Garum was a
fermented fish sauce used as a
condiment in the cuisines of
ancient Greece,
Rome, and
Byzantium.
Liquamen was a similar preparation, and at times the two were synonymous. Although it enjoyed its greatest popularity in the Roman world, the sauce was earlier used by the
Greeks. The Romans thought the Latin word
garum derived from the
Greek garos, a fish from which it was supposed to have been originally made, but this fish-name is unattested in classical Greek. It is believed to be the ancestor of the fermented anchovy sauce
Colatura di Alici which is still produced today in
Campania, Italy.