Documentary evidence and artistic representations have traditionally served as the primary sources of information about Byzantine diet. According to these sources, Byzantine diet was based on grain (primarily wheat and barley), oil, and wine, supplemented with legumes, dairy products, meat, and marine resources. Here, we synthesize and compare the results of stable isotope ratio analyses of eight Greek Byzantine populations (6th-15th centuries AD) from throughout Greece. The δ(13) C and δ(15) N values are tightly clustered, suggesting that all of these populations likely consumed a broadly similar diet. Both inland and coastal Byzantine populations consumed an essentially land-based C(3) diet, significant amounts of animal protein, and possibly some C(4) plants, while no evidence of a general dependence on low-δ(15) N legumes was observed. One interesting result observed in the isotopic data is the evidence for the consumption of marine protein at both coastal sites (a reasonable expectation given their location) and for some individuals from inland sites. This pattern contrasts with previous isotopic studies mainly on prehistoric Greek populations, which have suggested that marine species contributed little, or not at all, to the diet. The possibility that fasting practices contributed to marine protein consumption in the period is discussed, as are possible parallels with published isotope data from western European medieval sites.

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We report here on the measurements of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of bone collagen from the Middle Byzantine site of Kastella, in the city of Heraklion, on the island of Crete, Greece. The data derived from the analysis suggest a diet based primarily on terrestrial, C 3 protein, probably from animal sources, with the inclusion of some marine protein. The adult diet at this site is relatively uniform, with no detectable differences between average isotopic values for males and females. We also found that bone collagen 15 N values for a small number of juveniles decreased to adult levels after the age of two years, indicating that weaning occurred at or before this age.