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The quest for Homer's moly: exploring the potential of an early ethnobotanical complex.
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- Additional Information
- Source:
Publisher: Biomed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101245794 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1746-4269 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 17464269 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Ethnobiol Ethnomed Subsets: MEDLINE
- Publication Information:
Original Publication: [London] : Biomed Central, [2005]-
- Subject Terms:
- Abstract:
The Homeric plant moly is a mysterious herb mentioned in Book 10 of the Odyssey. In the early 1980s, a pharmacological thesis to identify the plant was put forward for the first time, regarding the snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis L.) as candidate species. The proposal was inspired by the snowdrop's acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-inhibiting properties and its alleged morphological reminiscence to other plants called moly by ancient Greek herbalists. Here, we draw from a compilation of literature from various disciplines, together with an understanding of the Homeric epic as a repository of information based on oral traditions, to (i) show that the assimilation of Homer's moly to Galanthus nivalis is, at the very least, questionable and (ii) frame and support a new synthesis of the pharmacological thesis. We suggest that the uncertainty that revolves around the identity of Homer's moly can be tied to an unnamed phylogenetic clade of closely related Mediterranean native species with AChE-inhibiting properties. Further, we speculate that Homer's moly might represent an early record of an ethnobotanical complex, a sort of cultural taxon resulting from the cognitive crossbreeding of closely related taxonomic species that could have been interchangeably used due to their rough resemblance and common AChE-inhibiting properties. Such cultural taxon would have referred to the phytonym moly by the centuries-old oral traditions that ultimately crystallized in the poem. We also venture that sea daffodils (Pancratium spp.) could have greatly contributed to shaping the botanical archetype in the myth as we know it today.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Comments:
Erratum in: J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2024 Feb 8;20(1):14. doi: 10.1186/s13002-024-00658-z. (PMID: 38331846)
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- Grant Information:
PID2022-138776NA-I00 Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities; ES2018/EMT-4338 REMEDINALTE
- Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: AChE-inhibiting properties; Amaryllidoideae; Ethnobotanical complex; Homer’s moly; Oral traditions; Phylogeny
- Accession Number:
EC 3.1.1.7 (Acetylcholinesterase)
- Publication Date:
Date Created: 20240120 Date Completed: 20240122 Latest Revision: 20241023
- Publication Date:
20241023
- Accession Number:
PMC10799392
- Accession Number:
10.1186/s13002-024-00650-7
- Accession Number:
38245738
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