The Melagria: On Anchorites and Edible Roots in Judaean Desert

During the Byzantine period the desert of Jerusalem, known today as Judaean Desert, was flourished with a large monastic activity. Most of the monasteries belonged to the Laura type, in which monks live in solitude most of the time, and get together during Saturday and Sunday. They often went during the forty days of lent into the remote parts of the desert and lived there on the natural vegetation, eating edible plants and roots. Such events were mentioned in hagiographic sources, describing various kinds of natural edible plants. The paper focuses on one of these plants - The Melagria - and suggests to identify it with the Asphodel, which is spread over most of the region in large quantities.