In Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance, John Riddle showed, through extraordinary scholarly sleuthing, that women from ancient Egyptian times to the fifteenth century had relied on an extensive pharmacopoeia of herbal abortifacients and contraceptives to regulate fertility. In Eve's Herbs, Riddle explores a new question: If women once had access to effective means of birth control, why was this knowledge lost to them in modern times?
Beginning with the testimony of a young woman brought before the Inquisition in France in 1320, Riddle...
In Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance, John Riddle showed, through extraordinary scholarly sleuthing, that...
From the earliest times, the medicinal properties of certain herbs were connected with deities, particularly goddesses. Only now with modern scientific research can we begin to understand the basisand rationality that these divine connections had and, being preserved in myths and religious stories, they continued to have a significant impact through the present day. Riddle argues that the pomegranate, mandrake, artemisia, and chaste tree plants substantially altered thedevelopment of medicine and fertility treatments.The herbs, once sacred to Inanna, Aphrodite, Demeter, Artemis, and Hermes,...
From the earliest times, the medicinal properties of certain herbs were connected with deities, particularly goddesses. Only now with modern scientifi...
For 1,600 years Dioscorides (ca. AD 40-80) was regarded as the foremost authority on drugs. He knew mild laxatives and strong purgatives, analgesics for headaches, antiseptics for wounds, emetics to rid one of ingested poisons, chemotherapy agents for cancer treatments, and even oral contraceptives. Why, then, have his works remained obscure in recent centuries? Because of one small oversight (Dioscorides himself thought it was self-evident): he failed to describe his method for organizing drugs by their affinities. This omission led medical authorities to use his materials as a guide to...
For 1,600 years Dioscorides (ca. AD 40-80) was regarded as the foremost authority on drugs. He knew mild laxatives and strong purgatives, analgesic...
This clear and comprehensive text covers the Middle Ages from the classical era to the late medieval period. Distinguished historian John Riddle provides a cogent analysis of the rulers, wars, and events--both natural and human--that defined the medieval era. Taking a broad geographical perspective, Riddle includes northern and eastern Europe, Byzantine civilization, and the Islamic states. Each, he convincingly shows, offered values and institutions--religious devotion, toleration and intolerance, laws, ways of thinking, and changing roles of women--that presaged modernity. In addition to...
This clear and comprehensive text covers the Middle Ages from the classical era to the late medieval period. Distinguished historian John Riddle provi...
