As the Christian world began to develop, wine maintained an important role, especially as a symbol. No other plant besides the wine grape is more intimately associated with his life and ministry.
The early accounts of Christianity such as the New Testament feature many mentions of wine but markedly fewer references to therapeutic uses than the Hebrew texts that precede them. Luke, in which the Samaritan rescues a traveler beaten by robbers and applies olive oil and wine to his wounds. According to physician and wine historian Philip Norrie, St. Luke was originally a Greek physician and would therefore have known of the efficacy of wine as an antiseptic from the teachings of Hippocrates, and possibly Pliny and Dioscorides.
The Greek soldier-philosopher Xenophon, who fought both for and against the Persians, noted that they were well-aware of the antiseptic value of wine. Northwest Iran extends into the Caucasus region where winemaking originated. Zoroastrianism, the original major religion of Persia, starting around BCE or earlier, was not opposed to wine. With the rise of Islam and its spread into Persia, the prohibition of alcohol led to many changes in this part of the cradle of viticulture and brought challenges for Persian and Arabic physicians.
The Quran seemingly prohibits alcohol and therefore presented Arab physicians with a dilemma. Much of Islamic medicine was influenced by Greek and Roman texts written by healers like Galen who championed the therapeutic value of wine. The first distillation of wine is believed to have been conducted by the Muslims possibly by Rhazes ; the process markedly increases the alcohol content and made possible the invention of hard liquor — an unintended irony. More than any other plant or plant product, wine was regarded almost as a panacea in the ancient Mediterranean world.
It was used as an analgesic, antibiotic, antidiarrheal, aphrodisiac, diuretic, menstruum, and soporific. Wine also was used to treat anxiety, asthma, cardiac problems, digestive problems, epilepsy, insect stings and spider bites, jaundice, respiratory problems, and wounds and to purify water. Several of these uses appear repeatedly in the historical record, undoubtedly due to the fact that wine is highly effective in some instances as an antimicrobial, painkiller, water sanitizer, and wound disinfectant.
Today, we know that wine, when included as a moderate addition to the diet, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and may help ward off certain cancers as well. Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program. Complete German Commission E Monographs. News Press Releases. Give Gift Membership.
Support Adopt-an-Herb. Join Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program. Send Free E-Cards. Our Members Become a Sponsor Member. Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program Supporters. Mark Plotkin. Viniculture in Transcaucasia While the fermentation of sugars from many sources can yield an alcoholic drink, this article focuses on wine derived from the common wine grape, Vitis vinifera , whose original range covered much of Eurasia.
According to Tom Standage in his classic A History of the World in 6 Glasses Bloomsbury Publishing, : [He] served ten thousand skins of wine — [an] impressive display of wealth. Wine in Religious Texts The medical lore described in the Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch the first five books of the Hebrew Bible , draws heavily on Egyptian therapeutic traditions. Wine Culture in Ancient Greece Wine also has been described as the touchstone of ancient Greek civilization, central to their cultural identity.
Homer Though Hippocrates ca. Hippocrates Born several hundred years after Homer during the epoch of Classical Greece, Hippocrates remains respected and revered more than 2, years later for launching the scientific study and treatment of disease.
Galen Approximately a century after Pliny died at Pompeii in 79, Galen —ca. Importance of Wine in Christianity and Islam As the Christian world began to develop, wine maintained an important role, especially as a symbol. Conclusion More than any other plant or plant product, wine was regarded almost as a panacea in the ancient Mediterranean world. References Lucia SP. A History of Wine as Therapy. New York: J.
McGovern PE. Los Angeles: University of California Press; Tattersall I, DeSalle R. A Natural History of Wine. New Haven: Yale University Press; Robinson J, Harding J.
The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Musselman LJ. Portland, OR: Timber Press; Lukacs P. New York: W. Norton; Maugh T. Ancient Winery Found in Armenia. January 11, Los Angeles Times. Available at: www. Accessed September 27, Unwin PTH. New York: Routledge; Skovenborg E. In vino sanitas. Saertryk Fra Bibliotek for Laeger. Standage T. A History of the World in 6 Glasses.
New York: Bloomsbury Publishing; Majno G. The Healing Hand. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; Dayagi-Mendeles M. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum; Gore R. Who were the Phoenicians? New clues from ancient bones and modern blood. October Center for Democracy in Lebanon website. Iron Age shipwrecks in deep water off Ashkelon, Israel. American Journal of Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science.
Ancient Egyptian herbal wines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Nunn JF. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. London: British Museum Press; Johnson H. The Story of Wine. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers; Wilson J. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. The Origins and Ancient History of Wine. Amsterdam: Routledge; Mark JJ.
Beer in the ancient world. September 15, Ancient History Encyclopedia website. Hyams E. In the biological sciences department, you can choose a major or minor in Biology, Botany, or Zoology. All majors emphasize hands-on learning and personal interaction with faculty members. Many courses take advantage of the outstanding natural environment surrounding Humboldt State.
Programs are structured to allow latitude for student choice in developing a program suitable to individual needs. There are also many opportunities for independent and faculty-mentored studies. In rural off-the-road-system Alaska where the price of a gallon of milk or gasoline is many times higher than in the lower 48 states, this informal economy is an important part of the food system. Despite their cultural and nutritional importance, we know little regarding how berry-producing plants may be affected by climate change Hupp et al.
If we do not establish a baseline, we cannot know what we are losing. Bioregions within Alaska are changing, and berry harvests are becoming unpredictable.
Personal use harvesters are uniquely positioned to contribute from diverse perspectives across regions, income levels, and occupations not just researchers from academia, and in both urban and rural Alaska. During the COVID pandemic, more people than ever are recreating on public lands and harvesting wild foods. Foraging by well-meaning but uninformed individuals has damaged wild food populations Hay, This is particularly a concern in urban Alaska, which is where I do most of my harvesting and have had most of my plant experiences.
I am still learning what that means and how I can help support Indigenous people in Alaska to continue to practice their cultural activities surrounding food. I am not Indigenous to the place where I live, and I harvest a number of wild plants every year for my own personal use.
I feel healthier and more connected when I do, and I think many people in my community feel this way. One research project in Fairbanks addressed this idea. Maher interviewed harvesters in the Fairbanks area regarding their motivations for harvesting NTFPs, specifically berries, mushrooms, and firewood, and compiled their responses into a clever infographic. Existing studies of the management of NTFPs in Alaska are over 10 years old and focus on commercial harvesting Kellogg et al.
The Alaska Ethnobotany Project was started in with the goal to evaluate which Alaska native plants were being commercially harvested, to what extent, and to act proactively before problems of access or scarcity occurred.
They contacted experts including Alaska Native Elders, harvesters, and subsistence users, university professors and students, and agency professionals.
The Alaska Ethnobotany Project is narrow in its scope of commercial harvest of NTFPs on State lands, but it was forward-thinking and can be a model for future projects. However, access is often restricted by limited road and trail access.
This concentrates harvesters in certain areas. As foraging becomes increasingly popular, conflicts over resources and deterioration of what infrastructure may exist are inevitable. Like the Alaska Ethnobotany Project fifteen years ago, proactively addressing these needs and bringing participants together around solutions will set the stage for sustainable resource use.
Some people are turning to social media to bridge the knowledge gap. These groups are undeniably creating connections and improving access to information and food within the community, though at times the accuracy of information is questionable.
Group members are generous with their time, knowledge, and resources as seen in the three examples below. These groups could be targeted to answer survey questions, and posts can be used to identify needs within the community. I want to share a few posts that illustrate these points. As ethnobotany students, we seem very consistent on how much harvesting we want to do and how unlikely we are to be on Facebook!
Choose as many as applicable. Questions 7, 8, and 9 were an attempt to assess where people get their information, how convenient those sources are, and how accurate they are perceived to be using a scale of Sources were Facebook, Instagram, iNaturalist, word-of-mouth, and field guides. Creating a survey was an interesting experience and good practice, but my survey results were from such a small and specific sample group. The results are an interesting and fun way to end my last ethnobotany class, and it was good to get feedback before continuing on.
I am interested in how knowledge about plants is shared, how that is changing as our world changes, and not only using social media. We are at a pivotal point regarding climate change, increasing harvest pressure, and decreasing global biodiversity, so it is time to give attention and value to this resource.
We can learn together how to manage NTFPs well, so that they will be available to sustain us physically, emotionally, and spiritually, for many generations to come. I am interested in creating personal use NTFP harvest materials that focus on creating a deep relationship with place and community. These materials should be culturally relevant and include land acknowledgments.
The goal is to get more people involved, building relationships with plants and each other. You must be logged in to post a comment. I live on the Kenai Peninsula which is circled in black above. This resource is labeled with over indigenous place names and is a useful tool to familiarize oneself with the words.
Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska, Circumpolar distribution of R. A blueberry bush serves as a metaphor for describing different aspects of a harvesting experience. Maher Many group members post when they have extra berries to share or are looking for them. The cultural value is evident and, in the comments, many members connect over harvest and processing experiences. This post is requesting aqpiks and recognizes several common names.
AK berry pickers, This clever post shares information in a friendly way but still perpetuates the individualist secretive personal use harvest mindset and does not mention regulations regarding land management Alaska berry pickers, All of the replies were supportive and in agreement that such a resource should be made.
Some individuals said they had a schedule in their head.
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