The ancient Greeks made bread much as we do today and in fact it played a big role in their religious life. There were festivals in Athens, the so-called Thesmophoria which were organized in honor of the goddess Demeter during which a specially made bread called theiagon was offered to the Gods.
A well-known story is that of the philosopher and mathematician Democritus, kept alive for three days by smelling hot bread, thus allowing his sister to attend the Thesmophoria (Diogenes, Laertius, 9, 7, 43).
The Spartans treated their guests with alfita, onion cut along with bread and olives. The Macedonians attached great importance to bread as can be seen from the mystery of the wedding, where a freshly baked bread was cut in half and tasted first by the future husband and then by the future wife. In all city states every house had its own oven where the housewife baked bread daily or every other day.
The Romans began to produce bread in its present form, albeit somewhat late. Specifically, during the reign of Emperor Trajan (97-117 AD) the first organized bakeries appeared.
The types of bread in Ancient Greece
Kollavoi – small, individual sized breads.
Popana – flat bread with one or more small dough buttons in the center.
Sedamides – spherical breads with sesame seeds. In Sparta they were offered to Demeter.
Hypnitis – oven baked bread, highly sought after.
Escharitis – bread baked on a clay grill. Athenaeos mentions that the escharites of Rhodes were excellent.
Krivanitis – bread baked in the krivanos, a portable clay oven.
Vlomiaios – bread scored into portions. The scores made it easier to split into pieces.
Sygomistos – bread made with flour from various grains.
Makonidis – ancient bread mentioned by Alkman in the 7th century BC, made with poppy seed or flaxseed.
Pyritis – wheat bread with honey.
Tyron artos – our well-known cheese breads.
Alifatitis – bread made with olive oil. It could also have animal fats or butter. A predecessor of the modern Greek sfoliata.
Thridakini – green bread with lettuce.
Erikitis – bread made with beaten wheat (like rolled oats).
Kyllastis – sourdough bread with barley.
Streptikios – bread with milk, oil and honey.
Maza – one of the most famous breads of antiquity from barley, oil and sometimes milk. The oldest reference is from Hesiod in his Works and Days.
Kollyra, kollikia – today’s koulouria, bread rings.
Artolagano or lagano – the predecessor of today’s lagana, made with good quality flour, either rubbed with or fried in oil.
Apalos artos – bread with oil and milk. It was also made by the Cappadocians and the Syrians who called it lachma.
Plytos or Vassinias – boiled bread. When cooked it floats in the water. Today it is made in Crete known as zematista koulouria, scalded bread rings, and is the ancestor of the Jewish bagel. There are reports of this bread as an offering to Iris in Delos.
Nastos – aromatic well-made bread. It was ritualistic and was offered in sacrifices.
Mystili – hollow bread inside which they put liquid foods like stews.
Chondritis – bread from coarsely ground grains.
Hygeia – sacrificial barley bread in honor of health, hygeia. It was often offered to Asclepius and bore symbols or a stamp that read HEALTH or LIFE or both.
Autozymos – similar to the well-known Cretan eptazymo, a word that came from a paraphrase. The eptazymo is not fermented seven times. It is simply autozymo, self-rising, its fermentation does not result from the addition of yeast but from a culture of ground chickpeas.
Dypiritos artos – the well-known Cretan rusks, paximadia. After they were baked as bread and cut into slices, they were put back in the oven to dry.
Translated and edited from an article in www.bakeries.gr