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Giraffe Was on Menu in Pompeii Restaurants


Still Waters

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Giraffe was on the menu in Pompeii's standard restaurants, says a new research into a non-elite section of the ancient Roman city buried by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 A.D.

Representing the height of exotic food, it is also "the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an archaeological excavation in Roman Italy,"

http://news.discover...ants-140103.htm

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Scene: The Deli counter in Marcus & Spencius Food Store, High Street, Pompeii.

Time: C76AD.

Mrs.Gallius Credulus, "Can I have about 18 inches of neck please? Oh wait a minute, we've got company this weekend....Better make it 2 feet 6 inches. Doesn't matter if it's a bit over."

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I was at Pompeii when they were doing this dig... pretty cool to watch the archeologists work, or at least I thought it was. That same trip, I got a special tour where we got to meet the archeologists working on the hillside homes in Ephesus Turkey as well. It was a total fluke that the guide we'd hired in Kusadasi to take us to Ephesus had worked on the dig the summer previously and was able to get us access to the dig directly. They let me take a brush to one of the giant floor mosaics and uncover some tiles. LOL. I'd have stayed longer if it hadn't been a staggering 125 degrees in there! LOL. Our guide got a GIANT tip from us.

If I wasn't so opposed to being dirty, sweaty or inconvenienced, I'd have loved to have been an archeologist! LOL

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Ealdwita snippet alert.......

The Latin name for the giraffe is.......Giraffa Camelopardarlis......from the Greek kàmelo - camel, and Latin pardalis - leopard. The first Westerners to see a giraffe decided that it was a cross between those two animals. (camel's head and body and a leopard's spots)

English heraldry sometimes added a pair of curved horns to the giraffe and emblazoned* it as a Cameleopard.

* Described textually rather than pictorially.

Edited by ealdwita
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I'll bet the giraffe had a much wider range back then.

no, the Roman Empire expanded and had lots of trade

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I have to admit I've always wanted to visit Pompeii. I'm not surprised they had Giraffe, they used to gather exotic animals from all over the empire, haul them to Italy, take them to the various coliseums, kill them then off to the butcher's shop they'd go.

I recall reading that at one particular banquet they feasted on a casserole that was made from the brains of flamingos. There were a thousand guests at this banquet, can you imagine how many flamingos had to die to make enough to feed a thousand guests? The Romans were known for their excesses in everything.

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Hardly surprising that this or any other animal was on the menu of any ancient city. Anything is edible when you come down to it.

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Hardly surprising that this or any other animal was on the menu of any ancient city. Anything is edible when you come down to it.

Erm...Would you mind awfully if I changed my mind about accepting your kind invitation to that dinner party next week? s11903.gif

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I would love to try that but I think I need a bigger grill

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