A cake of thin layers of dough enriched with fresh cheese beaten with honey, perfumed with sesame. The distant ancestor of the honeyed layered cakes of the Mediterranean.

Why this dish? When her sons Amphion and Zethus had built the seven-gated walls and Antiope regained her rank, her return must have been celebrated. At the Theban table, the honey *plakous* — the festive cake par excellence — crowned the banquet, accompanied by Amphion's lyre.

That day, bitterness was over. My sons had raised the walls of Thebes, and they brought to the table the *plakous*, golden with honey like the dawn over Cithaeron. See how they beat the fresh goat cheese with thyme honey, how they spread it between thin leaves, how they sprinkle sesame. Taste it while the lyre sings: such a cake is not for days of chains, but for those when the gods finally smile upon us.

How it was made : The *plakous* ("flat thing") is described by Greek authors as a cake of layers of dough, cheese, and honey — Cato later gives a Roman recipe under the name *placenta*. It was the banquet and offering dessert, a sign of prosperity.

The contemporary twist : Serve warm with a spoonful of runny honey and a few edible petals; name it "Cake of the Seven Gates" as a nod to Amphion's walls.

Antiope · Charactorium