Archaeobotanical fieldwork in Villa Adriana (Tivoli, Italy, 2004)
Alain Touwaide
Historian of Sciences
Phone: 202-633-0967
Fax: 202-786-2563
E-mail Address: TOUWAIDA@SI.EDU
Postal Address
(Mail and Packages):
MRC-166/Botany
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
Courier Address:
National Museum of Natural History
West Loading Dock
10th and Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20560-0166
Areas of Specialty
My research deals with the history of botany, particularly the medicinal plants, in the cultures that flourished around the Mediterranean Sea from Antiquity to the 17th century A.D.: Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Middle Ages, the Arabic World, and the Renaissance. I study ancient texts in their original language (Greek, Latin, Arabic), prepare critical editions of major works (with English translation and scientific analysis), search in libraries all across the world for unknown or overlooked texts in ancient manuscript books, and prepare reference works on ancient botany, therapeutics, and plant representations (paper and internet publications). My approach is trans-disciplinary; not only philological and historical, but also botanical and medical, ethnological and anthropological, constituting the historical ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology. My major research programs include A Flora of Classical Antiquity, Medicinal Plants of Antiquity, and World Catalogue of Greek Medical Manuscripts. To complete my research I have a constantly growing library collection specifically devoted to the topic and accessible to scholars. It includes reference works, monographs, journals, offprints, and pamphlets, black and white microfilms of ancient manuscripts, and color slides of plant representations from manuscripts, incunabula and 16th century printed books, plus paper files (documentation), computer data bases, and other instrumenta sudiorum, with a particular emphasis on primary sources.
Recent Publications - (All Publications)
Touwaide, A. 2010. Pharmacology. Pp. 239-241 in Fantham, E. and Gagarin, M. (eds.). Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Touwaide, A. 2010. Botany. Pp. 20-22 in Fantham, E. and Gagarin, M. (eds.). Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Touwaide, A. 2010. Aphrodisiacs. Pp. 125-127 in Fantham, E. and Gagarin, M. (eds.). Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Byzantine Medical Manuscripts. Towards a New Catalogue, with a Specimen for an Annotated Checklist of Manuscripts Based on an Index of Diel's Catalogue. Byzantion 79: 453-595.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Translation and Transliteration of Plant Names in Hunayn b. Ishaq and Istifan b. Basil's Arabic Version of Dioscorides, De materia medica. Al-Qantara - Revista de Estudios Arabes XXX(2): 557-580.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Introduction to the Special Fascicle "Indigenous vs. Foreign: Early-Modern Materia Medica in Comparative Perspective". Early Science and Medicine 14(6): 677-679.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Fluid Picture-Making across Borders Genres, Media. Botanical Illustration from Byzantium to Baghdad, Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries. Pp. 159-163 in Anderson, J. (ed.). Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration, and Convergence. The Proceedings of the 32nd International Congress in the History of Art (Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art, CIHA), The University of Melbourne, 13-18 January 2008. Carlton, Australia: Miegunyah Press.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Introduction. Pp. 11-12 in Tacuinum Sanitatis. Barcelona: M. Moleiro.
Touwaide, A. 2009. A Way of Life. Pp. 13-30 in Tacuinum Sanitatis. Barcelona: M. Moleiro.
Touwaide, A. 2009. A New Format. Pp. 31-52 in Tacuinum Sanitatis. Barcelona: M. Moleiro.
Touwaide, A. 2009. Health, disease and therapeutics. Pp. 53-74 in Tacuinum Sanitatis. Barcelona: M. Moleiro.
Pollio, A., De Natale, A., Appetiti, E., Aliotta, G. and Touwaide, A. 2008. Continuity and change in the Mediterranean medical tradition: Ruta spp. (rutaceae) in Hippocratic medicine and present practices. Journal of ethnopharmacology 116: 469-482.
Touwaide, A. 2008. Botany and Humanism in the Renaissance: Background, Interaction, Cotnradictions. Pp. 32-61 in O'Malley, T. and Meyers, A. (eds.). The Art of Natural History: Illustrated Treatises and Botanical Paintings, 1400-1850. Washingotn, DC: National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Touwaide, A. 2008. The Jujube Tree in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Case Study in the Methodology of Textual Archeobotany. Pp. 72-100 in Dendle, P. and Touwaide, A. (eds.). Healtn and Healing from the Medieval Garden. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer.
Touwaide, A. 2008. The Legacy of Classical Antiquity in Byzantium and the West. Pp. 15-28 in Dendle, P. and Touwaide, A. (eds.). Health and Healing from the Medieval Garden. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer.
Touwaide, A. 2008. Statilus {II 4] Crito. Encyclopedia of the Ancient World 13: 797.
Touwaide, A. 2008. Serenus [1] Quinctius S. Sammonicus. Encyclopedia of the Ancient World 13: 311.
Touwaide, A. 2008. Scribonius [II 3] Largus. Encyclopedia of the Ancient World 13: 118.
Touwaide, A. and Dendle, P. 2008. Introduction. Pp. 1-13 in Dendle, P. and Touwaide, A. (eds.). Health and Healing from the Medieval Garden. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer.
Macchia, M., Touwaide, A. and Tomei, P.E. 2007. L'arte di guarire: storia dei rimedi farmacologici a Pisa. Pp. 833-883 in Zampieri, A. and Zampieri, L. (eds.). Alla ricerca dell'arte di guarire. Storia della sanita' a Pisa dal medioevo al 1861. Pisa: Edizioni ETS.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Enfermedad y curacion. Pp. 155-166 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Art and Sciences: Private Gardens and Botany in the Roman Empire. Pp. 3-16 in Conan, M. and Kress, W.J. (eds.). Botanical Progress, Horticultural Innovation and Cultural Changes.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Las ilustraciones del manuscriot de Lucca. Pp. 63-154 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica. Libro de estudios.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Byzantine Hospitals Manuals (Iatrosophia) as a Source for the Study of Therapeutics. Pp. 147-173 in Bowers, B. (ed.). The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice (AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art, volume 3).
Touwaide, A. 2007. Las fuentes de la terapia medieval. Pp. 29-41 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica. Libro de estudios.
Touwaide, A. 2007. L'illustrazione botanica engli erbari a stampa del XV e XVI secoloi. Il programma PLANT e il suo contributo all'analisi delle rappresentazioni di piante. Pp. 111-1116 in Breccia, F.M. and Butto, S. (eds.). Erbe e speziali. I laboratori della salute.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Dioscorides' Encyclopedia of Medicine - De materia medica. P Art and Culture Medicine 14: 26-35.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Palladius. Pp. 393 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Pedanius [1] Dioscorides. Pp. 670-672 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Herbolarium et Materia Medica. Libro de estudios. AyN. 452 pages.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Paulus [5] of Aegina. Pp. 635-636 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Pharmacology. Pp. 373-376 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Oribasius. Pp. 203-205 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of theAncient World.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Conclusion: hacia una nueva historia de la terapia altomedieval. Pp. 421-425 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica. Libro de estudios. Madrid: AyN.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Prefacio. Pp. 9-10 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica. Libro de estudios. Madrid: AyN.
Touwaide, A. 2007. Introduccion: una vision tradicional de la terapia medieval. Pp. 11-14 in Touwaide, A. (ed.). Herbolarium et materia medica. Libro de estudios. Madrid: AyN.
Givens, J.A. and Touwaide, A. 2006. Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1500. Ashgate. 278 pages.
Pardo-de-Santayana, M., Tardo, J., Heinrich, M., Touwaide, A. and Morales, R. 2006. Plants in the Works of Cervantes. Economic Botany 60(2): 159-181.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Botany. Pp. 117-118 in Medieval Islamic Civilization. An Encyclopedia.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Medicina Plinii. Pp. 568-569 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Metrodora. Pp. 836 in Brill'sNew Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Methodists. Pp. 801-802 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. The kidney from Galen to Vesalius - A first approach. Pp. 4-8 in De Santo, N.G., Rutkowski, B., Zdrojewski, Z., George, C.R.P. and Massry, S.G. (eds.). History of Nephrology - Proceedings of the 5th Congress of the International Association for the History of Nephrology.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Medicinal plants. Pp. 558-568 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Malaria. Pp. 195-196 in New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Marcellus [8] Empiricus. Pp. 300-301 in Brill's New Pauly. Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World.
Touwaide, A. 2006. Horticulture. Pp. 328-330 in Medeival Islamic Civilization. An Encyclopedia.
[ TOP ]