Some splendid bulbs of garlic with well-preserved leaves were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, although Newberry called them onions. Many other Egyptian tombs contained them too, left as offerings or associated with the mummy in armpits or groin. Garlic was a favourite food, as it is today, and it was used medicinally and as a preservative - which probably accounts for its association with mummies.
Unlike the common onion, which has a bulb of concentric fleshy leaves, garlic has a number of succulent scales (known as cloves) joined at the base. These can be separated and planted to form new bulbs, as no seeds develop from the flowers. The inflorescence develops at the top of a stem about 50 cm (20 in) high and taller than the hollow leaves, but the greenish-white flowers do not set seed as one would expect. Such sterile behaviour indicates a plant of long cultivation and uncertain ancestry. In fact, botanists do not know of a direct wild ancestor and it is thought that garlic
Well-preserved bulbs of garlic Allium sativum from Tutankhamun's tomb, now in Cairo Museum.
Developed from species in Iran (which was ancient Sumeria).
The Ancient Egyptians were also fond of onions (A. cepa) and leeks (A. porrum), hence the cry of the Israelites as they left Egypt for the wilderness of Sinai that they longed for these succulent items of food (Numbers 11:5). Herodotus recorded the vast quantities of onions, garlic and radish consumed by the builders of the pyramids at Giza. Some Egyptologists now believe, however, that this was a misreading of inscriptions and that the vegetables were offerings rather than ration lists.
World History
