Feeding a Greek Hoplite - Ancient Rations 

For more ancient Greek and Roman episodes check out this playlist to learn about garum, placenta, Roman bread and more: ru-vid.com/group/PLIkaZtzr9JDkCHpSx2Kf2XWRcgqjClDff

this video is proof that there is an inherent primal need for a sweet little treat

Max is one of the few cooks that really means it when the recipe calls for "only two ingredients"

Fun fact: In the Greek Land Forces, the term "Hoplite" is still used to describe the equivalent of the "Private" class. Old habits rarely die

In the Island of Rhodes (Rodos) , we have our own local variation of "Pasteli" , we call "Melekouni" , literally meaning "honey and seeds". It consists of honey, sesame, orange zest, cinnamon and a raw almond placed in the center of the bar. It's way softer than Pasteli and thus more pleasant to consume. We usually give them away for free at weddings.

King Leonidas looking at his camp: "This is where we snack!" (gestures to the Athenians' mess tent) "And that is where they DINE!"

My brother made a linothorax as part of a historical recreation project at college, and compared it to the composite lamellar silk armour worn by samurai. The big difference for the linothorax is it was made from relatively cheap materials and quite often the linen would have been woven by the mother or spouse of the hoplite that wore it. It was made for that hoplite and that hoplite alone. The layers of linen would have little charms and prayers or coins or flowers pressed between the layers for luck and divine protection. And with use it would mold and shift in the heat to fit the wearer perfectly. My brother's friend managed to both graze his knuckles and dislocate a finger punching him while wearing it! So it was pretty effective. He also tested some squares of the material with a bow and arrow though sadly was never able to make the squares of silk lamellar to compare because he couldn't source the laquer needed.

The fact that body armor made out of fabric was used from the ancient world with the Linothorax up to the late middle ages with the Gambeson just shows us how effective fabric armor can be. Also it's quite affordable and when you have to ear it an extended period of time pretty comfortable compared to heavier material.

My mother used to give me this as a child. She called it sesame candy. My father was Italian but he was obsessed with Greek culture, played the bouzouki, and drank ouzo, so I guess that's why we had sesame candy, too. It's really good. I still have his bouzouki.

There was an ultra distance runner, Dean Karnazes. In an interview discussing his diet 15 years ago he mentioned he snacked on sesame and honey since he was Greek and wanted to embrace his heritage. He used the bars for fast energy on runs lasting several hours

One of my history teachers in school always had these on her desk as a commercially made candy. They were individually wrapped and one would enjoy as a candy. I thought of them as old fashioned candy but never realized how really old fashioned they are. Thanks again for this tidbit from history. Fascinating as always! 🙏

Back when I was a conscript in the Finnish army, we had Greek "Itrion" bars in our field rations. So basically it was just like 2500 years ago, but at least we got our gear and food from the state!

My best friend's Punjabi mom made basically this, all the time. We used to have it as snacks playing D&D and at band practice constantly. It's so simple and so good that much of the world's said "Hell yes" to it. They'd usually throw a couple spices in, maybe some dates, maybe nuts, but it was always super easy and super delicious. Can't go wrong with honey and toasted seeds/nuts.

I've been eating sesame seed and honey candies since I was a kid, had no idea they go back this far.

Xenophon's "Anabasis" is one of the first, if not the first accounts we have of ancient warfare written by a commander, or somebody who was actually there. In a remarkable change from most histories of this time period, there is no ridiculousness, no melodrama, no heroic derring-do...just a soldier's story of what happened to them, and how they escaped after being double crossed.

Growing up in California in the '70s and '80s this was a standard candy at health food stores. It was one one of the few candes my mom you let me eat when I was little.

I went to this international candy store a couple weeks ago and picked up this weird bar in an orange box with Greek writing on it, I didn’t understand what it meant and inside was this sticky loaf of sesame seeds and honey, at least now I know what it was. It was pretty tasty too.

Well ... this is strange, I'm from Romania and my mom made this since i was a child, we can also find this exact sesame treat at most corner stores, I'm glad this recipe traveled so far because it's delicious!

So proud of being Greek right now!!! Itrion is called "pasteli" nowadays (the accent on the e) and apart of being the best snack, you can add it to fresh salads to give body and crunchiness especially green salads. Also you can add it graded with cookies to make cheese cake base. Keep up the good work!!

There is a similar Georgian snack called "gozinaki", although it is made with walnuts usually. And there is also soviet version made with sunflower seeds, known as "kozinaki", that is still popular in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to this day.

Fun fact: here in Italy (and I would assume in Germany as well), there's a good few snack vending machines that sell something extremely similar to Itrion ^^

This is so interesting to me because I grew up eating Sesame Snaps, which is a commercial version of this. They were a common lunchbox addition and you can still find them in gas stations across Canada.

I'm so glad you mentioned marshmallows... i couldn't help but think of this as a sort of ancient greek rice krispie treat!

Hey Max, loved the episode! We also have these currently in Bulgaria, as well as, I believe, in our neighbours, Turkey and Greece. Never knew they originated in Ancient Greece. Ours are called сусамки, basically "tiny sesame", and they ARE great! We also have similar with de-shelled sunflower seeds and with peanuts, also quite jgood, but personally I love the texture of the sesame! Keep up the good work! 🎉

You can also use specific varietals of honey to really mix it up!! Cotton honey has a very light and “cloud” like flavor, orange blossom honey (I’m sure you can figure that one out) and many others!

I'm also fascinated with the raisin cakes that fueled King David's army in Samuel. This Greek delight is crossed between lembas bread and an MRE. Cool video.

I've made sesame honey cookies like these several times and I definitely recommend adding just a few pinches of salt. It tastes really good and balances out the sweetness of the honey.

Hi Max... In some places of south of Italy we call it "giurgiulea" or "giurgiulena", from the Arabic word "sesame seed". This video helped me to realize that it is more ancient than the Arabic influence in Italy (middle age), but maybe it come from the Greek colonization of southern Italy (before the roman empire).

Oh my God, this is a treat in Slavic culture as well. I'd eat it often when we had family gatherings. Just honey and sesame, it goes well with a strong black tea. I had completely forgotten about it! Thanks Max!

So it's like Ancient Greek Rice Krispie Treats almost but with honey and sesame instead of puffed rice and marshmalllow? That's really neat! Thank you for sharing!

Greek here! As you said, these are still around, so simple yet so delicious! Thanks for covering this recipe! 💛

"many, many layers of linen tightly woven and glued together" I thought the Linothorax would be something akin to a medieval gambeson, but from that description, it sounds more like an ancient version of proto-Kevlar. Cool!

Modern British Army ration packs actually sometimes contain sesame seed bars, which are basically just itrion - seems some things never change!

this is also a traditional chinese snack that i've had since childhood black sesame and honey crackers/crisps the taste is so nostalgic and fragrant i love it

I'm not Greek but I grew up eating this. It's incredible!

You can buy these sesame honey biscuit snacks anywhere and in any convenience store today. Amazing to see where it originated from.

7:54 linen armor from acient Greece is made with the same idea as kevlar or the front of your car today: you arent expecting it to stop the hit all together, you want it to disperse the energy over a much much larger area to slow down and mitigate the force.

In Poland we have something similar called 'sezamki'. They are thin and crispy, but unfortunately now made mostly of glucose syrup. But if you are lucky you can find ones made with honey. They were one of my favourite treats as a kid, but they stuck to the teeth like crazy. Still, I have it as an emergency snack in my car, because you never know when you'll need them 😂

This sweet sesame crisp reminds me at first glance of the hard sesame candy made today in Vietnam - my mother is Vietnamese, and as a kid, sesame candy was always a treat to beg for and very occasionally be granted when we went to an Asian grocery store.

Due to the significant Greek population in Australia pasteli is a very nostalgic sweet here! Admittedly not everyone likes it but as a Korean-Australian honey and sesame are two or my favourite flavours.

Oh man, these are my favorite video type. Old recipes are cool too but I love it when you show us what rations or standardized food soldiers, sailors, royals or whomever ate.

As you already said, we still have this in modern Greece. It's called Pasteli now and you can find it everywhere. 😊

That's a popular candy in Puerto Rico! It's called Dulce de Ajonjolí and still made with mostly just sesame seeds and honey but I think caramelized sugar is also used to make it harder. Similar sesame candies are found all over the world, I would love to see a timeline of how it traveled from one culture to another.

Tried making this recipe since I had both ingredients. I added in some onions, minced until liquid, and ate the whole batch. It tasted great. However, I would warn that this is the only time I've ever crapped out a log made solely of toasted sesame seeds. Was quite bewildered.

near me they sell something called sesame snaps, they are small packaged things that look just like that and they are sweet. i love those sesame snaps and its neat to hear about the history of these little guys.

When I was a kid, these were the only candies I was ever allowed to eat. They had them at the health food store for some reason which is where we got all of our groceries. I always loved them so much!

Oh wow! Korea ALSO has these as traditional treats! It's the same thing although Koreans have a greater variety of sesame seeds and also add peanuts It's called "Gahng-Jeohng" and "Kkaeh" is "sesame" so it's Kkae-gangjeong

5:22 “… and hopefully some food.” Hit different 😂 when your relief forgets to bring chow. It’s rough

It's like an ancient Greek rice crispy treat

I got rice crispy vibes from this. I guess the best snacks are made from a nut, seed, or grain with something sweet to hold them together, examples being pecan pralines, candied walnuts, rice crispy treats, and those no-bake oatmeal cow pattie cookies that school cafeterias used to serve.

My mom always kept "sesame snaps" (basically this but in thin wafers) around when I was growing up, they do get stuck in your teeth but I always really liked them. I had no idea they went back that far!

Wow what a flashback! My grandma used to make something exactly like this when I was a kid! I had totally forgotten about it til watching you make this and my memories came back!

Love the story telling! Can’t wait for more about the Greek military history. Thank you!

I always have a couple of bars of pasteli (as we call it now in Greece) in my hiking bag, as emergency food. On longer hikes, I eat just a medium bar for breakfast and it is enough to hike for a full day. I don't think it is just the energy in these that keeps you going, more like their whole nutritional profile.

In Mexico we have a similar snack called alegría which is made with honey and amaranth seeds. Sometimes they add hulled pumpkin seeds. Delicious!

I literally bought one of these at a convenience store. They're called Sesame Snaps and they are very common here in Southern Ontario. They probably use a bunch of corn syrup, but when you're hiking, they still function the same. They're much better than most hiking snacks, like granola bars (of similar price) or chocolate bars, because they're just nuts glued together. No filler, just dense protein and fat, held together by a little sugar. It's always kind of amazing to find common ground across such lengths of time and space.

Max has found a niche that no one else has thought of. Brilliant! This is fun. I enjoy watching these videos. Thanks, Max.

Yum! This recipe reminded me of "Alegrias", a delightfully sweet Mexican treat made with honey and amaranth seeds. Now I'll be craving one all day! 😋

We used to have sesame brittle or candy frequently. Its always been available at Middle-Eastern Markets around the Metro -Detroit area, with the great number of people living here from the many countries who imported their great food.

0:07 i grew up eating this all the time. we call it layee, or til layee (sesame brittle). it's the exact same thing. never knew ancient greek hoplites had this.

thanks for this video. It actually explained quite a few things I saw from AC Odyssey, like linothorax and the war between the Athenians and the Spartans.

Can you do an episode about Latvian food and drink, like piragi, kaposti and Riga black balsam??? My husband’s family would love it!

Halva is very very common here in Ontario Canada. From the fine ground sesame versions to the "snap" types of whole seed. The Sesame Snap type is usually sold 3 for 1 dollar. These are a blend of simple "food" type items, to items the center on different faith based diets. It's good stuff Max :) and your very very thick slick of snappy sesame seeds made my teeth wince :D but mouth water :D The next thing to look at in confection terms is the history of the marshmallow (starts in Egypt and ends with Jelly Beans).

Sesame Snaps. :) I had no idea that the recipe was so old. India has jaggery mixed with sesame. China sells white bars of sesame and sugar as well as bars of black sesame seeds. It’s definitely a childhood favourite of mine that’s lasted quite some time, although I never considered it with honey, i suppose we can call these seed cakes. :) Thanks for sharing!

Your channel is playing constantly while I work 😊 the mix of music and random bits of information makes the day go by faster!

I'm Danish and my mom used to make these as snacks for us as kids! I can smell it through the screen! It fun to think about how I ate as an ancient Greek soldier when I was 6 years old, lol. I also love how this is found everywhere in the world!

So it's like a rice crispy treat. It's weird how many recipes are kind of similar to each other. Also, I finally got a copy of the cookbook. I love it and made three things from it so far.

I buy this stuff from the local mediterranean store. I have loved these my whole life.

Thank you Max, always well produced and well researched.

reminds me of the sesame snaps that were a store bought treat from the candy aisle when I was a kid. I loved those things!

This seemed a lot like Alegría, a traditional Mexican candy made with amaranth and honey. Only you don't toast the amaranth, you pop it, like popcorn. Which then lead me to realizing that it's a lot like popcorn balls, but then I think you hit the nail on the head with calling the honey taste marshmallow-like, it's basically ancient rice krispie treats.

This is actually one of my favorite treats and I never knew the history behind it. Another example of why history is cool! Thanks for this information and video! Awesome stuff!

Here in Canada, we used to sell pretty much exactly these. (I say "used to" because they got cheap, and now make them with glucose syrup and barley sugar instead of honey.) They're called "Sesame Snaps" and (new, cheap ingredients notwithstanding) are one of my favourite snacks. They give a satiety that most other snack foods just don't offer, and a little goes a long way. Our version is much thinner - basically sesame wafers - so there's also more nibbling to get through the same amount of product. I suspect the extra chewing also adds to the feeling of eating more.

I can confirm that this snack is still very popular in Greece, but I didn't know that it goes back millennia. It is mind-boggling if you think about it

I would really like it if you explored African food! One of my fixations right now is the Malagasy culture: the people of Madagascar are ethnically very close to the Austronesians of Southeast Asia, because they represent the most westward expansion of the Austronesians. It'd be so cool if you explored this connection in food!

LOVE those plates upon which you served it forth. Also, you nailed the timing of the ad break again. That’s three, I believe. Kudos. 😊

Delightful recipe, and good history learning from Max!

I remember the first time seeing 깨강정 thinking, “hey, that looks like my yiayia’s recipe!” Ancient humans across Eurasia quickly realized that sesame+honey = crunchy yummies.

I like that *if* you mess up during a recipe it stays in the video and you roll with it. Recipes and cooking are meant to be an adventure (if you have the budget) so I always love to see that!

Great video! It's been a while since I've been able watch youtube do to being busy. I definitely enjoy catching up with your videos informative and entertaining. 👍🏻

Bought your book so happy I can watch you cook the recipes in it so I know what I’m doing

one of my favourite snacks, as a greek, is sesame peanuts, which is this mixture as a peanut coating. its honestly so good!

The oil from the sesame is the best thing, when chewing it comes out and mixes with the honey. Love this stuff.

I often have a small version of this at work or in my bag. They are called sesame snaps we used to be able to buy them at the school canteen as well. (In Australia)

With summer coming up, I was wondering about the variety of potato salad recipes. I would love to see a show on the origins and of America's cold potato salad. Always enjoy your show.

It was a coin toss whether Max still had the helmet on after the intro played.

😂 I never knew one of my favorite hiking snacks was THAT historic. We buy something similar by the box from REI for hiking or just any kind of travel snacking. Yum! Okay, now we'll be putting it out to share at SCA events, too.😊

This was excellent! Thanks for the education. I will certainly try this.

As always, superb documentation and top interesting!

Only Max could find a way to reference Winnie the Pooh when discussing Ancient Greek military rations !! You made my day! Haha. Love it!

We have stuff like this in our supermarkets, I didn't know it was an ancient greek ration cake. Thanks for the great video ;)

I gotta say as an armchair historian and a cook when i served in the army, your channel is the perfect combo of cooking and history

In Mexico they make a similar thing using amaranth instead of sesame. It is common to find for sale on the street. YUM!

Hey! we have exact same dessert in India also. We just use jaggery (a form of cane sugar) instead of honey. It is called Tilsakri (Til: Sesame seeds, sakri: Sugar) or Gajak. It is enjoyed a lot in winters all over India.

This is a treat that is still made in Greece to this day. It's known as "παστέλι" nowadays, and while the most common version is still sesame seeds and honey, there are also version that replace the sesame with almonds or peanuts (equally as delicious, and with some extra crunch - although can be pretty hard on the teeth).

Fun fact about Greek equipment. The cape, called a chlamys was vital as a last resort protection. If you lost or broke your shield, at least you would have your chlamys. Normally, it was made out of linen and you would use it to wrap around your forearm, and loop it around your opponent's weapon to disarm them, or block a blow. Even if a blade cut through, it would be quite easy to quickly twist your chlamys and rip the opponent's weapon away.

I grew up with Pasteli and it's nice to hear my ancestors did enjoy it too.

Oh this is similar (outside) to a snack in Vietnam called Bỏng gạo. It is basically roast rice to brown color,mix with malt syrup or sugar then cut into shape like a box. Very delicious and compact snack for picnic when I was a kid. It is still being sold nearby the hospital where I'm learning.

These ancient recipe videos are my favorite! It's incredible to see how much (or how little) has changed over thousands of years. It's always cool to wonder whether my favorite foods were the favorite of my ancestors too!

Man this video comes at the perfect time! Because I planned on making these this morning anyway!