Ancient Times in Sicily

Sicily has always been at the center of trade, politics, and rivalries among the various Mediterranean peoples and dynasties. Its central location in the Mediterranean sea makes it valuable to hold and control, and the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans, Arabs, and others have all been there. But who was there first? Humans were present on the island at least as early as 10,000 BCE in the early Pleistocene era. There were 3 groups of indigenous people on the island: the Elymians, the Sicanians and the Sicels. Of course, the island gets its name from the Sicels, but they were the last to arrive. The Elymi were on the western part of the island, the Sicani in the central part and the Sicels in the east. Archaeology has dated cave paintings in coastal areas of the island as far back as 8000 BCE. Pottery shards from 5200 BCE and copper tools from 3000 BCE suggest a relatively advanced population and the influence of outside groups that may have come from trade or migration. Thucydides stated that the Elymians came from Troy, the Sicanians from Iberia, and the Sicels from mainland Italy. Although repeated by other historians, this belief can hardly be confirmed. The Sicanians were a unique people lacking clearly defined links to the Indo-European cultures of Italy, Greece, and the eastern Mediterranean. They apparently did not have a written language until they adopted the Phoenician alphabet. The name of this group derives from the type of chalcedony stone called "sica" from which they made tools. I will explain more about these 3 groups of natives next time. It is fascinating to think of the evolution of societies that lead up to the Medieval one we have used as the subject of our novels.

Erice, Easter in Sicily and other good eats

So I'm buzzing along making travel plans for next year's trip to Sicily.  My friend Bruno in Siracusa asked me if I knew I would be coming at Easter time.  I said a resounding YES!  I hope to not only observe what goes on at Easter in Sicily, but to find out what special foods are prepared for this very special holiday.  I plan to use all these special foods in Book #3, now called Death of the Leopard.  If you are Sicilian or Italian and prepare special foods for Easter, please share them with us on this blog!  I hope to find out whether special Easter foods were served in the 13th century, or if medieval food and recipes are still served today.  


Last but not least, I'm looking at staying in Erice for three days or so.  First, because I want to explore the Greek temples in Agrigento, the medieval salt museum and salt pans in Trapani, but also because I remember Erice as being beautiful.  The Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Greeks - all contributed to the beauty of that town - and there were some spectacular battles around there as well in ancient times.


Google Erice on the internet and see some beautiful beautiful pictures.

Oh yes, Corleone

Oh, I forgot to mention that book #3 of the Vespers Trilogy has Ysabella and Company (or some of them) settling into Leo's estate, La Serenita, outside of Corleone, where there is a medieval convent called Santa Maria del Bosco - really.  And I'm going to see it.  Most people think I picked Corleone because of The Godfather (which I did love, but no, that's not exactly why).  Corleone was a mountain town within a day's journey from Palermo so that when our family was fleeing the siege of Palermo, they could make it that far.  Also, I had to pick a place where the hated Angevins weren't, and the mountains of Sicily, known for bandits, etc. (most of whom were relatives) was perfect.  I was also secretly hoping, of course, that people would remember the name from the famous movie, but truly, folks, Corleone was a medieval town in its own right.  It just had to wait for Martin Scorsese to make it a household word.

Sicily, Sortino, honey, Corleone

So okay, I'm obsessed with my trip next year to Sicily.  I want to go to Sortino, where there are famous beekeepers and try all the different kinds of honey - Check out www.honeytravelers.com and boy will you find some great places for honey.  I'm blown away that beekeepers move their bees thousands of miles in big flatbed trucks to take advantage of the different herbs and flowers blossoming at various times in Italy and Sicily.  The bees don't seem to get motion sickness either.  I'm looking forward to traveling in Sicily (no, not on a flatbed truck either - nor with bees) and this time I plan on seeing the medieval salt museum and the salt pans of Trapani, an olive oil farm, and maybe even some of the islands like Lampedusa or Egadi Islands.  Check out the site - www.bestofsicily.com for all kinds of fabulous info about my favorite island.  Buon viaggio!

Medical treatment of animal bites in medieval periods

Interesting article in the Wellcome Trust magazine on the history of medicine. Author Kathleen Walker-Meikle. She is studying the recommendations for treating animal bites, starting with Constantine the African, mentioned in earlier posts. Medieval folk lived in very close contact with animals, often sheltering in the same habitation. Bites and punctures from animals would naturally be a common occurrence. As animal bites were often believed to contain noxious poisons, especially if the animal was angry or came from a hot and dry climate, one first had to determine if the bite was from a venomous or non-venomous animal. If bathing in the sea didn't work or wasn't practical, medieval physicians turned to ointments and potions. How about this ointment--pigeon droppings mixed with garlic and salt? A common potion was theriac, a complicated medical compounds that came down from classical antiquity. Eventually, cauterization or amputation might have been necessary. Another recommended treatment was to split open a chicken and lay it upon the wound. I'm sure there were other magical incantations, folk rememdies, and some things that actually worked!

Vegetables in the Middle Ages - and corned beef and pastrami

So I open up my email and there's this terrific article from Medievalists.net so feel free tocheck out cooking in the Middle AGes. Not that I'm obsessed with food or anything since I've come back from Chicago, having stuffed my face with steak, pastrami, corned beef, gyros - Greektown for the latter, Manny's and 11th Street Dinner for corned beef and pastrami and I HIGHLY recommend Benny's Chop House for steak with impeccable service and probably the best Caesar salad I've ever had in my life - that's why vegetables are somewhat on my mind (along with other Good Eats). Vegetables in the Middle Ages Image Vegetables: A Biography, by Evelyne Bloch-Dano, offer the stories of eleven different vegetables - artichokes, beans, chard, cabbage, cardoons, carrots, chili peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, peas, pumpkins, and tomatoes - offering tidbits from science and agriculture to history, culture, and, of course, cooking. Here are a few excerpts from the book that detail their history during the Middle Ages. Read More

Muslim rule of Sicily

From the 827 arrival of Euphemius in Sicily, the Muslim Aghlabid dynasty controlled the island, appointing governors and major officials. They set up various "gema" or city councils to manage public works and maintain social order. They encourages small holdings and improved irrigation systems. They also established a tax system. Non-Muslims living in a Muslim country are called "dhimmi". Dhimmi paid a special tax called the "jizya" for protection from foreign/internal aggression, but if one converted to Islam, the tax was waved. Everyone on the island paid a land tax called "kharaj". Mulsim and non-Muslim populations coexisted rather peacefully and maintained their own religions. It was during this time that the island became a major location of interaction between Muslim and non-Mulsim populations, and that allowed the transmission of considerable Arab learning to Europeans. In 909 the Fatimid dynasty assumed control over Sicily. They put down several revolts and uprisings. In 965 the Caliph appointed Hassan al Kalbi as emir of Sicily, giving it a de facto independent status. Within 100 years, Sicily had 3 separate emirs, but the arrival of the Normans under Robert de Guiscard in 1060 effectively ender Muslim rule. When Robert arrived, the native Sicilians joined his revolt. The conquest of Sicily by the Normans wasn't completed until 1091, ushering in a period of Muslim repression because of policies of the Roman church and perhaps, a little revenge. These measures led to organized resistance among the Muslims and Norman reprisals. The Normans also took over major buidlings and mosques, converting them to their own uses. As we depicted in Malice Stalks the Leopard, the commercial trade between Ifriqiya and Sicily was significant, but increasing fanaticism about religion on both sides led to an expulsion of all Muslims in 1242 to Lucera.

Chicago, Caffe Baci, Italian food and Sicily, gelato, biscotti, cous cous

So while this may not have much to do with our 13th century, I couldn't help but think about Ysabella and tavern food as my girlfriend Alison and I were sitting at Caffe Baci, drinking mineral water from Sardinia and eating cous cous, gelato and biscotti. I think we hit some major food groups there. Spuntini is still a word in modern Italian which means snacks; in Ysabella's tavern it would usually be fried foods, bits of fried veggies and meat. And yes, they grew lots of salad stuff (but who writes about that?). Anyway, I'M GOING TO SICILY NEXT YEAR!!!! Yahoo! And in that trip, I am taking a page (literally ripped it out, yes) out of La Cucina before it folded which told about a famous gelato place in Sicily and baby, I'm going! I'm also going to a world reknown honey emporium which I'll report on when I'm there. These are in the Syracusa area, where my wonderful friends, Bruno and Lucia, will no doubt help to taste test these delicious treats.

Islamic conquest of SIcily

The news these days depicts the modern version of conflicts that seem to have started 2000 years ago, or more. The history of tribes and factions vying for dominance in the Middle East continues to be played out on our screens every night. Sicily's location made it a crossroads of the world, with influences from all the cultures of the Mediterranean. By the time our stories take place in Sicily, the island was firmly in the hands of the Europeans and Roman Catholicism was the state religion, but it wasn't always so. Sicily was part of the Eastern Roman Empire as that civilization began to crumble, then a part of Byzantium, but still a desirable plum and center of conflict. The Caliph of Syria first launched raids against Sicily about 652, but the raiders went home after several years of exploration. Two hundred ships from Alexandria sacked Syracuse in 669, but again went home after a few months. Arab raids on the island and as far north as Rome and the Piedmont continued for more than 150 years with various successes and defeats. The first Arab settlement on the island began in Mazara in 827. At the same time Euphemius, an admiral under Byzantine Emperor Michael II, conquered Syracuse and proclaimed himself Emperor of the island, independent from the Empire. Euphemius was probably born in Messina. He was a charismatic chieftain and landowner with a large following. His revolt may have been prompted by being falsely accused of kidnapping a young nun from her convent. Realising that he would be defeated by Byzantine troops sent from the East, he appealed to the Muslim leaders of Ifriqiya (now Tunisia) for help to take over Sicily and Malta. Many battles ensured, and Euphemius was killed, but with reinforcements from Ifriqiya and Spain, the Aghlabid dynasty exerted control. Palermo, a city of about 300,000 people, fell to the Arabs after a year-long siege in 831. Euphemius is considered to be the man who initiated the Arab invasion of Sicily and Malta and the beginning of the two-century Islamic domination on the island.

Who was Constantine Africanus?

As mentioned in the last post, Constantine Africanus was a widely acclaimed teacher of medicine at the school in Salerno and may have been the teacher of Trota de Ruggerio. Constantine was born in Carthage, Ifriqya (modern Tunisia) about 1010 AD. Carthage at that time was ruled by the Zirid Dynasty, a Berber dynasty that came to power in 1048 and was eventually overthrown by the Normans in 1148. His early life is obscure, but it is said that he traveled extensively in the Arab world and the Far East, gaining so much knowledge that his contemporaries in Carthage accused him of practicing magic. He was supposedly expelled from Carthage and took flight to southern Italy, becoming secretary to Robert, Duke of Salerno. Another legend suggests that when Constantine became ill himself, he was treated by a doctor who didn't even ask for a urine sample. The color, taste, and smell of urine was a major diagnostic schema of the time. Thus, Constantine became convinced that Italian medicine was rather backward and needed his help. Constantine taught at Salerno c. 1070-1076, after which he retired to the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino where he remained until his death in c. 1087. His best-known work is the so-called "Liber Pantegni", which is really a translation of the "Khitaab el Maleki" of Ali Ben el-Abbas. He also wrote some original works, but it is so difficult to separate what is undoubtedly genuine from what came to be attributed to him in time, that there is no certainty as to his original contributions to medicine. He is especially known for translations of both Arab and Greek medical texts from well-known physicians such as Razes Ali Ibn Massaouia Baghdad, Ibn Imran, Ibn Suleiman, Ibn Al-Jazzar, Hippocrates and Galen. These texts were widely used until the 17th century.

Constantine Africanus

Constantine examines urine from students. Note the woman in the picture.

Constantine treats a wound