Cinnamon birds come into the folkore of Eurasia shortly after Arabian merchants begin trading with the ancient Mesopotamian lands to the north. Cinnamon enjoys widespread popularity among the wealthy. It's a spice of intrigue, exotic scents and connections to the mystic.
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By 2000 BCE, the Egyptians use cinnamon for embalming, in incense, and as a spice. Cinnamon is more precious than gold - but gold isn't really precious in financial terms until 1500 BCE when the Pharoah declares it currency.
Even so the first gold coins weren't struck in Egypt until the 4th century BCE. In the flourishing trade centers gold is exchanged by weight to value standards like other items of trade such as barley, tin or oils.
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The cinnamon exported by Arabian traders is Cassia senna, native to the Arabian Peninsula. The Egyptians, meanwhile, source their cinnamon from Sri Lanka, where the true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) grows. It is truly a spice of kings.
Like the color purple, cinnamon is expensive and hard to get. Even in Roman times in the early centuries BCE, the spice is one of speculation and secrets. A pound of cinnamon costs ten months' wages for an average worker.
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The source of cinnamon is a mystery and the spice commands steep prices. It's because of the difficulty in obtaining the spice from the nests of giant cinnamon birds.
Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 - 425 BCE) asserts cinnamon and cassia both grow in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh and labdanum, a resin obtained from two species of Mediterranian shrubs. Where the cinnamon trees grow, they are guarded by ferocious winged serpents.
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Aristotle describes giant cinnamon birds who build their nests from cinnamon sticks. The birds collect cinnamon sticks from a mysterious land where the trees grow. The avians build their nests on cliffsides.
He writes,
"... great birds carry these dry sticks, which we have learned from the Phoenicians to call cinnamon ... the birds carry the sticks to their nests, which are plastered with mud and are placed on sheer crags where no man can climb up."
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According to Aristotle, the Arabs cut oxen into pieces and scatter the pieces. When the giant cinnamon birds swoop down and carry the meat to their nests, the weight breaks the nests.
The nests of the cinnamon birds shatter to pieces on the rocks below. The Arabians can then collect the fallen cinnamon sticks, fending off attacks from angry birds. It's a dangerous job.
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In his Historia Animalium (History of Animals, 4th century BCE), Aristotle has another story. The cinnamon bird brings the stalks of cinnamon from secret locations. It builds its nest on slender branches in the highest tree tops.
The native people native attach lead weights to arrow tips and shoot down the nests of the birds. They can then collect the cinnamon sticks. Aristotle names the bird kinnamômon orneon.
In the first century CE, Pliny the Elder calls the cinnamon birds a "fantastic story" told by traders to overvalue and increase demand for their merchandise. He's right.
Pliny is also the person who solves the mystery of amber. After three thousand years of trade, mystic and fanciful origins, he finally identifies the golden gem as a resin. Baltic amber is called the 'gold of the north'.
And, Pliny believes clear quartz is water frozen so long it becomes stone. The jury's still out on that.
The true origins of cinnamon remain a mystery for centuries. Stories of the cinnamon birds survive well into folklore of the 18th century. In the Middle Ages manuscript from France (c. 1450 CE) the bird is shown nesting in a tree, while a person twirls a sling with a rock.
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Renaissance bestiaries are full of fascinating and fanciful creatures and natural concepts. In the Middle Ages and long before, slings are weapons of hunting and war. The rock may be to kill the bird, knock down the nest or scare the bird from the nest.
As there have been no reports of roast giant cinnamon birds or scrambled cinnamon bird eggs, we could assume the cinnamon harvesters of the Middle Ages use the nesting birds as a renewable resource.
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