Spice Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early history=== The [[spice trade]] developed throughout the [[Indian subcontinent]]<ref name="Sidebotham2019">{{cite book|author=Steven E. Sidebotham|title=Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw6LDwAAQBAJ|date=May 7, 2019|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-30338-6|access-date=April 13, 2019|archive-date=June 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115408/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw6LDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Middle East]] by 2000 BCE with [[cinnamon]] and [[black pepper]], and in [[East Asia]] with herbs and pepper. The Egyptians used herbs for [[ancient Egyptian cuisine|cuisine]] and [[Ancient Egyptian funerary practices|mummification]]. Their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. [[Clove]]s were used in [[Mesopotamia]] by 1700 BCE.{{refn |group=note |A team of archaeologists led by [[Giorgio Buccellati]] excavating the ruins of a burned-down house at the site of [[Terqa]], in modern-day [[Syria]], found a ceramic pot containing a handful of cloves. The house had burned down around 1720 BC and this was the first evidence of cloves being used in the west before Roman times.<ref>Daniel T. Potts (1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=O_aFGKPsWwcC&pg=PA269 Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164819/https://books.google.com/books?id=O_aFGKPsWwcC&pg=PA269 |date=March 26, 2023 }} A&C Black publishers, p. 269</ref><ref>Buccellati, G., M. Kelly-Buccellati, Terqa: The First Eight Seasons, Les Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 33(2), 1983, 47-67</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=O'Connell |first=John |title=The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-68177-152-6|url= }}</ref>}} The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian cultures. The [[Ebers Papyrus]] from early Egypt dating from 1550 BCE describes some eight hundred different [[Herbal medicine|herbal medicinal]] remedies and numerous medicinal procedures.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Food and Culture|last=Woodward|first=Penny|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=2003|editor-last=Katz|volume=2|pages=187β195|chapter=Herbs and Spices}}</ref> By 1000 BCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in [[China]], [[Korea]], and [[India]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Early uses were associated with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, and preservation.<ref name=ABCp14>{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=Linda | title=A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices: How to Introduce New Flavors to Everyday Meals | publisher=Bellwether Books | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-9704285-0-9 | page=14}}</ref> Indonesian merchants traveled around China, India, the Middle East, and the east coast of Africa. [[Arab]] merchants facilitated the routes through the Middle East and India. This resulted in the Egyptian [[Port of Alexandria|port city of Alexandria]] being the main trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade was the [[monsoon]] winds (40 CE). Sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western European consumers gradually replaced the land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Middle East Arab caravans.<ref name=ABCp14/> Spices were prominent enough in the ancient world that they are mentioned in the [[Old Testament]]. In [[Genesis (Old Testament)|Genesis]], [[Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph]] was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants. In [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[manna]] is described as being similar to coriander in appearance. In the [[Song of Solomon]], the male narrator compares his beloved to many saffron, cinnamon, and other spices. The ancient Indian [[Indian epic poetry|epic]] [[Ramayana]] mentions cloves. Historians believe that [[nutmeg]], which originates from the [[Banda Islands]] in [[Southeast Asia]], was introduced to Europe in the 6th century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burkill |first=I.H. |title=A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula |publisher=Ministry of Agriculture and Co-Operatives |location=Kuala Lumpur |year=1966}}</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] had cloves in the 1st century CE, as [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote about them.<ref name="Duke 2002 p. 7">{{cite book |last=Duke |first=J.A. |title=CRC Handbook of Medicinal Spices |publisher=CRC Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-4200-4048-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPTLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=May 9, 2017 |page=7 |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115408/https://books.google.com/books?id=vPTLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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