Wilkins John
Classics and Ancient History, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2015 Jun 5;167:7-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2014.12.016. Epub 2015 Jan 6.
This paper speaks to the theme of the boundaries of food and medicine as constructed in the Greek and Roman worlds. It examines how physicians developed innovative ways of thinking about the body that did not attribute health and sickness to the intervention of gods. Ancient physicians and natural historians conceived of new potencies for substances and described their impact on the body׳s physiology between the late fifth century BC and the early third century AD. The legacy of these ideas and practices had great traction in the Mediterranean world and survived into Early Modern Times, and until the rise of new forms of science.
This article analyses texts transmitted from the ancient world and considers how substances were attributed nutritional and medical potency. The texts relevant to this analysis include medical and philosophical treatises as well as cookery books. The article highlights discussions about the nature of food and drugs and the herbs thought to cross the boundaries between them. It interrogates different contexts within which foods were thought good or bad for the body, and the social and moral connotations attached to those perceptions.
Much of the analysis is devoted to understanding the flavours that were a key marker in the nutritional potencies attributed to foodstuffs. However there are clear and influential moral boundaries set by Plato in the discourse around food and pleasure. While every physician should be a chef, and many wrote cookery books that have been lost, a chef׳s talent was located in increasing pleasure, and therefore a less valuable skill. However the different literary genres show overlapping terminology and concerns, particularly with the quality of ingredients. Poor taste was not only a culinary concern. With regard to the setting of boundaries between foods and medicines, the transition between one category and another is frequently determined by the preparation and strengthening of a food׳s potency.
本文探讨了希腊和罗马世界构建的食物与药物界限这一主题。它研究了医生如何形成关于身体的创新思维方式，这种思维方式并不将健康与疾病归因于神灵的干预。古代医生和自然历史学家构想出物质的新效能，并描述了它们在公元前五世纪后期至公元三世纪早期对身体生理的影响。这些思想和实践的遗产在地中海世界具有巨大影响力，并一直延续到近代早期，直到新科学形式兴起。
本文分析了从古代流传下来的文本，并思考物质是如何被赋予营养和药用效能的。与该分析相关的文本包括医学和哲学论文以及烹饪书籍。文章重点讨论了关于食物和药物的性质以及被认为跨越它们之间界限的草药的讨论。它审视了在不同背景下，食物被认为对身体有益或有害的情况，以及与这些认知相关的社会和道德内涵。
大部分分析致力于理解那些作为食物营养效能关键标志的味道。然而，在关于食物和愉悦的论述中，柏拉图设定了明确且有影响力的道德界限。虽然每个医生都应该是厨师，而且许多人写过已失传的烹饪书籍，但厨师的才能在于增加愉悦感，因此是一种价值较低的技能。然而，不同的文学体裁显示出重叠的术语和关注点，特别是关于食材的质量。味道不佳不仅是烹饪方面的问题。关于食物和药物之间界限的设定，一个类别向另一个类别的转变通常由食物效能的调配和增强来决定。
