Fennel during ancient times

The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all ate its aromatic fruits and tender shoots. In the midsummer festival Adonia, of ancient times, fennel was among those seeds planted in the rites.

In early Sanskrit writings, fennel was known as madhurika and its cultivation in India is thought to date back at least to 2000 BC.

To the ancient Greeks, fennel represented success and was called ‘marathon’, after which the battle of Marathon (490 BC) was named when it was fought in a field of fennel. The juice of ‘marathon’ stalks and leaves was believed to be effective for improving eyesight. Possibly a connection was made with a story Pliny reports: after serpents shed their skins, they rub against the fennel plant to sharpen their eyesight.

Fennel seeds have been used medicinally since ancient times as one of the ancient Saxon people's nine sacred herbs, fennel was credited with the power to cure and was valued as a magic herb.

Fennel was also a symbol of success to the Romans and fennel leaves were used to crown victors in games. Roman warriors were said to have consumed fennel to make them strong and ready for battle.

The Romans delighted in the flavor of fennel. Cato the Elder gives a recipe for curing green olives and then seasoning them with oil, vinegar, salt, fennel, and mastic.

The English name fennel comes from Old English fenol, or finol, and fennel is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm recorded in a tenth century manuscript.

Fennel is also one of the most frequently quoted plants in the chilandar medical codex, the best preserved medieval Serbian manuscript on European medical science from the 12th to 15th centuries. Famous Greek physicians, Hippocrates and Dioscorides mentioned fennel as a diuretic and Emmenagogue and its juice was supposed to sharpen the eyesight.
Fennel during ancient times

The plant of fennel

Fennel is traditionally used for medicinal and culinary purposes. The entire plant is valuable in the medicinal industry; its enlarged base is used as a vegetable; its leaves are used for culinary purposes and its seeds as a spice and for essential oil extraction.

Fennel plant belong to the Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) family, known and used by humans since antiquity, due to its flavor. It was cultivated in almost every country.

The fennel plant originated in the southern Mediterranean region and through naturalization and cultivation it grows wild throughout the Northern, Eastern, and Western hemispheres, specifically in Asia, North America, and Europe. It is cultivated in fields and also grows wild.

Fennel is one of the most popular herbs all over the world from ancient time. The herb was well-known to the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Indians, and Chinese. The Romans grew it for its aromatic seeds and the edible fleshy shoots are still a very common vegetable in southern Italy. Emperor Charlemagne was known to have encouraged its cultivation in Central Europe.

In early Sanskrit writings, fennel was known as madhurika and its cultivation in India is thought to date back at least to 2000 BC. To the ancient Greeks, fennel represented success and was called ‘marathon’, after which the battle of Marathon (490 BC) was named when it was fought in a field of fennel.

The Athenians won this battle and waived fennel stalks as a symbol of victory. They gave fennel as an award to Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians. After this incident fennel is used as a symbol of victory.

The plant of fennel

History of Fennel

History of Fennel
Most fennels originated in India, Egypt and China. Fennel comes from Umbelliferae family. The scientific name for fennel is: Foeniculum Vulgare.

In 812, Charlemagne declared it was essential in every garden because of its healing properties. He popularized the use of fennel in Europe, growing it on the imperial farms, and ancient Saxons included fennel in their list of scared herbs to combat disease.

In ancient Greek the word for fennel is marathon, meaning “to grow thin.” It was given to the plant because of its reputation for weight loss. The name of marathon is based on the Greek victory over the Persian in 470 B.C at Marathon. The ancient Greeks would use fennel as a slimming aid. The Greek physicians Hippocrates and Dioscorides also recommended fennel - to increase the flow of milk in nursing mothers.

In medieval times, the seeds were chewed to stop gastric rumblings during church services. At these times, fennel also considered sacred herbs used to treat disease. It could bring luck and to keep out ghosts and evil spirits.

Inhaling herbs was often a means of treating respiratory disorders. The Lacnunga, a 10th century Anglo-Saxon medical text, recommends "Take fennel and hassuck (dried grass or rushes) and cotton and burn all together on the side which the wind is" and, it recommends, that the practitioner "reek" patients with steam. This is similar to the Native American use of the sweat lodge or the modern sauna, where herbs are placed on the hot rocks to be added to the steaming process.
History of Fennel