SC - Apicius

[Thomas Gloning]

A while ago Phillipa wrote:
<<< I am reading the content of the food site *Cena Bene*. It states the 
following: >Apicius was a first century author of De Re Coquinaria<
Am I correct in thinking that Apicius was the author of De Re
Coquinaria? And if so why do we cite "Apicius" and not De Re Coquina?
>>>

Let me repeat a few words about the Apicius-collection from the thread
on the parrottongues:

The real Apicius (the gourmand) was born around 25 B.C. He had a bad
reputation in his time, and his teachings seem to have been widespread
in the first century. Very probably he wrote a general cookbook and a
more special cookbook on sauces. These works are lost now. What has come
down to us under the name of Apicius (henceforth Apicius-collection) was
finished by the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century.
It seems that about 2/3 of the recipes in this collection can be said to
stem from the two lost works of Apicius while the rest of the material
is taken from different texts on agriculture, dietetics partly written
in Greek. [See R. Maier, ed., Das ro"mische Kochbuch ..., Stuttgart
1991, 250f. and -- very important -- E. Brandt, Untersuchungen zum
ro"mischen Kochbuche, 1927.] 

The manuscripts of the Apicius-collection are from the 9th (one Codex
Cheltenhamensis and one Codex Vaticanus Vrbinas latinus) and the 15th
centuries (see the list in the edition of Andre p. 22).

Cheers,
Thomas

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