A History of Veganism - Part 1 of 4: Ancient Period

Far from being a new phenomenon, vegetarianism and veganism have enjoyed a long and diverse history since the beginning of our sojourn on Earth. The term vegetarian was not coined until the 1800s, and the term vegan not until 1944.Before these words were invented and popularized, a vegetarian diet was referred to as the "vegetable diet," or the "Pythagorean diet," after the preeminent Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Generally, the further back in time, the less certain it is whether a particular historical figure was vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, or vegan. For the purpose of this show, we will use the term vegetarian to represent all these different types of vegetarianism where there is no certainty.