Cinnamomum Cassia - History

History

In classical times, four types of cinnamon were distinguished (and often confused):

• Cassia (Hebrew קציעה qəṣi`â), the bark of Cinnamomum iners from Arabia and Ethiopia, and literally means 'the peel of the plant' which is scraped off the tree.
• True Cinnamon (Hebrew קִנָּמוֹן qinnamon), the bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum from Sri Lanka
• Malabathrum or Malobathrum (from Sanskrit तमालपत्रम्, tamālapattram, literally "dark-tree leaves"), Cinnamomum tamala from the north of India
• Serichatum, Cinnamomum cassia from Seres, that is, China.

In Exodus 30:23-4, Moses is ordered to use both sweet cinnamon (Kinnamon) and cassia together with myrrh, sweet calamus (qənê-bosem, literally cane of fragrance), botanically named as Acorus calamus to produce a holy oil to anoint the Ark of the Covenant. Cassia is also part of the Ketoret which is used when referring to the consecrated incense described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. It is also referred to as the HaKetoret (the incense). It was offered on the specialized incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The ketoret was an important component of the Temple service in Jerusalem. Psalm 45:8 mentions the garments of the king (or of Torah scholars) that smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia.

An early reference to the trade of cinnamon occurs around 100 BC in Chinese literature. After the explorer Zhang Qian's return to China, the Han Dynasty pushed the Xiongnu back, and trade and cultural exchange flourished along the Northern Silk Road. Goods moving by caravan to the west included gold, rubies, jade, textiles, coral, ivory and art works. In the opposite direction moved bronze weapons, furs, ceramics and cinnamon bark. The first Greek reference to kasia is found in a poem by Sappho in the 7th century BC.

According to Herodotus, both cinnamon and cassia grow in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh, and ladanum, and are guarded by winged serpents. The phoenix builds its nest from cinnamon and cassia. But Herodotus mentions other writers that see the home of Dionysos, e.g., India, as the source of cassia. While Theophrastus gives a rather good account of the plants, a curious method for harvesting (worms eat away the wood and leave the bark behind), Dioscorides seems to confuse the plant with some kind of water-lily.

Pliny (nat. 12, 86-87) gives a fascinating account of the early spice trade across the Red Sea in "rafts without sails or oars", obviously using the trade winds, that costs Rome 100 million sesterces each year. According to Pliny, a pound (the Roman pound, 327 g) of cassia, cinnamon, or serichatum cost up to 300 denars, the wage of ten months' labour. Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices from 301 AD gives a price of 125 denars for a pound of cassia, while an agricultural labourer earned 25 denars per day.

The Greeks used kásia or malabathron to flavour wine, together with absinth wormwood (Artemisia absinthia). Pliny mentions cassia as a flavouring agent for wine as well Malabathrum leaves (folia) were used in cooking and for distilling an oil used in a caraway-sauce for oysters by the Roman gourmet Gaius Gavius Apicius. Malabathrum is among the spices that, according to Apicius, any good kitchen should contain.

Egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included cinnamon and cassia from Hellenistic times onwards. The gifts of Hellenistic rulers to temples sometimes included cassia and cinnamon as well as incense, myrrh, and Indian incense (kostos), so we can conclude that the Greeks used it in this way too.

The famous Commagenum, an unguent produced in Commagene in present-day eastern Turkey, was made from goose-fat and aromatised with cinnamon oil and spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi). Malobrathum from Egypt (Dioscorides I, 63) was based on cattle-fat and contained cinnamon as well; one pound cost 300 denars. The Roman poet Martial (VI, 55) makes fun of Romans who drip unguents, smell of cassia and cinnamon taken from a bird's nest, and look down on him who does not smell at all.

Cinnamon, as a warm and dry substance, was believed by doctors in ancient times to cure snakebites, freckles, the common cold, and kidney troubles, among other ailments.