Alexander and Citrus fruits

About four years ago, I posted a blog about citrus fruit being introduced to the West by the soldiers of Alexander the Great – a most gratifying idea (see: What Alexander did for us). Yet a very recent article published by Dr Dafna Langgut, head of the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments at the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University in ASOR is shedding a scientific light on the matter.

[Picture from Citrus Trees]

According to this study, citrus originates in Southeast Asia where it was cultivated as early as 2,000 BC. Eventually the fruit arrived in Persia and from there reached the eastern Mediterranean in the 5^th-4^th century BC, so well before Alexander the Great travelled through the area.

First to arrive was the citron (citrus medica), that had a thick rind and a small dry pulp as pictured in my abovementioned blog. The citron and the lemon (citrus limon, a crossing of the citron and the bitter orange) travelled to the western Mediterranean and made their way to the gardens of the wealthy Romans living around Rome and Mount Vesuvius in the 3^rd-2^nd century BC. The fruits were appreciated for their healing powers, their pleasant odor, and of course, for their rarity since only the rich could afford such luxury.

In time, limes, sour or bitter oranges, and pummelo (a variety of grapefruit) were added to the varieties and all spread westwards thanks to the Muslim conquests of Sicily and Spain. Our sweet orange was a latecomer as we had to wait for it till the 15^th century, and the mandarin was only introduced in the early 19^th century.

Well, so much for the history of citrus fruits but it is clear the it was known to the Persians when Alexander conquered their Empire. He must have been confronted with some variety of citrus as soon as he marched along the eastern basin of the Mediterranean but that is something we will never know.