What the Roman Emperor Tiberius What the Roman Emperor Tiberius Grew in his GreenhouseGrew in his Greenhouse

Jules JanickJules JanickPurdue University Purdue University

West Lafayette Indiana 47907-2010, USAWest Lafayette Indiana 47907-2010, USA

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus 42 BCE to 37 CE; reign from 14 to 37 CE

Villa Jovis

Roman Emperor at Jesus Crucifixion

New Testament references:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judeae … Luke 3:1.

Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s. Matthew 22:17.

Two 1st century Roman works mention Tiberius, protogreenhouse, and cucurbits

Luciuis Junius Mereratus ColumellaDe Re Rustica (On Agriculture)

Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) Historia Naturalis (Natural History)

ColumellaAnyone who wishes to have the fruits of cucumis ripe earlier than usual should, when midwinter is past, produced well-manured soil enclosed in baskets and give it a moderate amount of water; then, when the seeds have come up, he should place the baskets in the open air on warm and sunny days near a building, so that they may be protected from any blasts of wind; but if it be cold and stormy, he should bring them back under cover and continue to do so until the spring equinox is over. He should then sink the whole baskets into the ground. He will thus have early fruits. Is also possible, if it be worth the trouble, for wheels to be put under larger vessels, so that they may be brought out and taken indoors again with less labour. In any case the vessels ought to be covered with specularibus so that even in cold weather, when the days are clear, they be safely be brought out into the sun. By this method Tiberius Caesar was supplied with cucumis during almost the whole year. (11, 3, 52–53)

Pliny

Cucumis was a delicacy for which the emperor Tiberius had a remarkable partiality: in fact there was never a day on which he was not supplied with it, as his kitchen gardeners had cucumis beds mounted on wheels which they moved out into the sun and then on wintry days withdrew under the cover of frames glazed with transparent stone (mica). (19, 23, 64)

What is cucumis referred to by both Columella and Pliny?

Cucumis generally translated as cucumberGerard 1597Ash 1941 (Columella translator)Jones 1951 (Pliny translator)Whitaker and Davis 1962Kirkbride 1993Robinson and Decker Walters 1997Jeffrey 2001

Pliny refers to cucumis and cucurbita as:Cartilagenous (pliable) fruits

Normally prostrate on the ground but could also climb

Cucumis composed of cartilage (pliable skin) and flesh

Cucurbita composed of cartilage and rind which becomes woody when ripened

Cucumis describes various types of “melon” (Citrullus, Cucumis, Ecballium)

ColumellaTwisted Bluish with swollen womb, hairySnake likeFoul juiceWhitish, turns yellow when ripe

Chate melon (Vesling 1640)

Chate melon ‘Carosello Barese’ (top) and Bet Alfa-type

cucumber ‘Shimshon’ (bottom)

Cucumber ‘Shimshon’ (left) and snake melon ‘Striped Snake’ (right)

PlinyVary when grown in different regionsGrow into any shaper forced to takeBlossoms covered with white downRound (quince-like) forms in Campania, &

fruit separates from stalk when ripe, aromatic

Very large ones in Moesia called pepones (watermelon = Citrullus)

Wild cucumis is a source of elaterium (squirting cucumber = Ecballium elaterium)

Wild cucumis called colocynthi (Colocynth = Citrullis colocynthis)

Cucurbita describes bottle gourd (Lagenaria)

ColumellaSwellingSometimes hang from arborsSometimes snake-like If you want long ones, select seed from the neckIf you want globular ones, choose seed from

midbellyUse for vessels, water pails, wine flask, or floats for

teaching boys to swim

PlinyLong ones used for culinary purposesSeeds nearest the neck produce long gourds

An accurate understanding of the history and development of food plants requires critical evaluation and comparison of widely interdisciplinary evidence from horticulture botany, archaeology, history, and philology (Dalby 2003)

Plant iconography has played the most important role in the accurate identification of cucurbit taxa in the Renaissance (Eisendrath 1961) especially with regard to the American genus Cucurbita (Paris 2001).

Although, detailed depictions and accurate descriptions of cucurbits are much scarcer in medieval times and antiquity they are scattered but they exist.

Egyptian Old Kingdom (3100–2100 BCE)

Villa Farnesina (1515–1518)

Korea (1504–1551) Caravaggio 1603

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

Roman Watermelon

Carthage 4th century

Greece 4–5th century Greece 6th century

Melon (Cucumis melo) from Egypt

Egyptian Old Kingdom (1550–1300 BCE)

Egyptian Old Kingdom (1550–1300 BCE)

Egyptian Old Kingdom (1550–1300 BCE)

Egyptian New Kingdom (1517–1192 BCE)

Melons from Roman Empire 2nd–6th century

Tunisia 2nd century Thessaloniki 3nd century

Egyptian Old Kingdom

(1550–1300 BCE)

Mérida, Spain approx.

4th century

Pierce vires

Shimauri stripe

Tunisia 3rd century

Lebanon 6th century

Green snake Stripe snake

Cucumis melo Flexuosus

Tunisia 3rd century

Roman Melons

Rome 4th century Tunisia 4th century

Bottle gourdPompeii cupping vessel 1st century

Cucurbitula LatinSikya Greek

Tunisia 2nd century

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)

Jonah and the gourd

Turkey 270–280

Tunisia 3rd–4th century

Aquileia, Italy 4th century

Villa Farnesina 1515–1518Lagenaria siceraria var. longissima

Lagenaria siceraria var. a fiasco

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)

Greece 1677

Sicily

Colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis)

Dioscorides, De Materia MedicaAniciae Julianae Codex, ca. 512

Squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium)

Temple of Karnak 1450 BCE

Juliana Anicia Codex 512Israel 2007

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

1335

Lochis Madonna, 1480, Carlo Crivelli

Villa Farnesina 1515–1518Cucumis sativus

CucumberPisa Cathedral 1601

Still Life with Vegetables and Fruits, 1602–1603Juan Sanchez Cotan

Conclusions The cucumis beloved by Tiberius appears to be Cucumis melo

Flexuosus Group and not cucumber based on:

1. Descriptions of cucumis in Columella and Pliny excludes cucumber (snake-like, hairy).

2. The tubercules common on the fruit which would have been noticed are not mentioned.

3. Absence of any cucumber images in antiquity.

4. First images of cucumber are found in 1335 suggesting cucumber arriving late in Europe probably with mogul invasions of the west beginning with Genghis Khan.

5. Subsequent images of cucumber in the West are very similar indicating the introduction of one specific type.

The mistranslation of cucumis for cucumber is probably due to the similarity of its name with cucumis and cucurbita.