Knowledge of Eastern materia medica (Indian and Chinese) in pre-modern Mediterranean medical traditions: A study in comparative historical ethnopharmacology

Touwaide, Alain; Appetiti, Emanuela

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.03.068

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…However, the systematic analysis of historical materia medica that appeared from Hippocratic collection in the Greece (5th century BCE) to the renaissance in the 16th century suggests the transmission of ethnopharmacological knowledge from eastern materia medica (Indian and Chinese) to the Mediterranean medical traditions (Touwaide and Appetiti, 2013). Touwaide and Appetiti (2013) reiterated that the ethnopharmacological literature produced in the Mediterranean region during the 5th century BCE to the 16th century comprises the knowledge of materia medica and drugs explicitly coming from India and/or China. In this context, it is reasonable to emphasize that ancient Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners could be the pioneers in using traditional medicines and documentation of traditional medicinal wisdom.…”

Section: Transmission and Transformation Of Traditional Medicinal Wisdommentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Pharmacognosy: A modern science of natural medicines

Dhami

2013

Journal of Herbal Medicine

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Section: Transmission and Transformation Of Traditional Medicinal Wisdommentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Pharmacognosy: A modern science of natural medicines

Dhami

2013

Journal of Herbal Medicine

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“…Markedly similar humoral concepts of medicine can be found in even earlier documents (c. 1600 BC), such as the Indian Rigveda (Arikha 2007) and the Diagnostic Handbook from Mesopotamia (King 2001), as well as the c. 900 BC Chinese Shih Ching (Kong and But 1985). This indicates a common ancestry whereby schools of medicine had a mix of influences, transmitted along the Silk Roads (Ogden 2014;Subbarayappa 2001;Touwaide and Appetiti 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Zootherapy in Archaeology: The Case of the Fallow Deer(Dama dama dama)

Miller¹,

Sykes²

2016

Journal of Ethnobiology

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The abundant anthropological and historical evidence for animal-based medicine, or zootherapy, suggests that animals are, and have always been, perceived as important components in maintaining human health and well-being. Despite being interwoven into every aspect of life, from food medicines to ritual practice and everyday human-animal interactions, zootherapies are widely considered invisible in the archaeological record, perhaps because of their organic nature, the method of remedy preparation, or potentially because of their sheer ubiquity. An alternative explanation is that archaeologists are just not viewing the evidence through an appropriate theoretical lens. This article sets out to examine whether archaeologists might make a greater contribution to our understanding of ancient zootherapy. As a case study, it draws particularly on evidence pertaining to the European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) an exotic species that is well represented in classical mythology and iconography and appears to have been attributed with magico-religious medicinal qualities. Indeed, here we argue that their perceived magico-medicinal value may even have been the prime mover in their human-instigated spread across Europe.

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“…That goods and associated knowledge from Indian and Chinese materia medica were exchanged along the Silk Road reaching and influencing early Mediterranean medical traditions can be traced in scripts dealing with materia medica at least from the fifth to the fourth century BC onward (Touwaide and Appetiti, 2013). On the other hand received the Hindu system of medicine at the same time apparently little external influences.…”

Section: Traditional Medicines: Globalization Knowledge Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional medicines and globalization: current and future perspectives in ethnopharmacology

Leonti¹,

Casu²

2013

Front. Pharmacol.

171

111

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The ethnopharmacological approach toward the understanding and appraisal of traditional and herbal medicines is characterized by the inclusions of the social as well as the natural sciences. Anthropological field-observations describing the local use of nature-derived medicines are the basis for ethnopharmacological enquiries. The multidisciplinary scientific validation of indigenous drugs is of relevance to modern societies at large and helps to sustain local health care practices. Especially with respect to therapies related to aging related, chronic and infectious diseases traditional medicines offer promising alternatives to biomedicine. Bioassays applied in ethnopharmacology represent the molecular characteristics and complexities of the disease or symptoms for which an indigenous drug is used in “traditional” medicine to variable depth and extent. One-dimensional in vitro approaches rarely cope with the complexity of human diseases and ignore the concept of polypharmacological synergies. The recent focus on holistic approaches and systems biology in medicinal plant research represents the trend toward the description and the understanding of complex multi-parameter systems. Ethnopharmacopoeias are non-static cultural constructs shaped by belief and knowledge systems. Intensified globalization and economic liberalism currently accelerates the interchange between local and global pharmacopoeias via international trade, television, the World Wide Web and print media. The increased infiltration of newly generated biomedical knowledge and introduction of “foreign” medicines into local pharmacopoeias leads to syncretic developments and generates a feedback loop. While modern and post-modern cultures and knowledge systems adapt and transform the global impact, they become more relevant for ethnopharmacology. Moreover, what is traditional, alternative or complementary medicine depends on the adopted historic-cultural perspective.

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Knowledge of Eastern materia medica (Indian and Chinese) in pre-modern Mediterranean medical traditions: A study in comparative historical ethnopharmacology

Cited by 38 publications

References 13 publications

Trends in Pharmacognosy: A modern science of natural medicines

Trends in Pharmacognosy: A modern science of natural medicines

Zootherapy in Archaeology: The Case of the Fallow Deer(Dama dama dama)

Traditional medicines and globalization: current and future perspectives in ethnopharmacology

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