Greek Mountain Tea, drink of the ancients

[guy]

 

I’m a big green tea drinker, so I have a special interest in any tea with any health benefits. This ancient tea piqued my interest:

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"Greek Mountain Tea,” or sideritis, which has been used since ancient times as medicine, a  refreshment, and a memory and energy booster, is one of Greece’s most recognizable and popular herbs.

Ancient Greeks called it sideritis, meaning “that which contains iron.” They used it as medicine since it is perfect for sore throats or the common cold. Theophrastus (372-287 BC) who is considered to be the father of botany, wrote that sideritis was so named because of its property to heal wounds from iron objects.

https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/28/greek-mountain-tea-ancient-medicine-and-elixir/

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by guy

[caldrail]

There must be a whole plethora of medicinal plants we've forgotten. To be honest, whilst the Romans got very good at treating weapon injuries (or rather, the Greek medics in their service did) their understanding wasn't as good. They were as likely to prescribe prayers as other treatments, and some of them were downright unhealthy. Is it just me or is it Greek medicine that was underpinning Roman health care generally?

[guy]

22 hours ago, caldrail said:

There must be a whole plethora of medicinal plants we've forgotten. To be honest, whilst the Romans got very good at treating weapon injuries (or rather, the Greek medics in their service did) their understanding wasn't as good. They were as likely to prescribe prayers as other treatments, and some of them were downright unhealthy. Is it just me or is it Greek medicine that was underpinning Roman health care generally?

Sounds right to me. Most physicians, including the most famous ones, in Ancient Rome were of Greek descent. Physicians such as Soranus, Dioscorides, and Asclepiades were of Greek descent, for example. And Galen, the most famous physician of Ancient Rome, was also of Greek descent.

Galen (129-216 AD) had an inquisitive mind, was an excellent anatomist, and proved to be the foremost clinician of the ancient world. Unfortunately, he was also a proponent of humoral theory. This theory held that human health was a balance of "humors" (body fluids) and it was humoral imbalance that resulted in disease. Centuries before Galen, humoral theory had a prominent role in Greek medicine. Its most famous advocate was Hippocrates. It was this dogmatic adherence to humoral theory by Galen and later generations of physicians that impeded the development of germ theory which would eventually replace humoral theory by the mid-1800s.

 

(The four humors—black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood—-and their qualities)

Edited August 27, 2021 by guy