Ἔμμηνα Ἄγει: la estimulación de la menstruación en algunos textos tardoantiguos de origen dioscorideo

Abstract

During Late Antiquity texts from Greco-Roman medicine was copied and collected. The study of these writings, and especially of those focused on materia medica, may reveal information about the transmission of the original works and the doctrinal tradition concerning the herbal remedies they contain. In this way, a philological analysis of such texts can provide us not only with information about linguistic issues but also about the properties of several plants. This paper deals with two dioscoridean writings from Late Antiquity, Liber medicinae ex herbis femininis and Dioscorides Longobardus, with the aim of gathering information about the most common uses of plants known as emmenagogues (i. e. which stimulate menstrual flow) and studying some aspects about the doctrinal tradition and the terminology of these texts.

Keywords

• emmenagogues
• doctrinal tradition
• Latin Dioscorides
• Liber medicinae ex herbis femininis
• Dioscorides Longobardus