Book contents
- Drugs in the Medieval Mediterranean
- Drugs in the Medieval Mediterranean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note to the Reader
- Medieval Mediterranean Pharmacology
- Part I Transmission of Pharmacological Knowledge
- Chapter 1 Ibn al-Tilmīdh’s Book on Simple Drugs
- Chapter 2 Drugs, Provenance, and Efficacy in Early Medieval Latin Medical Recipes
- Chapter 3 De sexaginta animalibus
- Chapter 4 Arabic Terms in Byzantine Materia Medica
- Chapter 5 The Theriac of Medieval al-Shām
- Chapter 6 ‘Already Verified’
- Part II The Borders of Pharmacology
- Index
- References
Chapter 2 - Drugs, Provenance, and Efficacy in Early Medieval Latin Medical Recipes
from Part I - Transmission of Pharmacological Knowledge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
Book contents
- Drugs in the Medieval Mediterranean
- Drugs in the Medieval Mediterranean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note to the Reader
- Medieval Mediterranean Pharmacology
- Part I Transmission of Pharmacological Knowledge
- Chapter 1 Ibn al-Tilmīdh’s Book on Simple Drugs
- Chapter 2 Drugs, Provenance, and Efficacy in Early Medieval Latin Medical Recipes
- Chapter 3 De sexaginta animalibus
- Chapter 4 Arabic Terms in Byzantine Materia Medica
- Chapter 5 The Theriac of Medieval al-Shām
- Chapter 6 ‘Already Verified’
- Part II The Borders of Pharmacology
- Index
- References
Summary
The anonymous early medieval compilers of recipe collections in Latin manuscripts are not often thought of as curious about new medical information. While the stereotype of medieval Latin stagnation in medicine has been countered, recipe compilers remain as recyclers of the ancient past. Close analysis of early medieval medical recipes, however, suggests that we should reconsider this view. This chapter focuses on a series of dental recipes found in related medieval adaptations of the medical portions of Pliny’s Natural History which suggests several changes over time, including a growing attention to precision and quantification, the deployment of a diverse range of new ingredients, and a link between claims of efficacy and ingredients identified as coming from Africa, Arabia, and India. These recipes reveal shifting uses for materia medica described in classical sources and provide insight into new ways that medieval medical writers were interpreting and adapting their source materials.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Drugs in the Medieval MediterraneanTransmission and Circulation of Pharmacological Knowledge, pp. 58 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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