Apicius is the name of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

lover of luxury who lived in the 90s BC and was said to have outdone all his contemporaries in lavish expenditure.compare Posidonii Reliquiae, ed. Bake According to

Poseidonius Posidonius (; grc-gre, wikt:Ποσειδώνιος, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apamea (Syria), Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geog ...

, Apicius was responsible for the banishment from Rome of Rutilius Rufus, who was the author of a history of Rome written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and was notable for the modesty of his entertaining. As

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

observes, this early Apicius gave his name to a series of later gourmets and cooks, notably

Marcus Gavius Apicius Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius. The Roman cookbook ''Apicius'' is often attributed to him, though it is impossible to prov ...

and a slightly later

Apicius ''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer ...

who lived in the 2nd century AD. Apicius was not transmitted as a family name, but was apparently applied as a nickname, meaning "gourmand". For the same reason, the name of ''Apicius'' was eventually thought appropriate for a cookbook, and as such was applied both to the late Roman cookery text currently known as ''

'' and to the quite different and much briefer ''Excerpta Apicii'' ("Abridged Apicius") ascribed to

Vinidarius Vinidarius (fl. 5th century AD) was the purported compiler of a small collection of cooking recipes named ''Apici excerpta a Vinidario''. This is preserved in a single 8th‑century uncial manuscript in Latin, claiming to be excerpts from the recipe ...

Notes

Other sources

fragment 27 Jacoby, quoted by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

, ''

Deipnosophistae The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of liter ...

'
4.168d
*

, ''

Apologeticus ''Apologeticus'' ( la, Apologeticum or ''Apologeticus'') is a text attributed to Tertullian, consisting of apologetic and polemic. In this work Tertullian defends Christianity, demanding legal toleration and that Christians be treated as all other ...

'
3.6

Bibliography

* p. 16 {{Authority control Ancient Roman chefs 1st-century BC Romans