Indian flora as described by Cosmas Indicopleustes. A cross-analysis with Greek and Indian sources

Name: Indian flora as described by Cosmas Indicopleustes. A cross-analysis with Greek and Indian sources
Brand: Vita e Pensiero
Price: 6.00 EUR
Availability: OnlineOnly

digital

Articolo

Rivista

AEVUM

Fascicolo

AEVUM - 2024 - 1

Titolo

Indian flora as described by Cosmas Indicopleustes. A cross-analysis with Greek and Indian sources

Autori

Giulia Freni, Alessandro Giudice

Editore

Vita e Pensiero

Formato

Articolo |

Pdf

Pagine

Online da

05-2024

Doi

10.26350/000193_000196

Issn

0001-9593 (stampa) | 1827-787X (digitale)

€ 6,00

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Descrizione

At the beginning of the sixth century CE, the Egyptian monk Cosmas Indicopleustes accomplished a journey to the principal ports of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. When he returned to Egypt, he wrote an account of the places he visited, namely the Topographia Christiana. In its eleventh book, some Indian plants and spices are described (e.g., Gr. πίπερ corresponding to Skt. pippalī) or mentioned (e.g., Gr. τζανδάνα corresponding to Skt. candana). The present contribution intends to examine these accounts of vegetable species (Cosmas Indic. XI, 10; XI, 11; XI, 15) from a double perspective: on the one side, it analyses the Greek traditions on plants, providing an overview of the species found in Cosmas’ work; on the other, it compares the pieces of information singled out by Cosmas with Indian sources to verify the reliability of the Topographia Christiana and, likewise, its dependence on earlier Greek botanical and medical traditions.