of them was ill at all. In reply he let slip what he had kept secret till that moment:

? ? ? ? '?... I was afraid he might arrange to kill me by putting some deadly drug in the seafood.'

? ? ? ? ?《禮記》中從未提及毒藥，在現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中，這是一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問題。 Simeon Seth 的飲食手冊(cè)建議了幾種可靠的解毒劑和預(yù)防劑，最好的可能是“在主餐前服用的干無花果、核桃和蕓香”。 Anna Comnena 告訴我們，她的母親（艾琳皇后）在宮殿里是這樣做的，這對(duì)拜占庭女士來說是恰當(dāng)?shù)?，謙虛的面紗，很少被聽到在公共場(chǎng)合講話。 然而，在競(jìng)選期間，不管你喜不喜歡，她都會(huì)和她的丈夫一起出行，并且總是在他身邊。 她是他唯一可以信任的品酒師和預(yù)防毒殺的守護(hù)者。 她還向我們展示了 1095 年，一位十字軍王子，塔蘭托的博希蒙德，明智地畏懼拜占庭的毒藥，并找到了自己的方法來應(yīng)對(duì)這種威脅。

? ? ? ? ? 博希蒙德去了科斯米迪翁，那里已經(jīng)為他準(zhǔn)備好了住處，一張豐盛的桌子上擺滿了食物，包括各種魚類菜肴。然后廚師們帶來了生的動(dòng)物和鳥類的肉。

? ? ? ? ? “正如你所見，這種海鮮是按照我們慣用的方式烹制的，”他們說，“但如果你不喜歡，我們這里有生肉，你可以用任何你喜歡的方式烹制。”

? ? ? ? ? 皇帝吩咐他們這樣做，而且說的正是這個(gè)……狡猾的弗蘭克不僅拒絕品嘗任何海鮮，甚至連指尖都沒有把它推開。他顯然很慷慨地與在場(chǎng)的其他人分享了這一做法（實(shí)際上，正如讀者將看到的那樣，他正在為他們摻入死亡之杯，并且完全鄙視他手下的人，以至于他毫不費(fèi)力地隱瞞他的把戲）；與此同時(shí)，他告訴自己的廚師把肉制作成塔倫丁。

? ? ? ? ? 第二天，他問那些吃過魚菜的人感覺如何。

? ? ? ? ? “很好，”他們回答說：他們都沒有生病。作為回應(yīng)，他泄露了他一直保留到最后一刻的秘密：

? ? ? ? ? '......我擔(dān)心他會(huì)安排人在海鮮里放一些致命的藥物來殺了我。

Such a banquet, generally without poison, delivered to the lodgings of an important guest with the Emperor's compliments, was no unusual honor. Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, kicking his heels unhappily in a city that had become hateful to him, tells us drily of a similar favor. 'The sacred Emperor,' as he describes his benefactor with more than a hint of sarcasm, 'lessened my woes with a big gift,' and Liutprand's reader will not wait long to hear how big and how welcome this gift was. The Emperor had sent him 'one of his most delicate dishes, a fat kid of which he had himself partaken-proudly stuffed with garlic, onion, leeks, swimming in fish sauce'. The Byantine dishes served to Liutprand were (he repeatedly complains) overloaded with garlic. This may well have been for the best of reasons. Byzantine dieticians were well aware of the health benefits of garlic, particularly for those with a 'hot constitution', and they had probably found sufficient reason to class Liutprand's constitution thus.

? ? ? ? ? 如此盛宴，竟然無毒，送至貴客住處，受到皇上的稱贊，實(shí)屬難得?？死啄{ (Cremona) 主教柳特普蘭德 (Liutprand) 在這座令他憎恨的城市中不滿地踢著腳后跟，冷冷地告訴我們一個(gè)類似的恩惠。 “神圣的皇帝，”他用一種不只是諷刺的語氣描述他的恩人，“用一件大禮物減輕了我的痛苦”，Liutprand 的讀者很快就會(huì)聽到這個(gè)禮物有多大，多么受歡迎?；实劢o他送來了“他最精致的菜肴之一，一個(gè)他自己吃過的菜肴——里面塞滿了大蒜、洋蔥、韭菜，混合著魚露”。供應(yīng)給 Liutprand 的 Byantine 菜肴（他一再抱怨）大蒜過多。這很可能是出于最好的原因。拜占庭的營養(yǎng)師很清楚大蒜對(duì)健康的好處，特別是對(duì)于那些“熱體質(zhì)”的人，他們可能已經(jīng)找到了充分的理由對(duì)Liutprand的體質(zhì)進(jìn)行分類。

Having referred to the occasional excitements of dinner at the Palace, it would be fair to add that Byzantine diplomats, dining abroad during an embassy, sometimes encountered even greater excitement. A late sixth-century embassy to the Persian king Chosroes 'camped at Dinabadon, where Chosroes feasted the Roman and Persian leaders':

? ? ? ? When the dinner was already in progress, Bryzacius was led in chains into the middle, with his nose and ears mutilated. After the diners had made fun of him, Chosroes, to offer them a memorable dinnertime spectacle, signaled with his hand to his bodyguards (Persians do not speak while they are eating) to put the man to death. So they stabbed him to death. To follow this bloodshed, Chosroes gave his guests a further pleasure: after drenching them with perfume he wreathed them with garlands of flowers and told them to drink to Victory. And so his guests departed to their tents, describing everything that had happened to them at dinner. Bryzacius figured largely in their stories.

? ? ? ? ? 提到在皇宮吃飯時(shí)偶爾會(huì)令人興奮，公平地說，拜占庭外交官在使館期間在國外用餐時(shí)，有時(shí)會(huì)遇到更大的興奮。 六世紀(jì)晚期波斯國王喬斯羅伊斯的大使館“在迪納巴頓扎營，喬斯羅伊斯在那里宴請(qǐng)羅馬和波斯領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人”：

? ? ? ? ? 晚餐已經(jīng)開始時(shí)，布呂扎修斯被鎖鏈帶到中間，鼻子和耳朵都被肢解了。 在食客們?nèi)⌒λ螅瑔趟沽_斯為了給他們一個(gè)難忘的晚餐奇觀，他用手示意他的保鏢（波斯人在吃飯時(shí)不說話）殺死這個(gè)人。于是保鏢們將他刺死。為了緩解這場(chǎng)流血事件給人帶來的沖擊感，喬斯羅斯給他的客人帶來了更多的樂趣：在用香氛浸濕他們之后，他用花環(huán)給他們戴上花環(huán)，并告訴他們?yōu)閯倮杀?。于是他的客人們就各自回到他們的帳篷里，描述他們?cè)谕聿蜁r(shí)所發(fā)生的一切。布里扎修斯出現(xiàn)在他們的故事中。

未完待續(xù)！