로마가 그린 수족관 세계

수생 생물을 보여주는 로마 모자이크.

폼페이 어느 저택.

기원전 2세기로 거슬러 올라간다.

현재 나폴리에 위치한 국립 고고학 박물관 소장.

이 정도면 수족관 수준이라 할 만하다.

저들은 저런 구상화로 역사문화를 구축하는데 우리는?

무슨 실물이 있어야지? 

 

Oyster Farming in Ancient Times

Oyster farming was widespread in the Greco-Roman world: Aristotle mentions in his writings the formation of "artificial" oyster beds created by transferring young oysters to areas where faster growth could be achieved with better results. Chian fishermen and farmers would transport oysters from Pyrrha (Lesbos) and place them in sea straits to fatten them (Marzano, 2015). The use of oyster farming also spread to Rome, as evidenced by Varro (Res Rusticae, III: 3.10), Cicero (Hortensius: 69), Columella (De Agricoltura, VIII: 16,7), Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, IX: 168-170), Macrobius (Saturnalia, III: 13, 12) (De Grossi Mazzorin, 2015: 153-158).  

Oysters from Lake Lucrino and Lake Avernus were particularly prized, as were those from Circeo, Taranto, and Brindisi (Pliny, Naturalis historia, XXXII:61). Oysters from Britain, Medulla, Ephesus, Ilici, and Istria were also consumed (Pliny, Naturalis historia, XXXII:62). They were also transported over long distances, in various ways. The gastronome Apicius, who lived between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, recommended preserving them in jars of vinegar or washing pitched jars with vinegar to place them in for short distances (Apicius, 1852:21, chapter XII). But in Rome, oysters from Britain were also available, preserved in brine in barrels or terracotta jars. The Romans had “oyster vessels”, which could transport oysters from the Aegean Sea (De Grossi Mazzorin, 2015: 154). 

Ambrose Theodosius Macrobius, a Roman writer, grammarian, and official of the 5th century AD, in his Saturnalia (3, 12, 12), among the various luxurious banquets, describes a particularly refined one prepared to celebrate the victory of Quintus Caecilius Metellus, returning from Spain (72 BC). This banquet mentions large raw oysters, offered as an appetizer along with a large oyster pie (Bellucci, 2016: 61). 

From the 1st century BC, wealthy Roman patricians adorned their luxurious banquets with a feast of seafood, including the renowned oysters of Lucrino. In a tombstone engraved with the epitaph of Domitius Primus of Ostia, who lived in the 4th century, Primus himself declares that he enjoyed life, having "lived off the Lucrino", that is, off its oysters, consuming excellent Falerno, and dedicating himself to bathing and lovemaking throughout his existence (Marzano, 2015: 1; De Grossi Mazzorin, 2015: 154). 

Oyster farming in Lake Lucrino was established by Gaius Sergius Orata, mentioned by various ancient authors, about whom very little is known. He was perhaps of equestrian rank, originally from Pompeii, and lived toward the end of the 2nd century BC, being a contemporary of the orator Licinius Crassus. Renowned for his business acumen, he invented the heated baths built in the Baiae area, as Pliny the Elder recalled (Naturalis Historia, 3.15.3). He also devoted himself to fish farming, as his surname, derived from a species of fish, recalls. He had created, perhaps for the first time, artificial banks in Lake Lucrino, reselling the highly refined product to the demanding Roman patricians. The oysters were transported from Brindisi, where they were natural banks augmented by springs of fresh water that mixed with brackish water, to be immersed in Lake Lucrino and also in the Fusaro: here they spent a period of growth and fattening which, according to Pliny, improved their flavour (Naturalis Historia, 9.54). 

Lucrino was also a brackish lagoon, much larger than today's, which shrank in 1538 after the eruption that destroyed the village of Tripergole and formed Monte Nuovo. The Via Herculanea, connecting Pozzuoli to Baiae and separating the lagoon from the open sea, passed through here. The time spent in Lucrino gave a distinctive flavor to the oysters, which quickly became a staple of the Roman aristocracy. According to Julius Caesar, there was no better food in the world; and some gourmets claimed to be able to distinguish them from others, such as those from Brittany (Marzano, 2015: 2ff.). 

Oyster farming continued in the coastal lagoons of Baiae in the following centuries, as evidenced by the late antique glass flasks, called ostriaria, with topographical views of Baiae and Pozzuoli and oysters hanging from poles (Kolendo, 1972; De Grossi Mazzorin, 2015: 153ff). Even the poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius, who lived in the 4th century AD and was a native of Burdigala (present-day Bordeaux), mentioned in Epistle 9.30 the oysters of Baiae floating on poles; but in Epistle 13 he also recalled the oysters of Medulo, a lagoon near his native city.  

The flasks, likely a precious gift for guests who came to pay homage to the emperors in Baiae, are an invaluable iconographic source for reconstructing the oyster farming systems mentioned by Varro (Res Rusticae, III, 17) and Columella (De Agricoltura, VIII: 16-17). Senator Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, who lived during the Roman-barbarian kingdom of the Ostrogoths, later under the Eastern Roman Empire, also mentioned oyster farming in the ponds of Lake Avernus and its surrounding area, a product intended "ad voluptatem hominum" (for the pleasure of men) for refined banquets (Variae, 9.6.3-4); he also compared Baiae's fame for aquaculture to that of the farms in Istria (Variae, 12.22.4).  

The “pergola” technique depicted in the ostiaria with wooden poles fixed in water and ropes stretched between the poles, from which the oysters were suspended in bunches, was used together with another technique with which a substrate was formed made of terracotta fragments, tiles and stones, on which the oysters were allowed to take root (Marzano, 2015: 5).  

In archaeological excavations from the Roman Imperial period, oyster shells with a small hole have been found, used for a dual purpose: some were pierced with traces of pigment, and were therefore used hung from chains by painters or crushed to obtain calx de ostrea, which gave an ivory-white color (Maurina, 2017: 17), mentioned in an anonymous Neapolitan manuscript from the 14th century, De arte illuminandi, a recipe book for the art of miniature painting, preserved in the National Library of Naples (ms. XII E 27) (Brunello, 1975; Pasqualetti, 2011). These numerous remains testify to the spread of refined food, to which other molluscs were added, presented together in the same oyster shells.