More of What Alexander did for us

Approximately ten years ago, I posted a blog about citrus fruit as introduced by Alexander’s Macedonians from India (see: What Alexander did for us). 

This certainly was not an isolated case if we look at the work of Theophrastus, a contemporary of Aristotle and Alexander (see: Theophrastus, philosopher and botanist). He studied plants that came from Persia, Afghanistan, and the Indus Valley. He introduced the Greeks to mangos, cardoons (or artichoke thistle), jujubes (also called Chinese dates), pistachios, and tamarind. Newly imported plants were cinnamon, banyan (a fig typically from India), as well as frankincense and myrrh. 

One day during his invasion of India in 327 BC, Alexander had bananas for dessert and he enjoyed the fruit so much that he wanted to share it. Eventually, bananas traveled to the Middle East, where they earned their Arabic name of banan, meaning finger. 

Arrian revealed that in 325 BC, Nearchus had found sugarcane. He described it as “a reed that brings forth honey without the help of bees”. In antiquity, sugarcane was basically used as a medicine by Greek and Roman physicians, as documented by Pliny the Elder in the 1^st century AD. 

Rice was another food the king introduced into Macedonia after his campaign in Central Asia, and it appears that the well-known dish of Plov or Pilaf spread from Macedonia, throughout Greece and the Balkans (see: The origins of rice in ancient Macedonia). 

Alexander also introduced Europe to the cotton from India. It is said that the Macedonians started wearing cotton clothes which were more appropriate for the Indian climate. 

The colorful floor mosaic of a parakeet from Palace V in Pergamon now on display at the Museum of Pergamon in Berlin (see: The beauty of Alexandrine mosaics) is a rare example of the wide collection of animals and plants Alexander sent to Aristotle from the regions he conquered. The Alexandrine Parakeet was native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. 

As Alexander traveled to modern-day countries such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and India, he shared his serious interest in local cultures and habits with the rest of the world.