Abstract

An article published several years ago on the provision of Constantinople with meat came to the conclusion that beef had always played a considerable role in the Byzantine kitchen. A reexamination of the written sources and some archaeological evidence allows for the following conclusions: The Byzantines used horned cattle mainly as working and draught animals, in some regions also for dairy produce. Although the Byzantines did not avoid eating beef , archaeological evidence generally indicates that beef was only occasionally consumed, and then only such animals as old dairy cows and plough oxen slaughtered before dying a natural death. In some instances, however, written sources mention foreigners, e. g. soldiers from other lands, as consumers of beef