 The 1st-century Roman cookbook "Apicius" makes various mentions of recipes which involve a pie case.By 160 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), who wrote "De Agri Cultura", notes the recipe for the most popular pie/cake called "placenta".Also called "libum" by the Romans, it was more like a modern-day cheesecake on a pastry base, often used as an offering to the gods.