Chapter Five:
Gifts from the Gods

Prometheus with ember in fennel

Fennel

p. 109: “When wine was first”: Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.4.6. https://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html (accessed September 3, 2023).

p. 111: “Research published in 2014”: Shamkant B. Badgujar et al. “Foeniculum vulgare Mill: a review of its botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, contemporary application, and toxicology.” BioMed research international vol. 2014 (2014): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4137549/ (accessed March 13, 2024).

Olive

p. 113: “That version of the story”: Apollodorus, Bibliotheka, translated by James Frazer, 3.14.1: fn. 2. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D1 (accessed March 8, 2024).

p. 113: “Herodotus tells us”: Herodotus, The History, translated by Grene, 8.55, p. 575.

p. 113: “anointed the bodies”: Homer, The Iliad, translated by Fagles, 18.408-9, pp. 478-9.

p. 114: “Hera cleanses her”: Ibid., 14.209-213, p. 375.

p. 114: “Herakles used an olive tree”: Pausanias, Description of Greece, Volume 1, translated by Levi, p. 207.

p. 115: “Who could move my bed”: Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Fagles, 23.206-23, pp. 461-2

p. 115: “Archaeological evidence”: Carrion, Y., Ntinou, M., Badal, E. (April 1, 2010), “Olea europea L. in the North Mediterranean Basin during the Pleniglacial and the Early Middle Holocene”. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(7):952-968. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223574316_Olea_europaea_L_in_the_North_Mediterranean_Basin_during_the_Pleniglacial_and_the_Early-Middle_Holocene/link/630721535eed5e4bd119bb5e/download (accessed September 8, 2023).

p. 115: “There he lay”: Homer, The Iliad, translated by Fagles, 17.59-63, p. 444.

p. 116: “This plant truly flourishes”: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, translated by Ian Johnston, ll. 804-15 http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/sophocles/oedipusatcolonushtml.html#t30 (accessed September 8, 2023).

Three Trees

Ash

p. 117: “the meliai armed their sons”: https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphaiMeliai.html (accessed September 9, 2023).

p. 118: “centaur gave Peleus”: Apollodorus, Bibliotheka, translated by James Frazer. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.13.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 (accessed September 13, 2023).

p. 118: “No other Achaean fighter”: Iliad, translated by Fagles, 16.169-73, p. 417.

p. 118: “Nemesis, the goddess of retribution”:  https://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Nemesis.html (accessed September 9, 2023).

p. 118: “Pliny describes a delicious”: Vivian Spadaro, and Fraincesco Maria  Raimondo, “The ‘manna’ extracted from the ash trees still cultivated in Sicily from mythical food to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical resource.” Arch Food Nutr Sci, 2022; 6:p. 41, https://www.foodscijournal.com/articles/afns-aid1036.php (accessed September 18, 2023).

p. 118: “the perspiration of”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History III, translated by H. Rackham, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), 11.12, p. 451.

p. 118: “mannitol is a sugar alcohol”: David Arnold, “Ancient Manna on Modern Menus”, The New York Times, June 8, 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/dining/09manna.html (accessed September 10, 2023).

p. 118: “poorly absorbed by”: Varzakas T, Labropoulos A, Anestis S (2012).Sweeteners: Nutritional Aspects, Applications, and Production Technology. CRC Press. pp. 59–60.

p. 118: “medicinally as a diuretic”: WHO model formulary 2008, editors, Marc C. Stuart, Maria Kouimtzi, Suzanne R. Hill., p. 332.

Yew

p. 120: “blazing yew branch”: Statius, Thebaid, translated by J. H. Mozley, Book 4, ll. 468-488. https://www.theoi.com/Text/StatiusThebaid4.html (accessed September 18, 2023).

p. 120: “dipped her arrows”: Hellmut Baumann, The Greek Plant World (Portland: Timber Press, 1993) p. 51.

p. 120: “that even the shade”: Plutarch, Moralia volume 8, translated by Clement and Hoffleit, “Table Talk” 1.647 (p. 215.

p. 120: “Theophrastus was aware”: Theophrastus Enquiry into Plants I, 3.10.2, p. 223.

p. 120: “Taxol works by blocking”: Robert Sanders, “Discovery of how Taxol works could lead to better anticancer drugs,” Berkeley News. May 22, 2014, https://news.berkeley.edu/2014/05/22/discovery-of-how-taxol-works-could-lead-to-better-anticancer-drugs/ (accessed September 10, 2023).

Oak

p. 122: “Athena herself took a branch”: Apollonius of Rhodes, The Argonautica, translated by R. C. Seaton, Book 1: p. 39. Also, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/830/830-h/830-h.htm#chap06 (accessed October 16, 2023).

p. 122: “the will of Zeus”: Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Fagles, 19.341-2, p. 400.

p. 122: “Zeus, lord of Dodona’s”: Homer, The Iliad, translated by Fagles, 16.276-9, p. 420.

p. 124: “her grieving hand”: Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Martin, 11.113-5, p 372.

Ivy

p. 125: “he was crowned with ivy”: [1] Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 9.1-15, translated by Rouse. https://www.theoi.com/Text/NonnusDionysiaca9.html (accessed March 7, 2024).

p. 125: “covering Dionysus’s cradle”: Ovid, Fasti, translated by A.S. Kline, Book III, March 17, p. 103. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/klineasfasti.php (accessed September 4, 2023).

p. 126: “Two ancient authors”: Servius on Virgil 1.67. https://topostext.org/work/548 (accessed September 4, 2023) and Hyginus, Fabulae, 134, translated by Grant, (https://topostext.org/work/206) (accessed September 4, 2023).

p. 126: “Then round the mast”: Apostelos Athanassakis, “To Dionysos”, The Homeric Hymns (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), ll. 40-2, p. 49.

p. 126: “brandished a spear”: Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Martin 3.861, p.117.

p. 127: “Another shot at the foe”: Nonnus, Dionysiaca, translated by Rouse, https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Satyroi.html, (accessed September 4, 2023).

p. 127: “gave the boy”: Nonnus, Dionysiaca, translated by Rouse, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1940) p. 381.

p. 127: “Plutarch’s characters debate”: Plutarch Moralia volume 8, translated by Paul Clement and Herbert Hoffleit, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927 or 1960 or 1969?), “Table Talk” 1.647 (p. 211) and 2.648-9 (pp. 217-225).

p. 127: “Pliny the Elder lists”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 24.47. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+24&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137#note-link201 (accessed September 4, 2023).

p. 127: “Hippocrates recommends”: Hippocrates, “Fistulas”, Volume 8, translated by Paul Potter (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), p. 405.

p. 127: “A modern”: J. Schulte-Michels, C. Keksel, H. Häberlein, S. Franken. “Anti-inflammatory effects of ivy leaves dry extract: influence on transcriptional activity of NFκB.” Inflammopharmacology. 2019 Apr;27(2):339-347. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29748881/ (accessed September 4, 2023).

p. 128: “It has thus far”: Ibid., (accessed September 4, 2023

Rose

p. 129: “the rose was sacred”: Greek Lyric II, “The Anacreontea”,Ode 55, translated by David Campbell (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 231-3.

p. 129: “struck by the small winged snake”: Ibid.,Ode 35, p. 207.

p. 130: “Aphrodite sprinkled Adonis’s blood”: Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Martin, 10.850-7, p 366.

p. 130: “ambrosial oil of roses”: Homer, The Iliad, trans Fagles, 23.215, p. 565.

p. 130: “Recent research show”: Lei Z, Cao Z, Yang Z, Ao M, Jin W, Yu L. “Rosehip Oil Promotes Excisional Wound Healing by Accelerating the Phenotypic Transition of Macrophages”. Planta Med. 2019 May;85(7):563-569. doi: 10.1055/a-0725-8456. Epub 2018 Sep 10. PMID: 30199901. (accessed March 8, 2024).

p. 130: “Some ancient Greeks believed”: Athenaeus, Deipnosophists volume 7, 15.675, translated by Charles Gulick (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961) p. 117.

p. 130: “Let us mix”: Greek Lyric II, “The Anacreontea”,Ode 44, translated by David Campbell, p. 219.

p. 130: “At feasts, banquets”: Ibid., Ode 55, pp. 231-3.

p. 131: “each with sixty”: The Landmark Herodotus, ed. Strassler, 8.138, p 659.

p. 131: “Pliny the Elder describes”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 21.10. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D21%3Achapter%3D10 (accessed September 23, 2023).

p. 131: “He also suggests”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, translated by 21.73. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D21%3Achapter%3D73 (accessed September 23, 2023).

p. 131: Dioscorides gives a recipe”: Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, “1-53”, translated by Osbaldeston, pp. 48, 51.

p. 131: “Both Dioscorides and Pliny”: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 21.73. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D21%3Achapter%3D73 (accessed September 23, 2023); Dioscorides,1-53,” De Materia Medica, p. 51.

p. 131: “modern medical studies”: Mohebitabar S, Shirazi M, Bioos S, Rahimi R, Malekshahi F, Nejatbakhsh F. “Therapeutic efficacy of rose oil: A comprehensive review of clinical evidence”. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2017 May-Jun;7(3):206-213. PMID: 28748167; PMCID: PMC5511972. (accessed September 9, 2023).

p. 131: “Theophrastus goes into great detail”: Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants II, 6.6.4-6, pp. 39-41.

p. 131: “In Concerning Odors”: Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants II, “Concerning Odors,” 45-47, pp. 367-9.

p. 131: “Comic playwrights”: Martyn, J. 1990. “Sappho and Aphrodite.” Euphrosyne 18: p. 206.

p. 131: “the British government”: “Syrup from Rose Hips,” Times (London), September 22, 1941, p. 2, No. 49037, Gale Document number: GALEICS34421046, https://tinyurl.com/bd8f6bvk (accessed March 8, 2024).