Vegetable Zodiac (-332/614)RAWI Publishing
The vegetable zodiac was created in the 6th c. CE by Alexandrian merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes for his Christian Topography. He replaced the familiar signs of the zodiac, perceived as too pagan, with vegetable produce. The ring we see here is divided into twelve parts for the twelve months of the year, each featuring a crop corresponding to a zodiac sign.
At the top-centre of the ring we find garlic. Its Greek name, skoroda, is written below, and above it is the name of the Coptic month, Pharmouthi, which corresponds to March–April (Aries). This is when garlic ripens, which means that the choice was made based on the month in which a crop was harvested.
Aside from its ideological Christian significance, the vegetable zodiac is also important for including relative newcomers into the Egyptian diet, like apricots for May–June, introduced in the Roman Period.
ARIES
Pharmouthi
(March–April)
Garlic (skoroda)
TAURUS
Pachon
April–May
Wild barley (kinna)
GEMINI
Pauni
May–June
Nuts and apricots
(karya Armenia)
CANCER
Epiphi
June–July
Wheat (sitos)
& sycamore fig(?) (skopymora)
LEO
Mesore
July–August
Figs (syka)
& grapes (staphylia)
VIRGO
Thoth
August–September
Olives (elaiai)
& peaches (rhodakina)
LIBRA
Phaophi
September–October
Dates (phoinikes)
SCORPIO
Hathyr
October–November
Asparagus (asparagoi)
SAGITTARIUS
Choiak
November–December
Mallows (malachai)
CAPRICORN
Tybi
December–January
Endives (entybia)
AQUARIUS
Mecheir
January–February
Palm shoots (alatia)
PISCES
Phamenoth
February–March
Citrons (kitra)
For more on Egyptian culinary culture, check out this story on travelling food.
Image recreated by Maijane Saba for Rawi magazine's 10th edition based on Susan Weingarten’s research in ‘A Vegetable Zodiac From Late Antique Alexandria’, Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 2008.
