Among the numerous foreigners who recorded their impressions of the Byzantine court Liutprand of Cremona, ambassador of Berengar of Italy in 949–50, provides descriptions of court ceremonies and a glowing account of the Christmas dinner he enjoyed at the Great Palace. Christmas…
The nexus of food and diplomacy was a common theme in early modern diplomatic advice literature. The importance of the culinary diplomacy is especially evident in Venice’s mission in the Ottoman capital. ”Marino Cavalli, one of Venice’s most accomplished sixteenth-century ambassadors,…
The Byzantine celebration of Christmas attracted the attention of the Arab Harun ibn Yahya, who had been captured by the Byzantines in 911/12. Leo VI, the Wise, had already introduced an innovation according to which muslim prisoners were invited to the official…
Extreme cold and extensive snowfall is rather unusual in the eastern Mediterranean apart of the mountain regions. However the winter of 763-4 AD was so terrible that Byzantine sources referred abundantly to it. Leo IV and Constantine V. Leo was…
By the time of the classical period the early breakfast was called akratisma and, as the name implies, consisted of a piece of bread dipped in unmixed wine (akratos). Sometimes, figs, olives and cheese complemented bread and wine.The first meal…