FEBRUARY 9th is Pizza Day ... Did you know that pizza was invented by Aeneas? The origin of pizza is in Virgil's Aeneid! The hero Aeneas sails the seas with other fugitives from Troy. They seek a new home. They are starving when they land on the shores of Italy. They only have some stale round loaves of bread to eat. They collect some "fruits of the field" (cheese? herbs? garlic?) and put these on top of the thin base. “Hey! We’re even eating our tables!” says Ascanius, the son of Aeneas. (Heus! Etiam mensas consumimus inquit Iulus!) Immediately, Aeneas remembers a prophecy: When you arrive at a place so tired and hungry that you eat your tables, you will know you have reached your promised land. Antinous remembers this story when he and Hadrian order pizza ... delivered by their lararium winged genius! So when you eat pizza, remember to quote the words of the son of Aeneas: Heus! Etiam mensas consumimus!
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