Seven Ears and a Hundred Grains: Cereals and Flour Products in Arabia at the Time of the Prophet

Abstract

The method of comparative contextual and diachronic analysis of lexical‑semantic groups of Qur’anic language comparing it with the language material of the time (6th—7th centuries) allows to approach the understanding of different daily life levels of the Arabic society. The stereotype image of an Arabic nomad continues to impact the scientific research. However, nowadays, as well as in ancient Arabia, as soon as a traveller finds himself in “Arabian hinterland” he will easily see the elements of settled agriculture described in the Qur’an. The “agricultural layer” of the Qur’anic text is clearly distinguished by the variety of its terminology and reflects all major stages of cereals production. The analysis of the plotlines connected with the issue of food allows to come to the conclusion that the diet of both settled and nomadic population of Arabia of the time of the Prophet simultaneously included several dishes made of cereals which represent a number of consecutive phases in nutrition evolution: various kinds of pottage and gruel, bread baked by different methods and of different raw materials.