Hercules at the table

The ancient Greek meal revolves around sitos — the cereal base (wheat bread or barley maza) that is the real food — and opson, what is eaten "with" it: meat, fish, cheese, vegetables. The deipnon is the evening meal, the most substantial; it often ends with the symposion, a time for drinking wine mixed with water among guests. For a hero like Heracles, the portions of meaty opson are especially multiplied.

Toasted barley flour (alphita) is the staple of the ordinary Greek meal, long before wheat. It is kneaded into maza, tossed into kykeon, sprinkled on everything. It is the rustic fuel of the Greek warrior and peasant — the signature ingredient, humble yet omnipresent, which nourished cowherds and hungry heroes alike.