09-10-2026, 09:17 PM
There's a few common tales eastern spice merchants would tell westerners in regards to where spice came from.
Much of it is also probably just from a couple of influential names from antiquity saying stuff and it being repeated forever.
In the case of cinnamon "forever" ended around 1505 when a Portuguese ship was chasing a spice merchants ship,
got lost and found themselves on the shores of Sri Lanka (as a story goes), from there they figured it out and took over.
Whether tastes just changed, or cinnamon lost its mystique, this marked a point where the popularity of cinnamon in Europe
would start on a downward trajectory. Maybe it just didn't taste as good when it wasn't harvested from the nest of the legendary "Cinnamologus"!
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Please read the above for a comprihensive overview, but the "TLDR" (Too Lazy Didn't Read) is as follows.
It is worth noting I have read several conflicting things about what Pliny the Elder said, but I'm going to stick to this source.
- Herodotus. Great birds take the sticks (cinnamon) to nests built of mud on the mountain crags. Men left large bits of meat for them,
once back in the nest the weight would break it, once at the bottom men would take the cinnamon.
- Aristotle. The cinnamon bird makes a nest of cinnamon (both things from an unknown place) in very tall trees. The natives dip arrow heads
in iron which destroy the nest, then they can pick up the cinnamon.
- Pliny the Elder. Agrees with Aristotle but now gives it a name "a bird called Cinnamologus".
- Aelianus. "Cinnamologus" is now "Cinnamomus" and the story becomes a mix - The bird fetches twigs from the ends of the earth. And builds
a nest among sheer crags (the tree is gone). People shoot heavy arrows from a bow strained to its utmost, this shatters them and they fall down.
- Gaius Julius Solinus. Cinnamologus (we are back to this now) weaves a nest from cinnamon fruits ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). People shoot leaden darts at the nest.
- Isidore of Seville. Cinnamologus makes a nest in tall trees. People use lead-weighted missiles to dislodge the nest.
Jumping from 7CE to 13CE
- Thomas of Cantimpré. Cynamologus builds nest in the highest trees. People shoot it with leaded arrows to drop down Cinnamon.
So what the manuscripts of the middle ages show is people shooting down the nest from a tree with arrows, presumably from a bow. Right?
That would be too easy!
[attachment=18208]
The slingshot does seem to be quite a popular adaptation, however there are many variations that achieve the same message overall.
[attachment=18230]
The mountain crag/cliff part of the story seems to not be as popular. At least I haven't found examples.
Personally I had taken the VMS images to show mountain/cliff - However Rene notes "The two at the bottom are a bit larger and appear to have some elements of flowers." You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
If you look at the examples above and the ones here You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., you will note many of the trees are more "plant-like" than "tree-like".. but either way, I think its safe to say the VMS drawing is ambiguous and mountain/big plant.. things, might be in the ballpark.
Reading the image counter clock-wise,
Person (seems like a man) with a round thing in hand, on cliff/plant.. thing
I flipped this image just to show the hand better
[attachment=18201]
Person (seems like a man) with movement lines shooting up from hand (throwing/shooting/projectile..ing?)
[attachment=18202]
Bird seemingly on a nest (Speculatively, I have wondered if the circles with lines coming down to nest are balls hitting it)
[attachment=18203]
Bird is flying/falling, a bunch of stuff falls down, so far that it goes through the text.
[attachment=18204]
Might I have a story of the Cinnamologus?
On researching the fancy containers starting on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. my feeling currently is that they are containers for spice, and other valuable ingredients. They also appear in the middle of the ROS (the other side of f86v3). If my hunch is right, a story about the origins of Cinnamon planted in the middle doesn't seem out of place.
Sorry for a wall of text, hopefully it wasn't too boring. I'd like to hear what you think.
Much of it is also probably just from a couple of influential names from antiquity saying stuff and it being repeated forever.
In the case of cinnamon "forever" ended around 1505 when a Portuguese ship was chasing a spice merchants ship,
got lost and found themselves on the shores of Sri Lanka (as a story goes), from there they figured it out and took over.
Whether tastes just changed, or cinnamon lost its mystique, this marked a point where the popularity of cinnamon in Europe
would start on a downward trajectory. Maybe it just didn't taste as good when it wasn't harvested from the nest of the legendary "Cinnamologus"!
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Please read the above for a comprihensive overview, but the "TLDR" (Too Lazy Didn't Read) is as follows.
It is worth noting I have read several conflicting things about what Pliny the Elder said, but I'm going to stick to this source.
- Herodotus. Great birds take the sticks (cinnamon) to nests built of mud on the mountain crags. Men left large bits of meat for them,
once back in the nest the weight would break it, once at the bottom men would take the cinnamon.
- Aristotle. The cinnamon bird makes a nest of cinnamon (both things from an unknown place) in very tall trees. The natives dip arrow heads
in iron which destroy the nest, then they can pick up the cinnamon.
- Pliny the Elder. Agrees with Aristotle but now gives it a name "a bird called Cinnamologus".
- Aelianus. "Cinnamologus" is now "Cinnamomus" and the story becomes a mix - The bird fetches twigs from the ends of the earth. And builds
a nest among sheer crags (the tree is gone). People shoot heavy arrows from a bow strained to its utmost, this shatters them and they fall down.
- Gaius Julius Solinus. Cinnamologus (we are back to this now) weaves a nest from cinnamon fruits ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). People shoot leaden darts at the nest.
- Isidore of Seville. Cinnamologus makes a nest in tall trees. People use lead-weighted missiles to dislodge the nest.
Jumping from 7CE to 13CE
- Thomas of Cantimpré. Cynamologus builds nest in the highest trees. People shoot it with leaded arrows to drop down Cinnamon.
So what the manuscripts of the middle ages show is people shooting down the nest from a tree with arrows, presumably from a bow. Right?
That would be too easy!
[attachment=18208]
The slingshot does seem to be quite a popular adaptation, however there are many variations that achieve the same message overall.
[attachment=18230]
The mountain crag/cliff part of the story seems to not be as popular. At least I haven't found examples.
Personally I had taken the VMS images to show mountain/cliff - However Rene notes "The two at the bottom are a bit larger and appear to have some elements of flowers." You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
If you look at the examples above and the ones here You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., you will note many of the trees are more "plant-like" than "tree-like".. but either way, I think its safe to say the VMS drawing is ambiguous and mountain/big plant.. things, might be in the ballpark.
Reading the image counter clock-wise,
Person (seems like a man) with a round thing in hand, on cliff/plant.. thing
I flipped this image just to show the hand better
[attachment=18201]
Person (seems like a man) with movement lines shooting up from hand (throwing/shooting/projectile..ing?)
[attachment=18202]
Bird seemingly on a nest (Speculatively, I have wondered if the circles with lines coming down to nest are balls hitting it)
[attachment=18203]
Bird is flying/falling, a bunch of stuff falls down, so far that it goes through the text.
[attachment=18204]
Might I have a story of the Cinnamologus?
On researching the fancy containers starting on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. my feeling currently is that they are containers for spice, and other valuable ingredients. They also appear in the middle of the ROS (the other side of f86v3). If my hunch is right, a story about the origins of Cinnamon planted in the middle doesn't seem out of place.
Sorry for a wall of text, hopefully it wasn't too boring. I'd like to hear what you think.