HORYZONTY HUMANISTYKI 2024

22 października 2024, godz. 17:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a (sala 202) oraz MS Teams [link]

• dr Maciej Helbig, Silphium – the botanical enigma of the ancient world (abstrakt poniżej)
• Rsch Assoc Sally Grainger, Cooking with silphium. Preliminary experiments with Ferula drudeana and Ferula asafoetida (abstrakt poniżej)

23 października 2024, godz. 17:00, UWAGA! ZMIANA LOKALIZACJI NA: Bufet Wydziału Zarządzania UŁ, ul. Matejki 22/26 (poziom -1)

• Rsch Assoc Sally Grainger i dr Maciej Helbig, Warsztat rekonstrukcyjny: Smaki antycznego Rzymu (limit miejsc – 20 osób)

szczegóły na temat zapisów zostaną podane na stronie internetowej Centrum Ceraneum

24 października 2024, godz. 12:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a (Sala Rady Wydziału)

• prof. John Wilkins, Science and society: Galen’s construction of nutrition (abstrakt poniżej)

25 października 2024, godz. 17:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (sala 202) oraz MS Teams [link]

• prof. John Wilkins, How drugs work according to Galen: knowledge and boundaries (abstrakt poniżej)

29 października 2024, godz. 12:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (Sala Rady Wydziału)

• prof. Aleksander Chrószcz, Krowa z Krzczonowic – neolityczny depozyt bydlęcy, analiza archeozoologiczna i paleopatologiczna [abstrakt poniżej]
• prof. Vedat Onar, Jak pozyskiwano purpurę? [wykład tłumaczony na język polski; abstrakt poniżej]

30 października 2024, godz. 17:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (sala 202) oraz MS Teams

• prof. Vedat Onar, Zooarchaeology of Istanbul in the light of Rescue Excavations [abstrakt poniżej] [link]

14 listopada 2024, godz. 12:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (Sala Rady Wydziału)

• dr Sean Coughlin,  Warsztat rekonstrukcyjny – Scents of healing: Reading Greco-Egyptian perfume recipes (limit miejsc – 15 osób)

szczegóły na temat zapisów zostaną podane na stronie internetowej Centrum Ceraneum

15 listopada 2024, godz. 17:00,Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (sala 202) oraz MS Teams [link]

• dr Sean Coughlin, Two Traditions of Materia Medica in Greco-Roman Medicine

19 listopada 2024, godz. 12:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (Sala Rady Wydziału)

• dr Claire Burridge, Migrating Medicine: The introduction of eastern pharmaceutical knowledge into the early Medieval Latin West

20 listopada 2024, godz. 17:00, Instytut Historii, ul. Kamińskiego 27a  (sala 202) oraz MS Teams [link]

• dr Claire Burridge, Hungry for Health: A fresh perspective on the transmission of dietary advice in the early Middle Ages

 

Maciej Helbig - Silphium – the botanical enigma of the ancient world

The main aim of my talk is to shed some light on possible identification of silphium, one of the most mysterious plants of Antiquity. Even though many investigations both on the field of botany and classical studies were made, scientists still have problems to give a satisfying answer.

The basis for the analysis are fragments from the botanical treaties of Theophrastus where silphium was fully described, correlated with achievements of modern taxonomists. Putting all the pieces of information together may help solve this interesting problem.

 

Sally Grainger - Cooking with silphium. Preliminary experiments with Ferula drudeana and Ferula asafoetida

There is a great mystery behind the extinction event of the plant the ancients called silphium. It is understood to be of the genus ferula which gives us potentially 180 species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. All are native to an arid climate of the Mediterranean region and central Asia. Many but not all generate a resin when the root is cut and many continue to have medicinal and culinary uses today.

Silphium is a very complex story of myth and reality. The myth is that the immensely valued resin from the apparently extinct Cyrenaican plant had the most amazing magical properties medicinally and culinarily while the resin derived from other species of ferula that replaced silphium, the numerous sulphurous asafoetida baring plants from central Asia, were less valued and less useful. This may only partly be true. The original resin had a delightful smell ‘of myrrh’ and there is evidence that it was valued for its smell and I will be suggesting that it may actually have been viewed as a kind of aromatic perfume that the ancient chose to eat rather than as seasoning or spice per se. When compared to the substitute, asafoetida, the difference is stark, as it is not known as devils dungs for nothing.

In relation to its medicinal properties the reality is that many of the texts in praise of silphium’s medicinal and culinary properties probably date to a time when the only resin available was the substitute, that we know as asafoetida, but they continued to call silphium. Hence there is considerable confusion as to which plant and which resin is being referred to when silphium is discussed in any ancient text.

A further confusion stems – pun intended – from the idea that the resin was the only valued commodity. The root, leaf and stem of Cyrenaican silphium were traded into Athens and much of the early evidence concerning the consumption of the original plant concerns these items and not the resin.

We know so little about the practical application of the various products derived from the plants known as silphium in culinary and medicinal practice. In this presentation I shall discuss my experiences cooking Roman recipes with asafoetida and other ferula resins including sagapenum and hopefully samples of asafoetida root. Most particularly I shall be discussing experiments with the resin derived from ferula drudeana which was recently identified by Mahmut Miski as a potential survival in plain sight of a close relative of Cyrenaican silphium from Northern Anatolia and which has a delightful myrrh like smell!

 

John Wilkins - Science and society: Galen’s construction of nutrition

In his treatise On the Powers of Foods Galen sets out to analyse the ancient diet of the second century AD. He insists that he is studying the diet as it was eaten and provides many examples of foods, meals and individual eaters. It is a fascinating record of what people ate and contrasts strongly with other ancient descriptions of diet. He broadly follows Hippocratic works on the topic, but with a distinctive shaping for the Imperial Period. The diet is shaped by the resources available, by the climate, seasons and foods locally available. Galen has a great interest in cooking methods and preparation and is very wary of wild foods. But behind this framework lies Galen’s scientific method, which is based on his theory of the mixtures of the qualities of heating, cooling, drying and moistening in the body. The body’s heat breaks down the foods as they are digested and the food in turn contains mixtures which have an impact on the body. The texture, taste and smell of the food all have an impact on the digestive system, an impact which might be ‘nutritional’ or ‘pharmacological’. With a central idea of balance, Galen’s nutritional theory is a striking example of the cultural construction of medicine.

 

John Wilkins - How drugs work according to Galen: knowledge and boundaries

This paper concerns Galen’s treatise on drugs and the theoretical first half of it in which he explains how drugs work. At first glance it is a challenging read because Galen engages extensively in rhetorical attacks on his predecessors, finding fault with their logic and presenting their failings and confusion in a damning light. People have made the most contradictory claims; they have tested drugs from mistaken starting-points; they have made sweeping generalisations. In most cases, we have no way of verifying whether Galen has represented his opponents fairly or not. Suspicions arise.  This is not engaging reading for a reader of the twenty-first century, who is in danger of dismissing Galen as a self-promoting megalomaniac who misrepresents those who disagree and uses special pleading for himself. But the facts turn out to be much more positive. Part of the problem is that Galen has taken on a vast topic and wants to cover drug theory in both a medical and a philosophical sense, using a logical method that is sustainable. The natural philosophers are put to one side (with certain important exceptions), and Galen limits his enquiry to medical questions: how does a drug work on the human body? Drugs have qualities such as heating and cooling, and the capacities to rectify various bodily disorders. But what is their essential nature and substance? Galen answers these questions as far as he can, using practical methods based on taste and observation, but is aware of the limitations of his knowledge. He draws boundaries around his enquiry so as to avoid unprovable claims. In several cases, he leaves questions open that would only be answered centuries later.

 

Vedat Onar - “Purple and Beyond” Murex-Purple Dye

Purple dye, known as Murex or Purpura since ancient times and obtained from only three species of snails, appeared on the stage of history in the 13th century BC and was used as a status symbol of both the ruling classes of empires and the upper class strata until the 15th century AD. It has been associated with the words ‘noble’, ‘luxury’ or ‘extravagant’ by people in dyeing textile products and has taken its place on the stage of history with names such as Tyrian purple, Royal purple, Imperial purple or Biblical Turquoise purple since the Phoenicians when it started to be used. The purple colour, which was originally started to be produced as a pigment and then reduced and converted into paint, has been a very valuable and expensive product due to its difficult and laborious production as well as its very low production.  This colour, which glows when exposed to sunlight, was produced from snails of the species Bolinus brandaris, Hexaplex trunculus and Thais haemastoma, which have different indigos. The colourless pigment mixture secreted from the hypobrachial gland of these snails turns purple when exposed to air and light and has a colour scale ranging from dark purple to light red.
With the fall of Constantinople, all murex-based purple dye production began to lose its former popularity, with the ‘Kermes vermilio’ dye coming to the fore in the 15th century. At the end of the 18th century, Purple colour gained a different dimension with its accidental synthetic obtaining and it was named ‘Mauveine’ (Mauve-Liliac colour), which means Purple in French and opened a new era in the fashion world. However, despite the change in its production, it has never lost its unique nobility and impressiveness and still continues to be used as a status symbol.

 

Aleksander Chrószcz, Dominik Poradowski, Artur Jedynak, Dominika Kubiak-Nowak, Wojciech Borawski, Kamilla Pawłowska, Katarzyna Kaleta-Kuratewicz, Joanna Wolińska, Vedat Onar - Krowa z Krzczonowic – neolityczny depozyt bydlęcy, analiza archeozoologiczna i paleopatologiczna

Badania archeozoologiczne i paleopatologiczne dotyczyły depozytu z jamy ofiarniczej (obiekt nr. 33) ze stanowiska Krzczonowice nr 63. Zbiór kostny powiązano z Kulturą Amfor Kulistych. Odnalezione szczątki kostne poddano analizie archeozoologicznej w Zakładzie Anatomii Zwierząt Uniwersytetu Przyrodniczego we Wrocławiu. Badania pozwoliły na opis znaleziska, potencjalne odtworzenie sposobu depozycji ciała zwierzęcia oraz ustalenie jego wieku, płci i wysokości w kłębie. Przyniosły one następujące wyniki:
•    ustalono prawdopodobny sposób depozycji ciała zwierzęcia oraz jego ułożenie w jamie ofiarniczej;
•    ustalono, że szczątki bydła pochodzą od samicy lub wołu;
•    wiek zwierzęcia ustalono na około 7-9 lat;
•    przypuszczalna wysokość w kłębie to 128-133,4cm;
•    badany osobnik należał do bydła turopodobnego;
•    nie stwierdzono żadnych śladów związanych z podziałem tuszy, śladów obróbki rzeźnickiej, filetowania mięsa czy przygotowywania poszczególnych elementów kulinarnych tuszy do spożycia.
Badania paleopatologiczne objęły zidentyfikowane zmiany patologiczne końca bliższego prawej kości udowej (krętarz większy kości udowej, trochanter major femoris). Wykazano, że najbardziej prawdopodobną przyczyną śmierci zwierzęcia była gruźlica (tuberculosis bovis) i w związku z tym:
•    nie jest możliwe do ustalenia źródło infekcji, najprawdopodobniej rozpoczęła się ona od narządu oddechowego;
•    wczesne uogólnienie gruźlicy należy wykluczyć;
•    stwierdzona zmiana patologiczna miała charakter ogniska wtórnego;
•    przewlekły proces zapalny spowodował reakcję organizmu widoczną w reorganizacji struktury tkanki kostnej wokół lakunarnego obszaru lizy (serowaciejącego ziarniniaka gruźliczego);
•    silnie kwasochłonne zmiany obrazu histologicznego tkanki kostnej potwierdzają obraz zmian martwiczych w gruźlicy;
•    chroniczny charakter schorzenia, brak było ostrych objawów ze strony narządu ruchu zwierzęcia, co pozwalało na jego dalsze użytkowanie mleczne;
•    przyczyną śmierci zwierzęcia mogła być superinfekcja, późne uogólnienie lub ubój;
•    gruźlica jako choroba odzwierzęca mogła stanowić zagrożenie dla zdrowia całej społeczności.

 

Sean Coughlin - Two Traditions of Materia Medica in Greco-Roman Medicine

Around the first century CE, the boundaries and methods of a new medical discipline began to be worked out in Asia Minor. For the Greek-speaking physicians of the early Roman Empire it was called περί ὕλης, "on matter." The more familiar name, handed down to us by later Latin writers, is De materia medica. The study of materia medica included pharmaka, a traditional set of usually plant-based substances with varying effects on the body, but its scope often went beyond them to include things such as perfumes, spices, minerals, animal parts, foods, drinks. One of the works from the early period of this discipline, perhaps the most famous, is that of Dioscorides of Anazarbus, a first century soldier-physician whose work "On Matter" became a paradigm pharmacological work for centuries. Dioscorides, however, was just one of a number of physicians who were laying the groundwork for a systematic study of the materials used by physicians. In this lecture, I examine another such tradition, that of a group of physicians called, "pneumatikoi" (Pneumatist). I will suggest that this tradition of studying medical materials had a lasting influence on how they were understood and categorized by late antique medical compilers, particularly Oribasius.

 

Sean Coughlin - Workshop: Scents of Healing: Reading Greco-Egyptian Perfume Recipes

At this workshop, we will explore the myths, history, and modern scientific understanding of ancient Greco-Egyptian perfumes and their late antique reception; we will use our senses of smell and touch to examine what we think are the spices, herbs, resins, and oils used in the past; and we will produce our own perfume following a Greco-Egyptian recipe. By the end of the workshop, participants will have learned how perfumes were  used in Greco-Egyptian antiquity, how they differ from perfumes today, and how to read and interpret a historical recipe. Participants will also be able to take their historical recreation home with them.

 

Claire Burridge - Migrating Medicine: The Introduction of Eastern Pharmaceutical Knowledge into the Early Medieval Latin West

In tenth-century Laon, a scribe added a recipe for a potion intended to treat all infirmities to the final page of a ninth-century manuscript containing the Lateran Council of 649. Although, at first glance, this recipe’s location may seem to be its most remarkable feature (why did a later reader of this manuscript, a volume concerned with Church doctrine and politics, record a medical treatment here?), its list of materia medica is equally noteworthy. While the recipe’s twenty-seven ingredients mostly consist of a combination of potentially locally available plants, such as fennel and dittany, and exotic but long known spices, including cinnamon, ginger, and pepper, two substances stand out: zedoary and galangal. These ingredients, both in the ginger family and native to southeast Asia, do not appear in classical and late antique medical writings and, based on the surviving manuscript evidence, only began to be recorded in the Latin west during the Carolingian period. As such, this recipe is among the earliest witnesses to the arrival and circulation of this strand of eastern pharmaceutical knowledge.

The present lecture examines the appearance and dissemination of a selection of ingredients, including zedoary and galangal, in the early medieval west, focusing on the distribution of discrete ‘materia medica clusters’ as well as individual ingredients. Simultaneously, it considers the recipe literature against the backdrop of wider cultural, economic, and political developments. By taking the bigger picture into account, including evidence for the presence of these newly recorded products in the Carolingian world, it becomes possible to consider the dynamics that facilitated the movement of pharmaceutical knowledge and substances, including the significance of Carolingian links with the Byzantine east during this period.

 

Claire Burridge - Hungry for Health: A Fresh Perspective on the Transmission of Dietary Advice in the Early Middle Ages

‘Abstain from neither bacon nor four-footed animals, for without these it is difficult to restore the stomach.’

This dietary advice appears in a mid-ninth-century letter sent by Pardulus, bishop of Laon, to Hincmar, archbishop of Reims. According to Pardulus, Hincmar was unwell and needed to adjust his diet in order to regain his health. Pardulus recommends various health-restoring foods and drinks, while also noting what to avoid, ranging from small fish to fasting. This letter opens up a number of important questions. First, why was a Carolingian bishop offering health advice to his superior? Given that Pardulus’ recommendations fit with many dietetic writings that were copied in the Latin west during this period (such as monthly health regimens or Anthimus’ De observatione ciborum), it appears that he was well-versed in contemporary medical literature. How did he acquire this knowledge, and was his level of medical learning exceptional? Moreover, how did Pardulus negotiate potentially conflicting traditions and expectations regarding diet? His suggestions to eat quadrupeds and to avoid fasting, for example, may seem at odds with the Benedictine Rule’s regulations. This lecture explores these questions, among others, by centring on the manuscript evidence and demonstrating the degree to which medico-dietetic texts were circulating in the early medieval Latin west. In doing so, the lecture sheds light on the processes and people involved in the transmission of medical knowledge during this period.