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| local habit

watermelon seeds along with other fruit seeds in settlements in Libya
dating to that time.

It is thought that these Northeast African melons were bitter and had
green or yellow meat, and were originally cultivated because of their
high water content. The thought is, if you live in Sub-Saharan Africa,
you’ll take anything with a high water content, regardless of the flavor.

By around 4,000 years ago, it is clear that the Egyptians were chang-
ing the fruit, and breeding it into a sweeter version of the original.
Watermelon seeds have been found in Pharaonic tombs, including King
Tutankhamun’s, and are even present in tomb paintings. By this time, the
paintings represent the watermelon as an oblong fruit, differing from
the original round shape, which indicates that it was being selectively
cultivated.

We next encounter the watermelon in the writings of the Greeks and
Romans between 400 BCE and 100 CE from such famous names as
Hippocrates, who extolled its healing properties, and Pliny the Elder
who believed it to be a refrigerant maxime – extremely cooling food.
It’s clear that this melon was beginning to fan out from Africa into the
Mediterranean.

By around 200 CE we find the watermelon again in Hebrew writings
from The Levant being offered as a tithe in the same category as figs,

112 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2018