ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim: The aim of our study is to investigate the specifics of the use of vegetables for the prevention and treatment of diseases in the medical practice of the Roman Empire. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The research material was based on the surviving fragments of the Roman writer Quintus Gargilius Martial's Medicinae ex oleribus et pomis. The study relied on general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of contextual analysis, descriptive and interdisciplinary methods. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Gargilius' treatise Medicinae ex oleribus et pomis is a valuable source of information on the use of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nuts for the treatment and prevention of numerous diseases. Roman doctors highly valued the therapeutic and prophylactic properties of radish, pumpkin, cucumber, celery, beetroot, cabbage, turnip, rutabaga, lettuce, onion, garlic and other vegetables, and successfully used vegetables as a medicine to strengthen the im¬mune system, enrich the body with vitamins and minerals, as well as for the prevention and treatment of wounds and injuries in surgery, various tumors and inflammations, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, gynecological pathologies, fever, cough, diseases of the ENT organs and skin. For medicinal purposes, the Romans used leaves, stems, roots and seeds of various vegetable crops. The results of the study suggest the possibility of exploiting the therapeutic potential of vegetables in modern medicine.
Subject(s)
Brassica , Vegetables , Humans , Antioxidants , Vitamins , MineralsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim: The aim of the study is collection, systematization and comprehensive analysis of suggestions and prescriptions for maintaining good health set forth by Arnold of Villanova in "Regimen Sanitatis Salerni". PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The research is based on the first edition of "The Salernitan Rule of Health" (1479) by Arnold of Villanova that comprises 364 poems (103 chapters). In this investigation we consciously leave some later editions of the "Rule" unattended since they contain insertions that do not belong to the author. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Sanitary and hygiene suggestions, therapeutic practices, proper nutrition principles, analysis of influence of animal and plant products on the human body, prescriptions for medicinal plants administration are not merely a pathway to salubrity but also basic standards of sanitary and epidemic well-being. The medieval treatise has provided the underlying framework for modern dietology and healthy lifestyle.
Subject(s)
Prescriptions , Clinical Protocols , HumansABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The aim: The aim of our research is to make an inventory and systematize prescriptions for the use of medicinal plants during the early Middle Ages, based on Macerus Floridus' original Latin text "De viribus herbarum", to develop awareness of the role of phytotherapy in medieval medicine and the possibility of integrating herbal medicine with modern conventional methods of prevention and treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The material for this study is a medieval Latin didactic poem by the 11th-century French physician and researcher Odo of Meung-sur-Loire (pseudonym Macer Floridus), the extant manuscripts of which are known in the history of medicine as "De viribus herbarum" or "De natura herbarum". The medical-pharmacological treatise (published in 1831 by Ludwig Choulant) describes the medicinal properties of seventy-seven plants of peasant gardens, grasses of meadows and fields of Europe, medicinal herbs of medieval apothecary gardens as well as aromatic plants and spices of the East. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Medicinal plants and herbs were successfully used to treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, spleen, hepatobiliary system, urinary and respiratory organs and were also applied in gynecology, dermatology, ophthalmology and dentistry.