Yarrow
p. 28: “Sing, goddess”: Iliad, I.1,translated by Jeffrey Scott Bernstein, https://archive.org/details/001-iliad-all (accessed September 18, 2023).
p. 29: “He’s a superb warrior”: Homer, Iliad, translated by Fagles, 21.189-190, p. 525; 21.654-5, p. 538.
p. 29: “Achilles remained mortal”: Burgess, Jonathan. “Achilles’ Heel: The Death of Achilles in Ancient Myth.” Classical Antiquity, vol. 14, no. 2, 1995, pp. 217–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/25011021 (accessed September 10, 2023.
p. 29: “spread the soothing”: Homer, Iliad, translated by Fagles, 11.992-4, p. 324.
p. 29: “Yarrow pollen”: Wendy Applequist and Daniel Moerman, “Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): A Neglected Panacea? A Review of Ethnobotany, Bioactivity, and Biomedical Research,” Economic Botany, vol. 65, No 2, 15 June 2011, p. 210, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41242932.
p. 29: “Roman ship”: Ibid, p. 211.
p. 30: “Jonathan Burgess”: Burgess, “Achilles’ Heel” Classical Antiquity. https://doi.org/10.2307/25011021. (accessed September 10, 2023).
p. 30: “Pliny says that Achilles”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 25.19., http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D25%3Achapter%3D19 (accessed September 13, 2023).
Aconite
p. 33: “classical scholars agree”: Victor Robinson, “The Nurse of Greece.” Bulletin of the Institute of the History of Medicine, vol. 6, no. 9, 1938, p. 1008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44438527 (accessed January 2, 2024).
p. 33: “slaver from Cerberus”: Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Charles Martin, 4.683, p. 143.
p. 33: “It scorched their”: Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4.481-512, translated by Brookes More, Theoi Greek Mythology. https://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses4.html (accessed September 2, 2023).
p. 34: “In Alexipharmaca”: Nicander, Alexipharmaca, translated by A.S.F. Gow & A.F. Scholfield, lines 10-30, Attalus.org. http://www.attalus.org/poetry/nicander.html (accessed September 2, 2023).
p. 35: “In Chinese medicine”: Judith Singhuber, Ming Zhu, Sonja Prinz, and Brigitte Kopp, “Aconitum in Traditional Chinese Medicine—A valuable drug or an unpredictable risk?,” Journal of Ethnopharmacology volume 126, Issue 1, 29 October 2009, pp. 18-30. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874109004735.
p. 35: “In India”: Chan YT, Wang N, Feng Y. “The toxicology and detoxification of Aconitum: traditional and modern views.” Chinese Medicine 2021 Jul 27;16(1):61. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8314510
p. 35: “The country’s health minister”: RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, “Four Patients Being Treated in Kyrgyz Hospitals for Poisoning with Toxic Root Promoted by President,” Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-toxic-root-president-four-patients-hospital-poisoning/31215533.html (accessed September 2, 2023).
Poison Hemlock
p. 36: “Poison hemlock grew”: A. Krochmal, and G. Lavrentiades. “Poisonous Plants of Greece.” Economic Botany, vol. 9, no. 2, 1955, pp. 175–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4287850 (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 37: “He was not actually”: Christopher Gill, “The Death of Socrates.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 1, 1973, pp. 25–28. https://www.jstor.org/stable/638122 (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 37: “Plato may have”: Bloch, Enid, “Hemlock Poisoning and The Death of Socrates: Did Plato Tell the Truth? in The Trial and Execution of Socrates (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). p. 256.
p. 37: “although Nicander suggests”: http://www.attalus.org/poetry/nicander.html (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 37: “This drink assuredly”: Ibid., (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 37: “Dioscorides wrote”: Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, “4-79”, translated by Osbaldeston, p. 631.
p. 37: “Pliny the Elder”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 25.95.1. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D25%3Achapter%3D95, (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 38: “Theophrastus provides”: Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants I, translated by Arthur Hort (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 9.16.9, p. 305.
p. 38: “in which elderly”: Strabo, Geography, 10.5.6. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.5.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198,(accessed March 8, 2024).
p. 38: “fine custom…to live ill”: Menander, Menander, The Principal Fragments, translated by Francis G. Allinson, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1921), p. 508.
p. 38: “affecting the peripheral”: Peripheral Neuropathy, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20352061 (accessed September 9, 2023.
p. 39: “vomiting, diarrhea”: Cicuta maculata, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/cicuta-maculata (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 39: “central nervous system”: Peripheral Neuropathy, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20352061 (accessed September 9, 2023.
p. 39: “although their effects”: Water Hemlock, https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/poisonous-plant-research/docs/water-hemlock-cicuta-douglasii/ (accessed September 9, 2023); Ruha AM, Levine M. Central nervous system toxicity. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2014 Feb;32(1):205-21. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0733862713000849?via%3Dihub. (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 39: “resulting in”: Scarborough, John. “Theophrastus on Herbals and Herbal Remedies.” Journal of the History of Biology, vol. 11, no. 2, 1978, pp. 353–85. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4330714 (accessed September 9, 2023).
p. 39: “hot and dry”: Mitich, Larry, “Poison-Hemlock”, Weed Technology 1998, vol. 12:p. 195.
p. 39: “The difference”: Ibid., p. 196.
p. 39: “an anticancer drug”: Jesmin Mondal, Ashis Kumar Panigrahi, and Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh, “Anticancer potential of Conium maculatum extract against cancer cells in vitro: Drug-DNA interaction and its ability to induce apoptosis through ROS generation”. Pharmacogn Mag. 2014 Aug;10(Suppl 3):S524-33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25298670/.
Dittany
p. 40: “downy leaves”: Virgil, Aeneid, translated by Robert Fitzgerald (NYC: Vintage Classics: 1983), XII.564-6, p. 382.
p. 40: “all anguish”: Ibid., XII.574-7, p. 382-3.
p. 41: “Wild goats in Crete”: Aristotle, “History of Animals”, The Complete Works of Aristotle, translated by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), Book IX, part 6, 612a1, ll.3-4; http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.9.ix.html (accessed October 16, 2023).
p. 41: “artemidion”:Dioscorides, De Materia Medica “3.37”, translated by Osbaldeston p. 407.
p. 41: “It was considered”: Patrick Hunt, Myth and Art in Ekphrasis (Solana Beach, CA: Cognella, 2010), p. 3.
p. 41: “panacea and used it”: Nikos Krigas, Diamanto Lazari, Eleni Maloupa, and Maria Stikoudi, “Introducing Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus L.) to gastronomy: A new culinary concept for a traditionally used medicinal plant”, International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2015: 112-118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgfs.2015.02.001 (accessed September 2, 2023).
p. 41: “Hippocrates recommends”: Hippocrates, Diseases of Women, translated by Paul Potter, pp. 109, 157, 179-81, 191, 195.
p. 41: “Dioscorides”: Dioscorides, De Materia Medica “3.37”, translated by Osbaldeston, pp. 404-407.
p. 41: “He recommends it”: Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants II, 9.16.1, p. 295.
p. 42: “They believed”: Ashley Buchanan, “Plant of the Month: Dittany,” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/plant-of-the-month-dittany/ (accessed September 2, 2023).
p. 42: “And Cretan goats”: Plutarch, Moralia, Vol. 12, translated by Harold Cherniss and William Helmbold, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957), “On the Cleverness of Animals,” p. 409, section 74.
p. 42: “treating gastric ulcers”: C. Liolios, K. Graikou, E. Skaltsa, and I. Chinou, “Dittany of Crete: A botanical and ethnopharmacological review,” Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 131, Issue 2, 2010: 229-241, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874110004022 (accessed September 2, 2023).
p. 42: Until the 1920s”: Ibid., (accessed September 3, 2023).
p. 42: “classified as vulnerable”: V. Sarropoulou, E. Maloupa, and K. Grigoriadou, “Cretan Dittany (Origanum dictamnus L.), a Valuable Local Endemic Plant: In Vitro Regeneration Potential of Different Type of Explants for Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation,” Plants (Basel)1;12(1): 182. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12010182 (accessed September 3, 2023).
p. 43: “Most of what is harvested”: M. Skoula and S. Kamenopoulos, “Origanum dictamnus L. and Origanum vulgare L. subsp. hirtum (Link) Iestwaart: Traditional uses and production in Greece,” in: Oregano: Proceedings of the IPGRI International Workshop on Oregano, ed. S. Padulosi (Rome: IPGRI, 1997): 26–32. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi0mY-hgpyCAxWAODQIHTSTC7YQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpdf.usaid.gov%2Fpdf_docs%2FPNACH881.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1YsLdf1r-2rZePwVlpmSyY&opi=89978449 (accessed October 29, 2023).
p. 43: “vermouth ingredient”: “Folklore – Ancient Crafts,” http://www.kretakultur.dk/english/folklore/crafts/dittany/dittany.htm (accessed September 3, 2023); also Simon Difford, “Vermouth”, Difford’s Guide, https://www.diffordsguide.com/beer-wine-spirits/category/52/vermouth (accessed September 3, 2023).
p. 43: “Cinzano Bianco”: https://drinksnmore.com.mt/product/cinzano-extra-dry/ (accessed September 3, 2023).
p. 43: “dittany is believed”: Liolios et al, “Dittany of Crete: A botanical and ethnopharmacological review,” p. 232, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874110004022 (accessed September 3, 2023).
Medicinal Herbs
Mugwort
p. 44: “Let food be”: Diana Cardenas, “Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation”, e-SPEN Journal, Volume 8, Issue 6, 2013, pp. e260-e262. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnme.2013.10.002 (accessed September 5, 2023).
p. 44: “These festivals”: Michael Albert-Puleo, “Mythobotany, Pharmacology, and Chemistry of Thujone-Containing Plants and Derivatives” Economic Botany, Vol. 32, no. 1 (Jan. – Mar., 1978), pp. 65–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4253892 (accessed September 5, 2023); Christian Ratsch, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, (Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2005) p. 71.
p. 45: “When smoked”: Ekiert H, Pajor J, Klin P, Rzepiela A, Ślesak H, Szopa A. Significance of Artemisia Vulgaris L. (Common Mugwort) in the History of Medicine and Its Possible Contemporary Applications Substantiated by Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies. Molecules. 2020 Sep 25;25(19):4415. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7583039/ (accessed September 5, 2023).
p. 45: “Recent studies”: Ibid., (accessed September 5, 2023).
p. 45: “the hunter Acteon”: Callimachus, “Bath of Pallas”, ll.107-116. https://www.theoi.com/Text/CallimachusHymns2.html#b12 (accessed September 13, 2023).
Parsley
p. 46: “the Nemean Games”: Apollodorus, Bibliotheka, translated by James Frazer, 3.6.4. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.6.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.00rsley (accessed September 13, 2023).
Rue
p. 46: “the primary ingredient”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 23.77. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D23%3Achapter%3D77 (accessed September 13, 2023).
p. 46: the Lemnian women”: MarcelDetienne, Gardens of Adonis, translated by Janet Lloyd (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994) p. 93.
p. 47: “rue is known”: Moges Abebe. “The Alarming Toxicity of Ruta Graveolens”. Biomed J Sci & Tech Res 40(2)-2021. https://biomedres.us/fulltexts/BJSTR.MS.ID.006428.phpxts/ (accessed September 6, 2023).
Tansy
p. 47: “essential oils of tansy”: Cecilia Georgescu et al., “Botanical and Phytochemical Studies on Tanacetum Vulgare L. from Transylvania,” AMT, v. II, no. 4, 2014, p. 300-2. https://www.academia.edu/86014781/Botanical_and_Phytochemical_Studies_on_Tanacetum_Vulgare_L_From_Transylvania (accessed September 6, 2023).
p. 48: “Aquarius, the water- bearer”: Hyginus, Fabulae, 224, translated by Mary Grant. https://topostext.org/work/206 (accessed September 13, 2023).
Pennyroyal
p. 51: “Pulegone”: Sarah E. Nelson, “Persephone’s Seeds: Abortifacients and Contraceptives in Ancient Greek Medicine and Their Recent Scientific Appraisal” Pharmacy in History, vol. 51, no. 2 (2009), pp. 57–69. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41112420 (accessed September 8, 2023).
p. 51: “toxic to the liver”: Livertox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-induced Liver Injury, Bethesda, MD, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, 2012 – present, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548673/