Lafont Olivier
Faculté de médecine et de pharmacie, 22 boulevard Gambetta, 76183 Rouen, cedex 1.
Rev Hist Pharm (Paris). 2012 May;60(373):7-16.
The picture of the 17th century, placed upon the great chimney in the "Salle des Actes", is attributed to the painter Simon Vouet or to his co-workers. It depicts a scene extracted from Odyssey by Homer. During their way-back to Greece, after the fall and the fire of Troia, Helen and Menelaus received in Egypt the famous nepenthes from the hands of Polydamna. An inventory of the possessions of the College of Pharmacy mentioned also helenium and moly. Nepenthes was really cited by Homer as a medicine used by Helen, but helenium was only related to Helen by euphony and moly referred to a totally different part of Odyssey and was not linked at all to Helen. This study points out the importance of mythology so far as origins of Pharmacy are concerned.
位于“法案厅”大烟囱上的17世纪画作，被认为出自画家西蒙·武埃或其助手之手。它描绘了一幕取自荷马《奥德赛》的场景。在特洛伊城沦陷并遭焚毁后，海伦和墨涅拉俄斯在返回希腊的途中，于埃及从波吕达玛娜手中接过了著名的忘忧药。药学院藏品清单中还提到了海伦菊和魔草。荷马确实将忘忧药引述为海伦所用的一种药物，但海伦菊只是因读音相近才与海伦有关，而魔草则指的是《奥德赛》中完全不同的部分，与海伦毫无关联。这项研究指出了神话对于药学起源的重要性。
