
Dr Laurence Totelin
Reader in Ancient History
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- totelinlm@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5631
- 4.03, John Percival Building
- Media commentator
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I am a historian of Greek and Roman Science, Technology and Medicine. I focus on the history of pharmacology and botany. My work is influenced by gender theory, and I have a particular interest in gynaecological treatments, aphrodisiacs, and the properties of milk (especially breast-milk).
I have a background in Classics/Ancient History (BA); History and Philosophy of Science (MPhil); and History of Medicine (PhD). I have published both on the history of ancient pharmacology (in particular on gynaecological pharmacology) and the history of botany. I am currently interested in the ancient history of milk, with a focus on its symbolism in ancient cultures. My approach to research is cross-disciplinary and I enjoy collaborating with people from various disciplines. I am an experienced blogger, writing posts for the Recipes Project, my own blog Concocting History, and guest posts on other blogs. I was involved in the design of the FutureLearn MOOC Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World.
Biography
Education and qualifications
- 2002–2005 PhD, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
- 2001–2002 MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
- 2000–2001 Teaching degree in History and Classical languages, Free University of Brussels
- 1996–2000 BA in Ancient History, Free University of Brussels
Career overview
- 2015–present Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
- 2009–2015 Lecturer in Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
- 2006–2009 Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, and bye-fellow at Newnham College. I combined my postdoctoral research with teaching at various UK institutions (Cambridge, UCL, Imperial College, and Reading)
Honours and awards
- ISSF Cardiff Wellcome Trust Grant for ‘Ancient-biotics, re-evaluating traditional medicines for future antibacterial therapies’, collaborative project led by Professor Les Baillie (Pharmacy), 2016
- Wellcome Trust small grant to organise the conference 'Bodily Fluids/Fluid Bodies in Greek and Roman Antiquity', 2016
- Classical Association grant to organise the conference 'Bodily Fluids/Fluid Bodies in Greek and Roman Antiquity', 2016
- ICS grant to organise the conference 'Bodily Fluids/Fluid Bodies in Greek and Roman Antiquity', 2016
- ISSF Cardiff Wellcome Trust Grant for ‘Nain, Mam and Me: infant feeding in Wales, social history and modern practices’, collaborative project with Dr Julia Sanders (consultant midwife) and Ms Heather Trickey (DECIPHer). Smaller grants were awarded to this project by the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff and Cardiff Engagement Team, 2015
- Cardiff University Research Leave Grant, 2014-2015
- Wellcome Trust Grant to organise the ‘Approaches to Ancient Medicine’ conference 2012 (Cardiff University), 2012
- Classical Association grant to organise ‘Approaches to Ancient Medicine’ conference 2012 (Cardiff University), 2012
- Classical Association grant for ‘Approaches to Ancient Medicine’ conference 2010 (Cardiff University), 2010
- Wellcome Trust Grant to organise ‘Approaches to Ancient Medicine’ conference 2010 (Cardiff University), 2010
- Wellcome Trust Grant to organise panel entitled ‘History of ancient science and medicine vs economic history’ at the Classical Association Conference 2010 (Cardiff University), 2010
- Wellcome Trust Grant to organise panel on Ancient Medicine at the Classical Association Conference 2007 (University of Birmingham), 2007
- Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 2006-2009
- Wellcome Trust Centre PhD Studentship, 2002-2009
- Maurice Wiener–Philippe Anspach Studentship, 2001-2002
- Medal of the Free University of Brussels for Excellence, 2000
- Erasmus Studentship, 1998
- Marguerite Bervoets Prize for the best first-year result in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Free University of Brussels, 1997
Professional memberships
- Member of the Classical Association
- Member of the British Society for the History of Science
- Member of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy
Academic positions
- 2009-2015 Lecturer in Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
- 2006-2009 Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
- 2006-2009 Bye-fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge
- 2006-2009 Teaching fellow, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University
- 2006-2009 Supervisor, Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University
- 2006-2007 Teaching fellow, Department of Classics, University of Reading
- 2005-2006 Teaching fellow, London Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College, London
- 2005-2006 Teaching fellow, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London
- 2003-2006 Supervisor, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University
Speaking engagements
2018
- 'Teaching trees - tree teaching: the ancient art of grafting', Society for Classical Studies Annual Meeting 2018
2017
- 'Aelian's fabulous trees', Conference: Greek biological literature in teh imperial period: genres, functions, problems, University of Marburg, Germany
- 'A woman in flux: fluidity and "bursting out" in Hippocratic gynaecology', Conference: Ancient holisms, Institute of Classical Studies
- 'A little old lady told me: appropriation of weak actors' knowledge in Graeco-Roman botany and pharmacology', Conference: Weak knowledge: forms, functions and dynamics, University of Frankfurt
- 'Faithful marriages and wild unions: Palladius' De insitione', Conference: Hortus inclusus: expanding boundaries of space and time, British School at Rome
- ‘Hard Graft: stories of plant propagation from the Greek and Roman worlds’, Botanic Garden of Wales
- 'Climbing up the ladder: the ladder as medical machine in classical antiquity', Medical machines in antiquity workshop, University of Glasgow
- 'Breastmilk: a healing and poisonous substance in late antiquity', Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science, London
2016
- 'The poor man's bees', The London Renaissance Seminar: In search of early modern honey
- 'A sea of synonyms: naming plants in Galen's pharmacological texts', Conference: Parlare la medicine, University of Parma, Italy
- 'Anti-abortion and abortion laws: some historical insights', Abortion Rights Cardiff
- 'Mother and nurse plants in Latin literature', Classical Association 2016, University of Edinburgh
- 'Crying over spilt milk: analogies between tears and milk in ancient literature’, Departmental Seminar, Swansea Department of History and Classics
2015
- ‘Concocting History and other blogging adventures’, Work in Progress Seminar, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
- ‘The she-wolf at the Eisteddfod’, Conference: UWICAH, Cardiff University
- ‘What will the neighbours say? Middle-distance drug trade in the ancient world’, Conference: Trade, Discovery and Influences in the History of Herbal Medicine, the Herbal History Research Network, Wellcome Trust
- 'Baah baah black Sheep, have you any Wool: wool in ancient medicine’, Conference: Technologies of Daily Life in Ancient Greece, Swansea University
- ‘Castoreum or the testicle of the Istrian beaver: ingredient presentation strategies in ancient recipes’, Conference: Towards a history of epistemic genres: the textbook, the commentary, the case and the recipe in the making of medical knowledge,Max-Plack Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
- ‘Easy remedies – difficult texts: the pseudo-Galenic Euporista’, Conference: Pseudo-Galenic texts and the formation of the Galenic Corpus,Warburg Institute
- ‘Crying over spilt milk: analogies between tears and milk in ancient literature’, Classical Association 2015, University of Bristol
- ‘Back to Cleopatra’s kitchen: what I have learnt experimenting with ancient medical and cosmetic recipes’, Remaking History: using re-enactment in historical research and engagement, Symposium, Art Workers Guild, London
Selected earlier speaking engagements
- June 2014: ‘Etouffement et empoisonnement au lait dans le monde Gréco-Romain’, Journée d’étude internationale, les ambiguïtés du lait, Université de Fribourg
- April 2014: ‘Ethnic and hybrid vegetables: reading ancient botanical texts with a historian’s eye,’ Departmental Seminar, Classics, Princeton University
- December 2013: ‘The Third Way: Galen’s influence on gynaecological pharmacology in late antiquity and early Byzantium’, Conference on Late Antique – Early Byzantine Pharmacology and its Reception in the Talmud Tradition, Humboldt University
- October 2013: ‘Selling pharmaka – buying health: pharmacology, wealth and branding in the ancient world’, Ancient Drugs: Pharmacology across the Ancient World, Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Committees and reviewing
- 2015-present Erasmus/Study Abroad coordinator, History
- 2015-present Postgraduate coordinator, Ancient History
- 2015-2016 Chair of Equality and Diversity Committee, School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- 2015-2016 Member of the School Board, School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- 2013-2014 Senior Tutor, Ancient History Department
- 2010-2015 Chair of the Cardiff and District Classical Association Branch
- 2010-2013 Member of the Equality and Diversity Committee
- 2010-2012 Ancient History Part One Coordinator
- 2009-2012 Third-Year Dissertation and Second-Year Independent Study Coordinator, Ancient History Department
- 2009-2012 Exams Convener, Ancient History Department
Publications
2020
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2020. A woman in flux: fluidity in Hippocratic gynaecology. In: Thumiger, C. ed. Holism in ancient medicine and its reception. Leiden: Brill, pp. 220-236., (10.1163/9789004443143_011)
- Totelin, L. 2020. A little old lady told me: appropriation of weak actors' knowledge in Graeco-Roman pharmacology. In: Epple, M., Imhausen, A. and Muller, F. eds. Weak Knowledge: Forms, Functions, and Dynamics. Campus Verlag, pp. 109-124.
- Totelin, L. 2020. Healing correspondence: letters and remedy exchange in the Graeco-Roman world. In: Totelin, L. and Flemming, R. eds. Medicine and Markets in the Graeco-Roman World and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Vivian Nutton. Classical Press of Wales, pp. 17-36.
- Totelin, L. and Flemming, R. eds. 2020. Medicine and markets in the Graeco-Roman world and beyond: Essays in honour of Vivian Nutton. Classical Press of Wales.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2020. What's a plant?. In: Taub, L. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 141-159., (10.1017/9781316136096.008)
- Totelin, L. 2020. Do no harm: Phanostrate's midwifery practice. Technai, An International Journal for Ancient Science and Technology 11, pp. 129-143.
- Totelin, L. M. V. and Nutton, V. eds. 2020. Ancient medicine, behind and beyond Hippocrates: essays in honour of Elizabeth Craik. Pisa: Fabrizio Serra.
2019
- Totelin, L. 2019. The map of knowledge: how classical ideas were lost and found: a history in seven cities, by Violet Moller [Book Review]. BBC History Magazine, pp. 73.
- Totelin, L. 2019. A sea of synonyms: naming plants in ancient pharmacological texts. In: Reggiani, N. and Bertonazzi, F. eds. Parlare la medicina: fra lingue e culture, nello spazio e nel tempo. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Universita di Parma, 5-7 Settembre 2016. Le Monnier Universita, pp. 195-206.
- Totelin, L. 2019. Hystérie. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 326-327.
- Totelin, L. 2019. Puberté. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 529-531.
- Totelin, L. 2019. Gynécologie. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 296-298.
- Totelin, L. 2019. Utérus. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 635-636.
- Totelin, L. 2019. Sweet honey and hare's brains: Ancient pharmacology for children's diseases. In: Lambrugo, C. ed. Una favola breve: Archeologia e antropologia per la storia del''infanzia. Edizioni All'Insegna del Giglio, pp. 37-42.
2018
- Totelin, L. 2018. Botany. In: Jones, A. and Taub, L. eds. The Cambridge history of science. Volume 1. Ancient Science. Cambridge University Press, pp. 238-247.
- Totelin, L. 2018. Animal and plant generation in classical antiquity. In: Hopwood, N., Flemming, R. and Kassell, L. eds. Reproduction: Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 53-66.
- Totelin, L. 2018. Therapeutics. In: Pormann, P. E. ed. The Cambirdge Companion to Hippocrates. Cambridge Companions to Philosophy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 200-216.
- Totelin, L. 2018. Gone with the wind: laughter and the audience of the Hippocratic treatises. In: Bouras-Vallianatos, P. and Xenophontos, S. eds. Greek medical literature and its readers: From Hippocrates to Islam and Byzantium. Routledge, pp. 30-47.
- Totelin, L. 2018. Recréer les recettes de Galien. In: Verbanck-Pirard, A., Boudon-Millot, V. and Gourevitch, D. eds. Au temps de Galien: Un médecin grec dans l'empire Romain. Musée Royal de Mariemont, pp. 214-217.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2018. Tastes in ancient botany, medicine and science. In: Rudolph, K. C. ed. Taste and the Ancient Senses. London: Routledge, pp. 60-71.
2017
- Totelin, L. 2017. The third way. In: Lemhaus, L. and Martelli, M. eds. Collecting Recipes: Byzantine and Jewish Pharmacology in Dialogue. Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 103-122.
- Totelin, L. 2017. From techne to kakotechnia: Use and abuse of ancient cosmetic texts. In: Formisano, M. and van der Eijk, P. eds. Knowledge, Text and Practice in Ancient Technical Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 138-162.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2017. Milk: the symbolism & ambivalence of a substance. Viewpoint: the Magazine of the British Society for the History of Science 112, pp. 6-7.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2017. Whose fault is it anyway? Plant infertility in antiquity. In: Davies, G. and Loughran, T. eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History: Approaches, Contexts and Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 57-75.
- Trickey, H., Totelin, L. M. V. and Sanders, J. 2017. Nain, Mam and Me: Historical artefacts as prompts for reminiscence, reflection and conversation about feeding babies. A qualitative development study. Research for All 1(1), pp. 64-83. (10.18546/RFA.01.1.06)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2017. Call the (Roman) midwife. BBC History Magazine Collec, pp. 40-43.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2017. Snakes and ladders: wonder cures of the ancient world. BBC History Magazine Collec, pp. 22-25.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2017. Technology in the ancient world. BBC History Magazine: The story of science & technology., pp. 16-19.
- Totelin, L. 2017. Motherhood in flux: Greek nymphs, breastfeeding, and ancient gynaecology. In: Guignard, F. P., Pedrucci, G. and Scapini, M. eds. Maternita e politeismi. Motherhood(s) and polytheisms. Patron Editore, pp. 359-370.
2016
- Totelin, L. 2016. Pharmakopolai: a re-evaluation of the sources. In: Harris, W. V. ed. Popular Medicine in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Explorations. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition Brill, pp. 65-85., (10.1163/9789004326040_003)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. Ido Israelowich. Patients and healers in the High Roman Empire [Book Review]. Isis 107(3), pp. 620-621. (10.1086/688242)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. Breastfeeding. In: Bagnall, R. S. et al. eds. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley, pp. 1-2., (10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30237)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. Technologies of knowledge: pharmacology, botany, and medical recipes. Oxford Handbooks Online (10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935390.013.94)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. L’Expressivité du lexique médical en Grèce et à Rome: Hommages à Françoise Skoda ed. by Isabelle Boehm and Nathalie Rousseau [Book Review]. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 90(1), pp. 141-142.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. Homo Patiens, Approaches to the patient in the Ancient World, edited by Georgia Petridou and Chiara Thumiger [Book Review]. Early Science and Medicine 21(6), pp. 575-577. (10.1163/15733823-00216p05)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. Hippocratic and Aristophanic recipes: a comparative study. In: Dean-Jones, L. and Rosen, R. eds. Ancient Concepts of the Hippocratic. Papers presented at the XIIIth Hippocrates Colloquium, Austin, Texas, 11-13 August, 2008. Leiden: Brill, pp. 292-301.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2016. The world in a pill: local specialties and global remedies in the Graeco-Roman world. In: Futo Kennedy, R. and Jones-Lewis, M. eds. The Routledge Handbook of Identity and the Environment in the Classical and Medieval World. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 151-170.
- Trickey, H., Totelin, L. M. V. and Sanders, J. 2016. Mamgu, mam and me: feeding babies in Wales - now and then. Exhibition for the general public at Cardiff Story Museum. [Exhibition]. Cardiff Story Musuem, 5-6 November 2016.
2015
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2015. Stephen M. Oberhelman (ed.), Dreams, healing and medicine in Greece: from antiquity to the present [Book Review]. Social History of Medicine 28(4), pp. 930-931. (10.1093/shm/hkv080)
- Trickey, H., Totelin, L. M. V. and Sanders, J. 2015. Nain and Mam and me: Historical artefacts, social history and opening the conversation about infant feeding in Wales. [Blog]. Fferm Mathrafal, Meifod, Wales, 1-8 August 2015.
- Hardy, G. and Totelin, L. 2015. Ancient botany. Science of Antiquity. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9780203458358)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2015. When foods become remedies in ancient Greece: the curious case of garlic and other substances. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 167, pp. 30-37. (10.1016/j.jep.2014.08.018)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2015. Ancient breast milk for modern debates. Breastfeeding matters: La Leche League GB mother-to-mother support for breastfeeding(209), pp. 12-15.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2015. L'odeur des autres: femme et odeur - l'intersection de la pratique Hippocratique et de la pratique religieuse. In: Jouanna, J. and Zinc, M. eds. Hippocrate et les hippocratismes : médecine, religion, société. Academies des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, pp. 83-98.
- Trickey, H., Sanders, J. and Totelin, L. M. V. 2015. Nain and Mam and Me: historical artefacts, social history and opening the conversation about infant feeding in Wales. NCT Perspective 29, pp. 33-34.
2014
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. Smell as sign and cure in ancient medicine. In: Bradley, M. ed. Smell and the Ancient Senses. The Senses in Antiquity London: Routledge, pp. 17-29.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. Sweet as honey. [Online]. The Recipes Project. Available at: http://recipes.hypotheses.org/4099
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. Review: Anne Van Arsdall and Timothy Graham (eds), herbs and healers from the ancient Mediterranean through the medieval West: essays in honor of John M. Riddle. Social History of Medicine 27(1), pp. 165-166. (10.1093/shm/hkt078)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. Suzanne Amigues, Théophraste. Les causes des phénomènes végétaux. Tome I. Livres I et II [Book Review]. Aestimatio 11, pp. 168-170.
- Baker, P., King, H. and Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. Teaching ancient medicine: the issues of abortion. In: Rabinowitz, N. S. and McHardy, F. eds. From Abortion to Pederasty: Addressing Difficult Topics in the Classics Classroom. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press, pp. 71-91.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2014. J. Jouanna, Greek medicine from Hippocrates to Galen [Book Review]. Isis 105(1), pp. 206-206. (10.1086/676764)
2013
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2013. Richard A. Gabriel, Man and wound in the Ancient World: A history of miltary medicine from Sumer to the Fall of Constantinople [Book Review]. Isis 104(1), pp. 153-154. (10.1086/670872)
- Muir, S. and Totelin, L. M. V. 2013. Medicine & disease. In: Tulloch, J. H. ed. A Cultural History of Women in Antiquity., Vol. 1. Oxford: Berg, pp. 81-104.
2012
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2012. And to end on a poetic note: Galen’s authorial strategies in the pharmacological books. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 43(2), pp. 307-315. (10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.12.019)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2012. Botanizing rulers and their herbal subjects: Plants and political power in Greek and Roman literature. Phoenix LXVI(1-2), pp. 122-144.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2012. Carian medicine (C.) nissen entre Asclépios et Hippocrate. étude des cultes guérisseurs et des médecins en Carie.(Kernos supplément 22.) pp. 397, ills, maps. liège: centre international d'étude de la religion Grecque antique, 2009. paper €40. ISBN: 978-2-9600717-5-7 [Review]. The Classical Review 62(1), pp. 61-62. (10.1017/S0009840X11002903)
2011
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2011. B. Holmes, The symptom and the subject: the emergence of the physical body in Ancient Greece [Book Review]. Isis 102(3), pp. 551-552. (10.1086/663030)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2011. Old recipes, new practice? The Latin adaptations of the Hippocratic 'Gynaecological Treatises'. Social History of Medicine 24(1), pp. 74-91. (10.1093/shm/hkq103)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2011. J. Scarborough, Pharmacy and Drug Lore in Antiquity: Greece, Rome, Byzantium [Book Review]. Aestimatio 8, pp. 116-120.
2010
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. C. Gill, T. Whitmarsh and J. Wilkins (eds.), Galen and the World of Knowledge [Book Review]. British Journal of the History of Science 43(3), pp. 478-479. (10.1017/S0007087410001032)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. A recipe for a headache: translating and interpreting ancient Greek and Roman remedies. In: Imhausen, A. and Pommerening, T. eds. Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Greece: Zur Übersetzbarkeit von Wissenschaftssprachen des Altertums. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde Vol. 286. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 219-237.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. Bronwen L Wickkiser, Asklepios, medicine, and the politics of healing in fifth-century Greece: between craft and cult, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp xiii, 178, £29.00, $55.00 (hardback 987-0-8018-8978-3) [Review]. Medical History 54(2), pp. 271-272.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. Thomas Rütten, Geschichten vom Hippokratischen Eid, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2008, CD-ROM €20.00 (978-3-447-05679-3) [Review]. Medical History 54(1), pp. 135-136. (10.1017/S0025727300004518)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. A. Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates Rome's Deadliest Enemy [Book Review]. Isis 101(3), pp. 639-639. (10.1086/657189)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2010. Teaching the hippocratic gynaecological recipes?. In: Horstmanshoff, M. and Tilburg, C. R. v. eds. Hippocrates and Medical Education: Selected Papers Presented at the XIIth International Hippocrates Colloquium, Universiteit Leiden, 24-26 August 2005. Studies in Ancient Medicine Vol. 35. Leiden: Brill, pp. 287-300.
2009
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2009. Galen's use of multiple manuscript copies in his pharmacological treatises. In: Doody, A. and Taub, L. eds. Authorial Choice, Authorial Voice: Greco-Roman Scientific and Medical Writing.. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp. 81-92.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2009. Hippocratic recipes: Oral and written transmission of pharmacological knowledge in fifth- and fourth-century Greece. Studies in Ancient Medicine Vol. 34. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2009. Hospitals and Healing from antiquity to the later middle ages [Review]. Social History of Medicine 22(1), pp. 195-197.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2009. Birth and reproduction. In: Gargarin, M. ed. Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2009. Gynecology. In: Gargarin, M. ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2008
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2008. Parfums et huiles parfumées en médecine. In: Verbanck-Piérard, A., Massar, N. and Frère, D. eds. Parfums de l'Antiquité: La rose et l'encens en Méditerranée. Morlanwelz-Mariemont: Musée Royal de Mariemont, pp. 227-232.
2007
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2007. (R.) Mayhew The female in Aristotle's Biology: reason or rationalization. Pp. xii+ 136. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004 [Book Review]. The Classical Review 57(1), pp. 49-50. (10.1017/S0009840X06003118)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2007. Sex and vegetables in the Hippocratic gynaecological treatises. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38(3), pp. 531-540. (10.1016/j.shpsc.2007.06.001)
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2007. Perfume. In: Cancik, H. et al. eds. Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, pp. 753-754.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2007. Hippokratic Corpus, nosological works. In: Keyser, P. T. and Irby-Massie, G. L. eds. The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: the Greek Tradition and its many Heirs. London: Routledge, pp. 413-414.
2006
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2006. S. Amigues, Theophraste. Recherches sur les Plantes. Tome V. [Book Review]. Bryn Mawr Classical Review, article number: 2006.07.24.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2006. Philip J van der Eijk (ed.), Hippocrates in context: papers read at the XIth international Hippocrates colloquium, University of Newcastle upon Tyne 27–31 August 2002, studies in ancient medicine, vol. 31, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2005, pp xvi, 521, €149.00, US$199.00(hardback 90-04-14430-7) [Review]. Medical History 50(4), pp. 552-553. (10.1017/S0025727300010474)
2004
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2004. Review: Maria Michela Sassi, The science of man in Ancient Greece. Translated by Paul Tucker. With a Foreword by Sir Geoffrey Lloyd. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001 [Book Review]. The British Journal for the History of Science 37(4), pp. 467-468.
- Totelin, L. M. V. 2004. Mithradates’ antidote: A pharmacological ghost. Early Science and Medicine 9(1), pp. 1-19. (10.1163/1573382041153179)
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Introduction to Ancient Greek History - 20 credits (HS3101)
- Introduction to Roman History - 20 credits (HS3102)
- Investigating the Ancient World - 20 credits (HS3103)
- The Ancient World in 20 Objects - 20 credits (HS3104)
- Gods and the Polis - 10 credits (HS3330)
- Gender and Sexuality - 20 credits (HS3362)
- Science and Technology in the Graeco-Roman World - 10 credits (HS3373)
- Greek and Roman Medicine - 20 credits (HS3376)
- Pots, Poems and Pictures: using Evidence for Ancient History - 20 credits (HS4336)
Postgraduate
- Themes and Approaches in Ancient History - 20 credits (HST002)
- Gender, Sexuality and Society in Ancient Greece and Rome - 20 credits (HST018)
- Special Topic: Medicine and Society in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages - 20 credits (HST039)
- Postgraduate Greek II - 20 credits (HST025)
Research supervision
I welcome PhD proposals relating to Greek and Roman medicine, science and technology. In particular I am interested in topics relating to pharmacology, botany and gardening, especially if they have a gender element. I would also be interested in topics relating to the reception of ancient botany and pharmacology, especially in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Ancient botany
In collaboration with the botanist Gavin Hardy, I have published a book entitled Ancient Botany, Routledge 2015. Our hope was for this book to promote further research in the field. Personally, I will look further in the history and symbolism of grafting, as well political allusions in ancient texts on plants.
Retail Therapy: Selling pharmaka, buying health in the Greek and Roman World
Ancient pharmacological recipes may appear to be a very dry topic of research, but they are a mine of information for any ancient historian interested in social or economic history. I have published a book on the earliest recipes preserved in Greek, the recipes of the Hippocratic Corpus (Hippocratic Recipes: Oral and Written Transmission of Pharmacological Knowledge in Fifth- and Fourth-Century Greece, 2009). This study brought together my interests in the history of Greek medicine, social, cultural and economic history, studies of ancient literacy, and gender studies. I am currently working on a book examining the economic aspects of ancient pharmacology. I discuss how those involved in the Greek and Roman pharmacological 'business' promoted their remedies and sold them at the highest cost.
Got Milk? The symbolism of milk in antiquity and beyond
My newest project is on milk in the ancient world. I am interested in the symbolic significance of milk – all milks, be they human, animal or vegetable – in Greek and Roman culture. Together with Dr Victoria Leonard, I am organising a conference 'Bodily Fluids, Fluid Bodies' in which milk, alongside other bodily fluids, will be examined. I am also the recipient, with Ms Heather Trickey (SOCSI) and Dr Julia Sanders (HCARE) of an ISSF Wellcome grant for a project entitled 'Nain, Mam and Me: infant feeding in Wales, social history and modern practices'. Our aim is to use historical artefacts to promote discussions on infant feeding in Wales.