Editing Cucumber (section)

=== Roman Empire ===
According to [[Pliny the Elder]], the Emperor [[Tiberius]] had the cucumber on his table daily during summer and winter. In order to have it available for his table every day of the year, the Romans reportedly used artificial growing methods (similar to the [[Greenhouse|greenhouse system]]) using ''mirrorstone'', Pliny's ''lapis specularis'', believed to have been sheet [[mica]]:<ref name="AncientInventions">{{cite book|author1=James, Peter J. |author2=Thorpe, Nick |author3=Thorpe, I. J. |title=Ancient Inventions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmJLd3sSYecC|year=1995|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-40102-1|chapter=Ch. 12, Sport and Leusure: Roman Gardening Technology|page=563}}</ref><ref>[[Pliny the Elder]]. [77–79 AD] 1855. "[http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2019.23 Vegetables of a Cartilaginous Nature—Cucumbers. Pepones] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605044058/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2019.23 |date=5 June 2020 }}." Ch. 23 in ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|The Natural History]]'' XIX, translated by [[John Bostock (physician)|J. Bostock]] and [[Henry Thomas Riley|H. T. Riley]]. London: [[Taylor & Francis]]. – via ''Perseus under PhiloLogic'', also [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D23 available] via Perseus Project.</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=Indeed, he was never without it; for he had raised beds made in frames upon wheels, by means of which the cucumbers were moved and exposed to the full heat of the sun; while, in winter, they were withdrawn, and placed under the protection of frames glazed with mirrorstone.|author=Pliny the Elder|title=''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' XIX.xxiii|source="Vegetables of a Cartilaginous Nature—Cucumbers. Pepones"}}

Reportedly, they were also cultivated in ''specularia'', cucumber houses glazed with oiled cloth.<ref name="AncientInventions" /> Pliny describes the Italian fruit as very small, probably like a [[gherkin]]. He also describes the preparation of a medication known as ''elaterium''. However, some scholars{{who|date=February 2013}} believe that he was instead referring to ''[[Ecballium elaterium]]'', known in pre-[[Linnean nomenclature|Linnean]] times as ''Cucumis silvestris'' or ''Cucumis asininus'' ('wild cucumber' or 'donkey cucumber'), a species different from the common cucumber.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' XX.[http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.3 iii] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605043843/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.3 |date=5 June 2020 }}.</ref> Pliny also writes about several other varieties of cucumber, including the cultivated cucumber,<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' XX.[http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.4 iv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605043845/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.4 |date=5 June 2020 }}–[http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.5 v] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605043846/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Plin.%20Nat.%2020.5 |date=5 June 2020 }}.</ref> and remedies from the different types (9 from the cultivated; 5 from the "anguine;" and 26 from the "wild").