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This webpage reproduces an article in The Classical Journal Vol. 43, No. 6 (Mar. 1948), 371‑373. The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know!

 p371  The Use of Rue as a Spice
By the Greeks and Romans
Alfred C. Andrews
University of Miami

Because of the pungent smell of its leaves, rue is distasteful to most Americans but it is used to a limited extent by people who like bitter flavors, not only in culinary preparations, but also in beverages. But tastes, like fashions, vary according to time and place and climate. In some respects the likes and dislikes of the Greeks and the Romans with regard to foods and spices parallel ours closely; in some they are divergent. Sometimes, too, we find the Greeks and the Romans in sharp disagreement with each other. With this in mind, it may be of some interest to explore the use of rue in the classical period, for what we learn in the course of such an inquiry will shed just a little more light on the predilections of the Greeks and the Romans and will add, if only slightly, to our appreciation and understanding of them as ordinary human beings, with food preferences that sometimes match ours, sometimes conflict with them. This particular topic has received very little attention. In fact, the only article of any length on rue in the classical period is one by Stadler in Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll.​1 The present article is more comprehensive, especially with regard to condimentary uses.

Common rue, Ruta graveolens L., also called herb of grace, grows wild in both Greece and Italy.​2 This is the plant usually denoted by Greek πήγανον​3 and Latin ruta,​4 although these names in a broad sense included allied species. Thus Theophrastus, describing rue as a typical undershrub​5 with thin fleshy leaves​6 that tends to become tree-like under cultivation,​7 says that there is only one kind,​8 but speaks of a wild form.​9 Dioscorides​10 similarly refers to both cultivated and wild forms of rue, calling the wild form inedible. The plant throve best when set out close to (or grafted on) fig trees.11

There is almost no direct evidence that rue was much used in ancient Greece. It is casually mentioned as a seasoning by Alexis of Thurii, a poet of the Middle Comedy.​12 Diocles, an eminent physician of the middle fourth century B.C., says that the best rue was grown in Myra in Lycia​13 and recommends the use of green, unground rue as a seasoning.​14 Except for technical remarks on the properties of rue by other physicians, discussed later in this article, this is the sum total of direct testimony to the use of rue as a seasoning in ancient Greece. The frequent appearance of this condiment in the recipes of Apicius, commented on below, suggests that rue was in more general use than this meagre evidence indicates, since there is marked evidence of Greek influence in his cookbook; but it is hard to believe that this seasoning, if it had been at all popular among the Greeks, could have escaped conspicuous notice in the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus. It is best, therefore, to conclude that in ancient Greece rue played a very minor role as a condiment. This is equally true today in Greece, where it is only rarely raised in gardens.15

But in Italy rue was much cultivated in the classical period​16 and enjoyed some popularity even in the republican period, according to Pliny,​17 who says that Cornelius Cethegus at the end of the elections in the consul­ship of Quintus Flaminius (198 B.C.) distributed to the populace honeyed wine spiced with rue. In general, rue was used by the Romans for much the same purposes as we use parsley. Bunches of it were often pickled in brine for later use.​18 Eggs and rue were often used as a garnish for salt tunny or mackerel,​19 and Capellian sweetmeats were  p372 deftly wrapped in a leaf of rue.​20 The herb was also used in salads​21 and as a condiment in pickling olives.​22 The acerbity of rue was so notorious that Cicero made his reaction transparently clear when he remarked of an impending visit of Lepta, "Rue is coming."23

In view of the pungency of rue, it is no surprise on turning to the recipes of Apicius to find caution enjoined in using it as a condiment​24 and that it was often employed in the form of a bouquet garni during the cooking,​25 a sprig sometimes being used merely to stir a sauce, after which it was discarded.​26 It is prudent to assume that in his recipes rue was meant to be used invariably with moderation, even when this is not specifically recommended. The herb was used in two forms, green and dried, but in either case was almost always ground or crushed; and the seeds or berries were often also employed in the same manner. In general, Apicius used the leaves or seeds either as a seasoning in the preparation of dishes or in sauces that were added to them, especially in sauces for meat,​27 fowl,​28 and fish.29

In the case of the Romans, accordingly, the evidence is clear and explicit that rue was a cultivated plant of some importance and that it was extensively used as a condiment, but generally with delicacy and discretion. The favor which this herb enjoyed in ancient Italy reflects a threat in sharp conflict with that of the Greeks and ours. There are many striking examples of survivals of food tastes in the classical lands, but this is not one, for rue is held in no particular esteem in Italy today.​a

The physicians often refer to rue, generally not too approvingly. According to Hippocrates,​30 it has a certain congealing property and passes better by urine than by stool. If it is taken beforehand in a potion, it serves as a prophylactic against poisons.​31 Aristotle avers that rue gives the perspiration a foul odor.​32 He also says that rue because of its heating property dispels flatulence when eaten before other foods.​33 Celsus​34 considered it of bad juice, sharp, diuretic, excitative, purgative, and emollient. But Pliny​35 deemed it one of the best medicinal herbs. In the late period, Simeon Seth​36 says that cultivated rue, while less heating and drying than the wild form, forms thick, viscous humours and is diuretic; and Hierophilus​37 characterizes it as heating and drying.

The effects of the opinions of prominent physicians upon the diet of the general population in ancient times were probably negligible. In the case of rue, the adverse views of such an author as Celsus did not deter the Romans from using the herb to spice all kinds of foods and drinks, although generally in moderation.

The Author's Notes:

1 Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Second Series, I.296‑300.

2 Cf. H. O. Lenz, Botanik der alten Griechen und Römer (Gotha, 1859) 671; Filippo Parlatore, Flora italiana (Firenze, 1848‑1894) V.349. According to E. de Halácsy (Conspectus florae graecae, [Leipzig, 1901‑1904] I.311; cf. Supplementum secundum [Budapest, 1912] 25), var. divaricata Ten. is much more common in Greece than the basic species, and Eugenio Baroni (Guida botanica d'Italia, 2nd ed. [Bologna, 1932] 86) and Adriano Fiori (Nuova flora analitica d'Italia [Firenze, 1925‑1929] II.150) imply the same is true of Italy. Theodor von Heldreich (Die Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands [Athens, 1862] 63) says that Ruta chalepensis L. is more common on the islands (cf. Halácsy, loc. cit.) and var. divaricata on dry hills of the mainland. Ruta chalepensis L., which is native in the Mediterranean region (cf. M. Rikli and E. Rübel, "Über Flora und Vegetation von Kreta und Griechenland," Vierteljahrsschrift der naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich, 68 [1923] 128) is represented in Greece by three varieties in addition to the basic species (cf. Halácsy, loc. cit.).

3 This word is probably a formation based on *pag‑ similar to Latin pagina from the same root, in the sense of "fixt fast" or "unite," and is cognate with Greek πήγνυμι, as Plutarch correctly observes (quaest. conv. 3.1.3), although he erroneously takes the allusion to be to the potency of the plant. Cf. esp. Alois Walde, Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., (Heidelberg, 1910) 553. Note Modern Greek pegani, pegania, peganon, and apeganos; Old Russian piganu; and pigano and pujano in the province of Bova​b in Italy (cf. Gerhard Rohlfs, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der unteritalienischen Gräzität [Halle, 1930] no. 1683). The tendency to apply the name to allied species is still evident today. Theodor von Heldreich (Τὰ δημώδη ὀνόματα τῶν φυτῶν [Athens, 1910] 19) calls attention to agriopeganos (Fraas) and pegani (Sibthorp) as terms for Ruta montana L. and apeganos (Sibthorp) and pegano (Ceryca) for Ruta chalepensis L., in addition to peganos, apiganos (usually), pegani (Sibthorp), pegani and pegounia in Cephalenia (Fraas), and peganto (Cestoration: in Epirus) for Ruta graveolens L.

 p373  4 Synonymous with and probably a borrowing of the infrequent Greek ῥυτή (Nicand. alex. 306, 607) and the source of Italian ruta, ruda, and ruga; French rue; German Raute (OHG ruta); and Anglo-Saxon rude (cf. T. G. Tucker, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin [Halle, 1931] 210; Otto Schrader, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd ed. 1917–, II.217). The Italian names are applied to the various species without much distinction (cf. Otto A. J. Penzig, Flora populare italiana [Geneva, 1924], I.426‑427).

5 H. P. 1.3.1.

6 Id. 1.10.4.

7 Id. 1.3.4.

8 Id. 7.4.1.

9 Id. 7.6.1.

10 3.45 Daubeny (in Gunther's ed., 665) refers the wild form to Peganum harmala L. and the mountain form to Ruta montana L.

11 Diosc. loc. cit. Dioscorides seems to say that the cultivated kind best suited for eating was that which grew close to fig trees, but the interpretation here is uncertain, and it is therefore impossible to put much credence in Pliny's statement (N. H. 19.156) that rue nowhere prospered more than under fig trees, since he may merely have garbled Dioscorides' account. Elsewhere we find specific references to grafting rue on fig trees (Theophr. C. P. 5.6.10; Aristot. Probl. 20.18) and to putting the seeds in figs before they were sowed (Theophr. C. P. 5.7.10).

12 Apud Athen. 4.170B.

13 Id. 2.59B.º

14 Apud Oribas. Coll. Med. 4.3.5.

15 Cf.  Theodor von Heldreich, Die Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands (Athens, 1862) 63.

16 Cf. Plin. N. H. 19.156; Colum. 11.3.16, 38; Pallad. 4.9.13; Geopon. 12.25.1.

17 N. H. 19.156.

18 Cf. Plin. loc. cit.; Colum. 12.7.5.

19 Cf. Mart. 10.48.11; 11.52.8.

20 Id. 11.31.17.

21 Moret. 89.

22 Cf.  Cato Agric. 119; Pallad. 12.22.5.

23 Fam. 9.23.2. In this connection, one may note the slang expression "to throw into a rue leaf" (in rutae folium conicere) current in the first century A.D. (cf. Petron. 38 and  58), probably roughly equivalent to our idiom "to knock into a cocked hat."

24 Cf.  3.67; 4.132; 6.289.

25 Cf. 6.295.

26 Cf. 8.334.

27 6.281; 8.338, 339, 347, 349, 350, 351, 353, 368, 371, 376, 382, 384, 394, 395, 400, 404; 8.405, 406.

28 6.213, 222, 225, 234, 237, 242, 257.

29 4.152, 154, 157; 8.413, 414, 415, 417, 432, 435, 437, 438, 439, 440; 10.445, 455, 456, 464, 467, 478, 471, 473, 476, 478.

30 Diaet. 2.54.

31 Cf. Athen. 3.85B; Galen. 6.610, 793; Sim. Seth p82.6 Langk.

32 Problem. 867b8 and 962b16; cf. Theophr. de sud. 10.

33 Id. 926b28.

34 2. 21, 22, 31, 32; 5.5, 15.

35 N. H. 20.131.º Note Priap. 51.21: salubribus rutis.

36 P81 Langk.

37 Nutr. meth. 7.4 in Ideler, Phys. et med. gr. min., I.415.

Thayer's Notes:

a This may have been so when Andrews wrote, but a few decades later, grappa flavored with rue is commonly found in Italian supermarkets (for an idea of the choice available, see this search page), and not even expensive. During one of my stays in Italy I bought a bottle of the Candolini brand, and, yes, enjoyed it.

b A bit of loose writing. There is not now, nor was there when Andrews wrote, a province of Bova: the little town is in the province of Reggio Calabria. Bova is, however, is considered the cultural capital of a small area called Bovesia, where a form of Greek is still spoken.

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