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FISH was regarded a highly expensive luxury among the Ancient Greeks, and the species they ate was used to determine whether a person might become a tyrant or decent human being, a fascinating new BBC television documentary revealed last night.
The first programme in the series assembled under the umbrella of "luxury" and broadcast by the digital channel BBC4, found that in city states like Athens fish was the ultimate status symbol. When a class system sprang up around the introduction of expensive fish in ancient Greece, the food source became one of the earliest recorded "luxuries".
The commentator and historian Dr Michael Scott pin-pointed key moments that have defined the history of luxury in Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages.
He said the introduction of fish as a luxury item saw the creation of the insult "fish lover", which meant if "you had a liking for very expensive fish the implication was you were probably morally corrupt".
Rarity has always defined luxury, said Dr Scott. It means things like gold will always be sought after, but in ancient Greece it also meant a luxury envied and aspired to was meat. For thousands of years the main human diet was made up of fruits, cereals and vegetables and meat was a rarity. But fish was even more so.
Dr Scott said: "Being a fish lover became a political issue at the highest level, because Athenians believed if you showed yourself out of control in one area you were out of control everywhere."
He said most Greek cities were near the sea and therefore fishing was a big industry. People cared enormously about the types of fish they ate and a class system built up around what species they bought.
In democratic Athens in the 5th Century BC everyone knew how much it cost and that made it the ultimate "luxurious consumption". This even spawned insults like "fish lover", which meant someone consumed by greed.
He added: ""So if you couldn't control your desire for fish, or you had a liking for very expensive fish, the implication was you were probably morally corrupt and even possibly a tyrant in the making."
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