Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-10-23
Historical Anecaote. Of tn. Table.

The other examples of royal luxury
are shown us by Ahasuerus who is
thought to be the same as "Artaxerxes
Long Hand" This prince entertained
for six months, all the princesses and
governors of his 127 provinces and kept
for the seven following days, the tables
spread for all the people of his capital,
the great city of Susa-
The tapestries, white, green and
purple, were suspended by cords of fine
linen with rings of silver attached to the
marble pillars; the couches of gold and
of silver, were arranged upon a pave
ment of porphry, jasper, alsbaster and
inlaid marble. He gave his guests
golden vases to drink from and served
their food upon different plates. The
royal wine, by order of the same king
flowed In abundance.
The place of honor, which, with the
Greeks, was at the end of the table, was
with the PersIans in the center. At
state festivals the women were separat-
ed from the men; thus during the feasts
given by Ahasuerus, queen Vashti had
the invited ladies' on her side. One
remembers how the king, his heart
warm with wine, in order not to fail in
national traditions, ordered the seven
eunuchs, who served him, to bring
Nashti to HIM, that he might show to
all his guests how beautiful she was, and
she refusing to have such an exhibition
made of her charms, was set aside, and
replaced by Esther.
The monarchs celebrated with much
pomp the anniversary OF their birth.
The repast that they gave on this occa-
| sion was called tyEtd, that Is to say
| finished"
The king was the only one permitted
to have his hair perfumed at this festi-
val; and he made all sorts of presents to
his officers and his people. 1t was not
possible to elude the demands which
| were presented to him during this festi-
val, and 1t is for this reason that
| AerXes was not able to refuse his wife,
Amestris, to surrender to her, her beau
tiful sister-in-law, of whom this queen
was furiously jealous, and whom she
mutilated without pity.
All Persians celebrated also the day
of birth by feast; the rich displayed
an OK, a horse, an ass or a camel, roast
ed whole in furnace; the poor con-
tented themselves with serving upon
their tables the head of small beast.
The Persians borrowed of the Assy-
| rians the use ofcouches at the table, but
they made an important Innovation IL
the construction of these seats; they in.
vented the footstool.
| Like the Carthagenians, the Greeks
and the Romans had the custom of eat.
ing boiled meat with rice. The latter,
moreover, was not wanting; for from
observations by Sprogel, Oliver and
other naturalists, wheat and the most
of our grains were indigenous and not
from Sicily, as the Greeks pretended
but from upper Asia and especially from
the north of Persia.
| The Persians used oil of sesame. They
obtained from palm trees wine, vinegar
syrup, flour, etc. In one of their songs
| that Strabo the geographer mentions,
| they number three hundred and sixty
different articles which this tree pro,
duces- Herodotus made "A ou -ious re
mark concerning the repasts of the Per
| SLAMS.
They observe" " he said, ''the follow,
ing customs, they Deliberate while
drunken over affairs most worthy oi
attention. The next day, fasting
the master of the house where they
assemble submits to them again what
they have resolved upon. If they ap
prove 1t they execute 1t, If they disap
prove it they reject it. On the contrary
what they have decided upon fasting
they revise when drunken"
One attributes to the Persians, neigh
bors of the Medes, the invention o.
light bread, but We know already that
this invention has been attributed to the
Cappadocians.
The butter of Partha was celebrated
and fifty years after Aristotle, tn,
Greeks supplied themselves with ii a
great expense, not knowing how to pre-
pare ii themselves.
The Caramaniens, whose country
bordered that of the Persians, had 4
strange custom. In order to show
sincere affection, they opened, at then
festivals, a vein in the forehead, anC
mixed their blood with wine, then offer
ed the cup. This Was for them the
proof of perfect friendship that o
drinking reciprocally their blood Aftel
they drink they annoInt their head,
with ointment, sometimes of roses or o
ounce, sometimes of iris or of nard, il
order to obviate little of the effects o
the wine, and to prevent the fumes OF i
from becoming injurious.
They were not the only barbarian'
who had extraordinary customs. Th'
Illyrisns when they drank bound theil
stomachs with girdles.
| Ine lnrAclAus seateu themselves III
circle in order to eat and placed befor,
each guest table with three feet; thes,
tables were covered with cut meats, Il
which were attached by pegs larg,
loaves of fermented bread. The lily
rians and the Thracians dwelt in tina
part of the country called to-day tn,
peninsula of the Balkans; this will per
NIT US then to pass into Greece withou
having recourse to q tradition les:
natural and less legitimate.