Stephen M. Miller
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Media bio
    • Q&A with Steve
  • Books
  • Bible
  • Contact
  • Search
    • Search Form

Ancient diet for a trim look

BACK TO
BLOG FEED

by Stephen M. Miller

March 21, 2019

Painting of woman
NOT GLUTEN-FREE. There's a fair amount of gluten in the required weekly minimum of food for a woman separated from her husband. But not a lot else. It was good to be a fig fan. Painting by Frederick Lewis.

I DID SOME MATH FOR YOU. I had to.

The scholar didn’t finish the job. (Sorry, you get a B+, which is fine. It would have been an A- if the math problem hadn’t shown up on the lead page.)

I’m talking about an article in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review: “The Ancient Diet of Roman Palestine” (March/April 2019). The writer used the ancient food measurements of “qab” and log.”

She did interpret them, though.

  • 1 log would fill six empty eggs
  • 1 qab equals 4 logs, which would fill 24 eggs

So I looked up how many ounces and cc’s are in an average egg:

  • 1.5 liquid ounces or 44 cc
  • 3 tablespoons when measuring dry food like grain or chickpeas
  • And, you need to know that there are 16 tablespoons in a cup.

Menu for single woman, separated

An ancient Jewish source of guidance called the Mishnah suggests the following menu as the minimum weekly allotment of food for a woman separated from her husband.

Wheat: 9 cups (144 tablespoons/48 eggs/2 qabs)

Beans, lentils, peas: 2¼ cups (36 tablespoons/12 eggs/1/2 qab)

Olive oil: ½ cup (9 tablespoons/1/2 log/3 eggs)

Dried figs: 4½ cups (72 tablespoons/24 eggs/1 qab)

That’s a menu guaranteed to keep the little lady little.

Scholars speculate that most of the diet was bread—somewhere between 50-75 percent.

It takes about two cups of flour to make a loaf of bread. The little lady could bake perhaps four or five loaves.

But what’s a lady to do with just half a cup of cooking oil?

Supper’s on

I’d write more about this, but it’s suppertime.

My wife is frying pork chops (no pun intended toward my Jewish friends) and homemade macaroni and cheese.

I’m hungry. No jest. Stomach just growled. If I had any figs, I’d be eating one now. All I have are a few Atomic fireballs. One of which, several weeks ago, cracked a crown.

Expensive fireball.

I’ve got to resist the temptation to chew those suckers. (Pun intended.)

PS. Check my math, please. It’s not my strength.

Casual English Bible
Bible Gateway

Comments

  1. Gary Kinney says

    March 21, 2019 at 7:45 am

    I do wonder what means she was “separated from her husband.” Death? Divorced? He was on a business trip?

    • Stephen M. Miller says

      March 21, 2019 at 2:54 pm

      I think often it was more of a divorce in which the man, out of spite, refused to give the woman a “get,” a signed letter of divorce that would have allowed her to get remarried. So she was stuck.

Steve’s newest project: CasualEnglishBible.com

Complete Guide to the Bible

Every subscriber to Steve's free blog or quarterly newsletter is automatically entered in the giveaway of free books each week.

Follow Steve

All subscribers are automatically included in drawings for free books!

FacebookTwitterPinterestFlickrYouTubeRSS Feed
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
FacebookTwitterPinterestFlickrYouTubeRSS Feed
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2010-2021 Stephen M. Miller. All rights reserved.

Words, images, and all other media may not be reproduced without written permission.

Design by TriLion Studios

Follow Steve
+
Follow Steve
×
Like what you are reading?
Subscribe. It's free.