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Draws on primary sources such as Homer, Herodotus, and Plato, and on many later works on botany, history, philology, and archaeology to explore how the ancient Greeks perceived and used plants. Considers the landscape, cults and myths, medicine and magic, dyes and textiles, food, and other uses. Highly illustrated, mostly in color. First published in German in 1982 and translated from the third edition. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This engaging book focuses on the perennially fascinating topic of plants in Greek and Roman myth. The author, an authority on the gardens, art, and literature of the classical world, introduces the book’s main themes with a discussion of gods and heroes in ancient Greek and Roman gardens. The following chapters recount the everyday uses and broader cultural meaning of plants with particularly strong mythological associations. These include common garden plants such as narcissus and hyacinth; pomegranate and apple , which were potent symbols of fertility; and sources of precious incense including frankincense and myrrh. Following the sweeping botanical commentary are the myths themselves, told in the original voice of Ovid, classical antiquity’s most colorful mythographer. The volume’s interdisciplinary approach will appeal to a wide audience, ranging from readers interested in archaeology, classical literature, and ancient history to garden enthusiasts. With an original translation of selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, an extensive bibliography, a useful glossary of names and places, and a rich selection of images including exquisite botanical illustrations, this book is unparalleled in scope and realization.
From the earliest of times people have sought to grow and nurture plants in a garden area. Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World traces the beginning of gardening and garden history, from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the Minoans and Mycenaeans, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, through Byzantine, Islamic and Persian gardens right up to the Middle Ages. It shows how gardens in each period were designed and cultivated. Evidence for garden art and horticulture is gathered from surviving examples of ancient art, literature, archaeology, actual period gardens that have survived the centuries and the wealth of garden myths associated with certain plants. These sources bring ancient gardens and their gardeners back to life, and provide information on which plants were chosen as garden worthy, their setting and the design and appearance of ancient gardens. Deities associated with aspects of gardens and the garden's fertility are featured - everyone wanted a fertile garden. Different forms of public and domestic gardens are explored, and the features that you would find there; whether paths, pools, arbors and arches, seating or decorative sculpture. The ideal garden could be like the Greek groves of the Academy in Athens, a garden so fine that it was comparable with that of the mythical king Alcinoos, the paradise contemplated by the Islamic world, or a personal version of a garden of Eden that Early Christians could create for themselves or in the forecourt of their churches. In general books on garden history cover all periods up to the present, often placing all ancient gardens in one chapter at the beginning. But there is so much of interest to be found in these early millennia. Generously illustrated with 150 images, with plant lists for each period, this is essential reading for everyone interested in garden history and ancient societies.
Greek myth is part of our background, the names of many of the gods and goddesses known to us all. Within the myths are numerous references to plants used by goddesses and gods to heal or enchant, and the names of many of these plants have been incorporated into the Latin binomials that are used to identify them. By half a millennium BCE the physician god Asclepius entered into the mythology and temples were built to him called Asclepiaea, where the sick came to worship him and sleep with serpents in dormitories, hoping to experience miracle cures. At around the same time the first actual physicians began to practice within the Asclepiaea, using herbs, surgery and dietary advice. From these remote beginnings Greek medicine and botany evolved and were recorded, first in the Hypocratic Corpus, then by many other famous Greek physicians including Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Galen, who recorded the medicinal plants they used. This book traces the evolution of Greek medicine, the source of Western medicine, and looks at a selection of plants with healing properties, including a large number of trees which were both sacred and medicinal.
A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity covers the period from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE. This period witnessed the transition from hunter-gatherer subsistence to the practice of agriculture in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, and culminated in the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the Han Dynasty in China, the rise of Byzantium, and the first flowering of Mayan civilization. Human uses for and understanding of plants drove cultural evolution and were inextricably bound to all aspects of cultural practice. The growth of botanical knowledge was fundamental to the development of agriculture, technology, medicine, and science, as well as to the birth of cities, the rise of religions and mythologies, and the creation of works of literature and art. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics at the University of Delaware, USA. Volume 1 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.
Artemidorus' Oneirocritica ('The Interpretation of Dreams') is the only dream-book which has been preserved from Graeco-Roman antiquity. Composed around AD 200, it comprises a treatise and manual on dreams, their classification, and the various analytical tools which should be applied to their interpretation, making Artemidorus both one of the earliest documented and arguably the single most important predecessor and precursor of Freud. Artemidorus travelled widely through Greece, Asia, and Italy to collect people's dreams and record their outcomes, in the process casting a vivid light on social mores and religious beliefs in the Severan age: this volume, published as a companion to the new translation of The Interpretation of Dreams by Martin Hammond in the Oxford World's Classics series, aims to provide the non-specialist reader with a readable and engaging road-map to this vast and complex text. It offers a detailed analysis of Artemidorus' theory of dreams and the social function of ancient dream-interpretation, while also aiming to foster an understanding of the ways in which Artemidorus might be of interest to the cultural or social historian of the Graeco-Roman world. Alongside chapters on Artemidorus' life, career, and world-view, it also provides valuable insights into his conceptions of the human body, sexuality, the natural world, and the gods; his attitudes towards Rome, the contemporary Greek polis, and the social order; and his knowledge of Greek literature, myth, and history. In addition, its accessible exploration of the differences and similarities between ancient traditions of dream-analysis and modern psychoanalytic approaches will make this volume of interest to anybody with an interest in the history of dreams and dream interpretation.
Here is a wonderful overview of the landscape and vegetation of the five regions of the world that have a Mediterranean climate. In addition to the Mediterranean Basin itself, this climate of mild, rainy winters and dry, warm summers is found in California and parts of Chile, South Africa, and Australia. 30 maps. 18 tables. 46 line illustrations. 75 color and 90 b&w photos.
This Companion provides scholarly yet accessible new interpretations of Greek history of the Classical period, from the aftermath of the Persian Wars in 478 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. Topics covered range from the political and institutional structures of Greek society, to literature, art, economics, society, warfare, geography and the environment Discusses the problems of interpreting the various sources for the period Guides the reader towards a broadly-based understanding of the history of the Classical Age
The Etruscans and the History of Dentistry offers a study of the construction and use of gold dental appliances in ancient Etruscan culture, and their place within the framework of a general history of dentistry, with special emphasis on appliances, from Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Egypt to modern Europe and the Americas. Included are many of the ancient literary sources that refer to dentistry - or the lack thereof - in Greece and Rome, as well as the archaeological evidence of ancient dental health. The book challenges many past works in exposing modern scholars’ fallacies about ancient dentistry, while presenting the incontrovertible evidence of the Etruscans’ seemingly modern attitudes to cosmetic dentistry.
An exciting handbook offering a uniquely accessible study of the complex interplay between the environment and the peoples of the Mediterranean from earliest times to the present day. Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, this book covers the key environmental developments in the Mediterranean throughout recorded history. Case studies chart the agricultural problems of ancient Mesopotamia, how climatic change contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire, and the impact of dam building at Aswan on the Nile. Of particular interest are the book's sections dealing with the impact of human colonization on the flora and fauna of the early Mediterranean and the extinction of creatures such as dwarf elephants and giant shrews. Especially important, given the ongoing conflicts in the region, are the examples cited of the adverse environmental impact of Western colonization and how human exploitation of the earth's natural resources has led to unforeseen disasters.