Latest / Trade Routes That Changed Human History Forever — Fexingo History / The Spice Trade's Secret Weapon: Cinnamon in the Ancient World
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about pepper and nutmeg, but there's one spice that's even older in the trade networks — cinnamon. It's one of those things that feels almost mythical when you dig into its early history. Luna: Cinnamon? I thought that was mostly a medieval thing. Lucas: Not at all. Cinnamon and its close relative cassia were being traded across the Indian Ocean and into the Mediterranean thousands of years ago. The Egyptians used it in embalming rituals — there's evidence of cinnamon in tombs from the 18th Dynasty, around 1500 BCE. Luna: Wait, really? I thought cinnamon came from Sri Lanka — how would it get to Egypt that early? Lucas: That's exactly the mystery. Cinnamon — true cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum — is native to Sri Lanka, which the ancient Greeks called Taprobane. But there's also cassia, which comes from China and Southeast Asia. The two were often conflated. The Egyptians likely got cassia via overland routes through Arabia, but the source was kept deliberately vague by middlemen. Lucas: The Arab merchants who controlled the spice trade spun fantastic stories to protect their monopoly. Herodotus, in the 5th century BCE, wrote that cinnamon sticks were collected from nests built by giant birds on inaccessible cliffs — and that traders left ox carcasses to tempt the birds to bring down the sticks. Luna: That's incredible. And people believed that? Lucas: Apparently yes, or at least they repeated it. The same stories show up in later Greek and Roman writers. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, complained that cinnamon cost 1,500 denarii per pound — that's about a year's wages for a soldier. He was furious about the markup and suspected the stories were lies, but he couldn't prove it. Lucas: The Romans went through enormous quantities of cinnamon. They used it in perfumes, wines, and even as an incense at funerals. The most famous example: when Emperor Nero's wife Poppaea Sabina died in 65 CE — he supposedly kicked her while she was pregnant, though accounts vary — he burned a full year's supply of cinnamon at her funeral. That's the equivalent of burning an entire cargo ship's worth. Luna: A year's supply? That must have been an astronomical amount of money going up in smoke. Lucas: Exactly. It was a display of wealth and grief that only the emperor could afford. But it also shows how deeply cinnamon was woven into Roman culture. It wasn't just a seasoning — it was a status symbol, a medicine, a ritual substance. Lucas: The actual trade route was a marvel of logistics. Cinnamon from Sri Lanka would be shipped across the Indian Ocean to the Malabar Coast — modern Kerala — where Arab and Indian merchants took over. Then it went up the Red Sea to Roman Egypt, or overland through Arabia to Petra and Gaza. Each leg added a massive markup. Luna: So the Romans never knew where it really came from? Lucas: Not for centuries. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea — a Greek merchant's guide from the 1st century CE — mentions a port called 'Malao' on the Somali coast where cinnamon was traded. But it also notes that the best cinnamon came from a place called 'Cinnamon Country', which scholars think might be Sri Lanka. The ambiguity was deliberate. Lucas: It wasn't until the Islamic expansion in the 7th and 8th centuries that the sources became clearer. Arab geographers like Ibn Khordadbeh described Sri Lanka — which they called Serendib — as the source of fine cinnamon. And by the 10th century, Chinese records mention cinnamon being exported from Sri Lanka to China. Luna: So cinnamon was truly global, even back then. Lucas: Absolutely. And that global reach is part of what makes the spice trade so fascinating — it connected cultures from Sri Lanka to Rome, from Egypt to China, long before the Silk Road got its name. The demand for cinnamon drove exploration and statecraft in ways that are easy to overlook. Luna: It makes you wonder what other 'everyday' things have hidden histories. Lucas: Speaking of hidden histories — if you're enjoying these deep dives into the stories behind trade, and you'd like to help us keep making them without ads, listeners like you can support the show. It's what keeps these conversations going, and it's really simple. You can visit buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's an easy way to say 'keep going' — and it makes a real difference. Lucas: So back to cinnamon — one last cool detail. In medieval Europe, cinnamon was used as a medicine for coughs and sore throats, but also as a preservative for meat. It was so valuable that a pound of cinnamon could buy a slave in some markets. That gives you a sense of just how precious it was. Luna: And now I can buy it at the grocery store for a few dollars. Times change. Lucas: They do. But the stories behind those humble jars are what keep history alive. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next route.