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[German version] I. Greece The diet of the Greeks in Antiquity was largely vegetarian and, as in most pre-modern agrarian societies, consisted of grains, pulses, vegetables and fruit. Olives (pickled or as oil), cheese, fish and meat supplemented the diet and provided animal and plant fats. For most people, only a small part of their diet consisted of meat. Literary sources can be misleading in this regard: The heroes of the Homeric epics appear to have lived on meat and owned large herds, while the…

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(Animal) [German version] I. Ancient Orient In the Ancient Orient and Egypt animal husbandry was always systemically linked with agricultural production (farming), insofar as both were mutually dependent and together formed the basis for society's subsistence. That view was given expression (i.a.) in the Sumerian polemical poem ‘Mother ewe and grain’ [1]. In Mesopotamia the basis of animal husbandry was mainly the keeping of her…

[German version] [1] Goat or nymph, who nourished Zeus as a child (αἴξ …

[German version] I. General information Cattle ( Bos taurus) belong to the bovine family and are descended from the Eurasian big-horned aurochs ( Bos primigenius). Longhorn wild cattle were most likely domesticated in Central Asia between 10,000 to 8,000 BC and in the Near East around 7,000 to 6,000 BC. In the 3rd millennium BC various breeds of domesticated cattle spread throughout Europe. Herds of wild cattle still existed in the forested regions of the eastern Mediterranean, such as Dardania and Thrace (Varro, Rust. 2,1,5), as well as in Central Europe (Caes. B Gall. 6,28). In antiquit…