History of Europe

Crassus, the Roman in love with a brunette… from the sea.

Those who have tried eels, my pocket only allows me those from Aguinaga, say that it is an exquisite delicacy... that the Romans already tasted and tasted, although they were more of the fathers of eels, eels, and moray eels. If we put aside the bad smell, little would have to envy a Roman dish such as eel or moray eel accompanied by Iberian garum al all i pebre de anguiles (eels with garlic and pepper) from the Albufera of Valencia. In the time of Julius Caesar, a banquet was offered for the people of Rome with more than 6,000 brunettes.

Murena

As Pliny the Elder tells us in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia) there was a Roman consul, Lucius Licinius who adopted the "surname" of Murena (brunette) Because of her fondness for these animals, he even built a nursery where he raised them. He was governor of Transalpine Gaul and shortly before being appointed consul, 62 BC, he was accused of bribery and successfully defended by Cicero and Marcus Licinius Crassus (later triumvir). Another Crassus, uncle of Marcus Licinius Crassus, was a particular case in his devotion, and I say well, for these "sea serpents":

Enchanting things are told of the Roman moraine Crassus who was adorned with earrings encrusted with precious stones just like a fresh girl; that if he called her Crassus, he recognized her voice, rose to the surface, and that if he offered her whatever it was, she took it promptly and ate it with great appetite. And it came to pass, as I have heard, that when this murena left this world, Crassus wept for her and even buried her. And, when Domitius once told him:'Idiot that you cried for a murena that died!', he answered him, blurted out the following:I cried for a little animal, you, on the other hand, who buried three wives have not cried for them”

Sources and image:Muranea helena, Kitchen historians, Sea serpents