CHAPTER II. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 



THE ANCIENTS OYSTERS A GREEK AND ROMAN LUXURY SERGIUS 

 GRATA, AND THE OYSTER-BEDS OF BALE IMMENSE CONSUMP- 

 TION AT ROME FAILURE OF THE CIRCEAN AND LUCRINIAN 

 OYSTER-BEDS UNDER DOMITIAN, AND INTRODUCTION OF RUTU- 

 PIANS FROM BRITAIN AGRICOLA, CONSTANTINE, AND HELENA 

 ATHENIAN OYSTERS, AND ARISTIDES. 



WHERE do we first find historical mention of oysters ? 

 Did the ancient Egyptian ever press between his teeth the 

 dainty mollusc ? Does the oyster figure on the monu- 

 ments of that remarkable, people ? Although, as Sir G. 

 Wilkinson tells us, the Egyptians were not contented with 

 the abundance of fish afforded by the Nile, but constructed 

 within their grounds spacious sluices or ponds for fish, like 

 the vivaria of the Romans, where they fed them for the 

 table, and where they amused themselves by angling and 

 the dexterous use of the trident, it does not appear that 

 they had any knowledge of ostreoculture, and it is doubt- 

 ful whether these molluscs ever formed part of their food. 

 " Of the division of the animal kingdom, the mollusca, 

 containing shell-fish, nothing is known which connects 

 any of them with the religion of Egypt." (a) 



(a) "Ancient. Egyptians," vol. 3, p. 53, and vol. 5, p. 125. 



