9 min listen
An Extraordinary Medicine Called Theriac
ratings:
Length:
19 minutes
Released:
Jul 27, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
(Kristin) Theriac was a medicine of legendary origins, multiple ingredients, and a reputation for efficacy that extended for hundreds of years. It was said to be able to cure everything from migraines to the plague. In this episode, Kristin looks at some of the ingredients and processes that went into making theriac, where it could be found, who was selling it, and whether there was anything behind its extraordinary claims.
Further ReadingHoward Brody, “Ritual, Medicine, and the Placebo Response,” in The Problem of Ritual Efficacy, eds. William S. Sax, Johannes Quack, and Jan Weinhold, Oxford University Press, (2010), 151-168.Christiane Nockels Fabbri, “Treating Medieval Plague: The Wonderful Virtues of Theriac,” Early Science and Medicine 12:3 (2007): 247-283.Michael McVaugh, “The Conceptual Background of Medieval Pharmacy,” in Arnaldi de Villanova: Opera medica omnia, vol 2, University of Barcelona, (1975), 13-30.“Theriac,” in The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine, ed. and trans. by Monica H. Green, University of Pennsylvania Press, (2002), 132-133. Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)
Further ReadingHoward Brody, “Ritual, Medicine, and the Placebo Response,” in The Problem of Ritual Efficacy, eds. William S. Sax, Johannes Quack, and Jan Weinhold, Oxford University Press, (2010), 151-168.Christiane Nockels Fabbri, “Treating Medieval Plague: The Wonderful Virtues of Theriac,” Early Science and Medicine 12:3 (2007): 247-283.Michael McVaugh, “The Conceptual Background of Medieval Pharmacy,” in Arnaldi de Villanova: Opera medica omnia, vol 2, University of Barcelona, (1975), 13-30.“Theriac,” in The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine, ed. and trans. by Monica H. Green, University of Pennsylvania Press, (2002), 132-133. Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)
Released:
Jul 27, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Science, Plague, and Pericles: Reconstructing the Face of Myrtis: (Kirsti) In 430 BCE, a plague swept through ancient Athens, killing thousands. It eventually claimed even the great Pericles. But what was it? In 1994, a group of historians and scientists banded together to find out, starting with the skull of one little by Footnoting History