A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity covers the period from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE. This period witnessed the transition from hunter-gatherer subsistence to the practice of agriculture in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, and culminated in the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the Han Dynasty in China, the rise of Byzantium, and the first flowering of Mayan civilization. Human uses for and understanding of plants drove cultural evolution and were inextricably bound to all aspects of cultural practice. The growth of botanical knowledge was fundamental to the development of agriculture, technology, medicine, and science, as well as to the birth of cities, the rise of religions and mythologies, and the creation of works of literature and art.
The six-volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants.
Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics at the University of Delaware, USA.
A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity is the first volume in the six-volume set, A Cultural History of Plants, also available online as part of Bloomsbury Cultural History, a fully-searchable digital library (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).
General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.
Examines the uses and meanings of plants from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE, from the transition from hunter-gatherer subsistence to the practice of agriculture in Mesopotamia and elsewhere.
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Examines the uses and meanings of plants from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE, from the transition from hunter-gatherer subsistence to the practice of agriculture in Mesopotamia and elsewhere.
Series Preface
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Plants and Culture in Antiquity, Annette Giesecke
1. Plants as Staple Foods, Jennifer Ramsay, Sarah Walshaw, and Karla Hansen-Speer
2. Plants as Luxury Foods: Sweet Herbs for Curry, Andrew Dalby
3. Trade & Exploration, Laurence M.V. Totelin
4. Plant Technology & Science, Patrick Hunt
5. Plants & Medicine, Alain Touwaide
6. Plants in Culture: Botanic Symbols in Daily Life and Literature, Annette Giesecke and Mechthild Siede
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments, Kaja Tally-Schumacher
8. The Representation of Plants, Allison Thomason, Joanna Day, and Annette Giesecke
Endnotes
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index
Annette Giesecke, PhD, is a specialist in the history, meaning, and representation of ancient gardens and designed landscapes at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She is General Editor of the six volume A Cultural History of Plants (Bloomsbury 2022) and editor of Volume 1 (Antiquity) and co-editor of Volume 3 (Early Modern). Her other works include Classical Mythology A to Z (2020) and The Mythology of Plants (2014). She is General Editor of the six volume A Cultural History of Nature (Bloomsbury, forthcoming).
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