"We have a number of earlier Greek cookbooks, such as Gastronomia by Archstratus (5th century BC)...He also traced back to the ancient Greeks the making of white sauce - using flour and fat to thicken a broth or milk mixture." Interesting. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about it, but apparently this has been around for a long, long time. And I still can't make it without burning it one time out of every ten. From here.