Posca


Posca was an Ancient Roman drink, made by mixing vinegar, water, and perhaps herbs. It was the soldiers, the lower classes, and the slaves who drank posca, a drink despised by the upper class.

Usage

The widespread use of posca is attested by numerous mentions by ancient sources ranging from the natural histories of Pliny the Elder to the comedies of Plautus. When on campaign, generals and emperors could show their solidarity with common soldiers by drinking posca, as did Cato the Elder and the emperor Hadrian, who according to the Historia Augusta "actually led a soldier’s life…and, after the example of Scipio Aemilianus, Metellus, and his own adoptive father Trajan, cheerfully ate out of doors such camp-fare as bacon, cheese and vinegar." A decree of AD 360 ordered that lower ranks of the army should drink posca and wine on alternate days.
Girolamo Cardano, in his Encomium Neronis of 1562, attributed the superiority of the Roman armies to only three factors: the great quantities of levies, their sturdiness and ability to carry heavy weights due to training, and good foods such as salted pork, cheese, and the use of posca as a drink.

Etymology

The word posca is derived from either the Latin potor or from the Greek epoxos. As the Greeks lacked a word for posca, sources written in Greek, such as Plutarch and the Gospels, use the word οξος in its place. The word eventually migrated into Greek from about the 6th century AD onwards as the Byzantine army continued the Roman tradition of drinking what they termed phouska.

Recipe

Posca was composed of watered down wine vinegar, but at times it could have included other herbs to improve the taste. For example, the Byzantine writers Aëtius of Amida and Paul of Aegina, from the 6th and 7th centuries, recorded a posca recipe used for laxative purposes that included cumin, fennel seed, celery seed, anise, thyme, and salt.