Archestratus (Ancient Greek:ἈρχέστρατοςArchestratos) was an ancient Greek poet ofGela orSyracuse,Magna Graecia, inSicily, who wrote some time in the mid 4th century BCE, and was known as "theDaedalus of tasty dishes". His humorous didactic poemHedypatheia ('Life of Luxury'),[1] written in hexameters but known only from quotations, advises agastronomic reader on where to find the best food in the Mediterranean world. The writer, who was styled in antiquity theHesiod orTheognis ofgluttons, parodies the pithy style of oldergnomic poets; most of his attention is given to fish,[2] although some fragments refer to appetizers, and there was also a section on wine. His poem had a certain notoriety among readers in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE: it was referred to by the comic poetAntiphanes, byLynceus of Samos and by the philosophersAristotle,Chrysippus andClearchus of Soli. In nearly every case these references are disparaging, implying that Archestratus's poem—like the sex manual byPhilaenis—was likely to corrupt its readers. This attitude is exemplified in theDeipnosophistae with citations of Chrysippus:
This utterly admirable Chrysippus, inOn Goodness and Pleasure book V, talks of:Books likePhilaenis's, and theGastronomy of Archestratus, and stimulants to love and sexual intercourse, and then again slave girls practised in such movements and postures and specialising in the subject; and further on he says:studying all this and getting the books about it by Philaenis and Archestratus and the other writers of such stuff; and in book VII he says:one is therefore not to study Philaenis, or theGastronomy of Archestratus, with the expectation of improving one's life! Clearly, in quoting this Archestratus so often, you people have filled our banquet with indecency. Is there anything calculated to corrupt that this fine poet has failed to say?
- Athenaeus,Deipnosophistae 335b.
Sixty-two fragments from Archestratus's poem (including two doubtful items) survive, all via quotation by Athenaeus in theDeipnosophistae. The poem was translated or imitated inLatin byEnnius, a work that has not survived. The standard edition of the fragments, with commentary and translation, is by Olson and Sens (2000).
