Chapter Four. Imports, Geographical Determinism And Influences: The Use Of Exotic And Luxury Ingredients In The Hippocratic Catalogues Of Recipes

Abstract

This chapter attempts to determine with more precision which exotic and luxury products were used in the Hippocratic recipes and dietetic prescriptions. It offers insights into how Hippocratic compilers valued different regions of the world. Following a note on the naming of plants in ancient Greece, in the second part of this chapter, the author systematically lists the imported ingredients mentioned in the Hippocratic recipes, that is, the products that, for ecological reasons, could not grow in Greece or in Asia Minor. The author also included ingredients, which, although they could be produced in Greece, are accompanied by an epithet of foreign geographical origin. In order to determine the origin of each exotic ingredient, and the routes they followed to reach Greece, the author has drawn upon the studies of scholars working in a variety of disciplines: historians, linguists, botanists, and archaeologists.Keywords: exotic ingredient; geographical epithet; Greek medicine; Hippocratic recipes; luxury products