A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-Classical Era

Alain Touwaide

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781474273428
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350259294
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-Classical Era covers the period from 500 to 1400, ranging across northern and central Europe to the Mediterranean, and from the Byzantine and Arabic Empires to the Persian World, India, and China. This was an age of empires and fluctuating borders, presenting a changing mosaic of environments, populations, and cultural practices. Many of the ancient uses and meanings of plants were preserved, but these were overlaid with new developments in agriculture, landscapes, medicine, eating habits, and art.

The 6 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.

Alain Touwaide is Scientific Director at the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, Washington, D.C., USA.

Volume 2 in the Cultural History of Plants set.
General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Series Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Plants as Staple Foods
• 2 Plants as Luxury Foods
• 3 Trade and Exploration
• 4 Plant Technology and Science: Medieval China
• 5 Plants and Medicine
• 6 Plants in Culture: A Meaning-Laden Living World in Early South Asia
• 7 Plants as Natural Ornaments: Pre-modern Iranian and Eastern Islamic Lands
• 8 The Representation of Plants: Mediators of Body and Soul
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Notes on Contributors
• Index
• Imprint