Professor Laurence Totelin
(she/her)

FRHistS FLS

Professor of Ancient History

School of History, Archaeology and Religion

: Media commentator
: Available for postgraduate supervision

I am a historian of Greek and Roman Science, Technology, and Medicine. I have published extensively on the history of ancient pharmacology, gynaecology, botany, and the body.

I have a background in Classics/Ancient History (BA, Free University of Brussels); History and Philosophy of Science (MPhil, Cambridge); and History of Medicine (PhD, UCL). I joined Cardiff University in 2009 after a Wellcome postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge.

I am currently carrying out research on the history of bodily fluids, and in particular breastmilk; the history of pharmacological retail; the history of plant grafting; and the history of ancient cosmetics and sexual aids, such as aphrodisiacs.

I also enjoy sharing my research through the medium of blogging. I was one of the co-editors of the Recipe Project. and was involved in the design of the FutureLearn MOOC Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World.

I am currently the administrator of the Women's Classical Committee, UK. I am the review co-editor for the Journal of Hellenic Studies.

Date
Type

2024

Totelin, L. 2024. A thorn in the flesh: roses, rose gardens, and health in Greek and Roman antiquity. Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes 44(2-3), pp. 105-117. (10.1080/14601176.2024.2367927)
Totelin, L. 2024. Review of John G. Fitch, On Simples, attributed to Dioscorides. Studies in ancient medicine, 57. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Bryn Mawr Classical Review

2023

Totelin, L. 2023. Orchids, lizards, and lettuce: aphrodisiacs and technosomata. In: Gerolemou, M. and Chesi, G. M. eds. Body Technologies in the Greco-Roman World: Technosôma, Gender and Sex. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 221-239.
Totelin, L. 2023. Weaning and lactation cessation in late antiquity and the early byzantine period. In: Constantinou, S. and Skouroumouni-Stavrinou, A. eds. Breastfeeding and mothering in antiquity and early Byzantium. London: Routledge, pp. 130-151., (10.4324/9781003265658-7)
Totelin, L. 2023. Waxing lyrical: Ancient medical authors on wax and wax tablets. Deltos 33, pp. 13-18.
Totelin, L. 2023. Before “breast is best”. Argo, A Hellenic Review 19, pp. 18-19.
Totelin, L. and Rieder, P. 2023. Purger, fortifier: remèdes lactés (d’Hippocrate à Pasteur). In: Foehr-Janssens, Y. and Solfaroli Camillocci, D. eds. Allaiter: De l’Antiquité à nos jours. Histoire pratiques d'une culture en Europe. Brepols, pp. 669-677.

2022

Totelin, L. 2022. [Book Review] (D.) Lavalle Norman and (A.) Petkas (eds) Hypatia of Alexandria. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 142, pp. 460-461. (10.1017/S0075426922001057)
Totelin, L. 2022. The body in antiquity. - (F.) Gherchanoc, (S.) Wyler (edd.) Corps en morceaux. Démembrer et recomposer les corps dans l'Antiquité classique. [Book review]. Classical Review 72(2), pp. 569-572. (10.1017/S0009840X22000439)
Totelin, L. 2022. Aelian’s fabulous trees. In: De Brasi, D. and Fronterotta, F. eds. Poikile Physis: Biological Literature in Greek during the Roman Empire: Genres, Scopes, and Problems. Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures De Gruyter, pp. 115-128., (10.1515/9783110796858-007)
Totelin, L. 2022. Paula S. De Vos, Compound remedies: Galenic pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain [Book Review]. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 77(3), pp. 372-374. (10.1093/jhmas/jrac019)
Totelin, L. and King, H. 2022. Body. In: Whitmarsh, T. ed. Oxford Classical Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press, pp. online., (10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1120)
Totelin, L. 2022. Trade and exploration. In: Giesecke, A. and Mabberley, D. eds. A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity., Vol. 1. A Cultural History of Plants London: Bloomsbury, pp. 67-83.

2021

Totelin, L. 2021. Hippocratic corpus. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8525)
Totelin, L. 2021. Breastmilk in the cave and on the arena: early Christian stories of lactation in context. In: Bradley, M., Leonard, V. and Totelin, L. eds. Bodily Fluids in Antiquity. Routledge, pp. 240-255.
Bradley, M., Leonard, V. and Totelin, L. 2021. Introduction. In: Bradley, M., Leonard, V. and Totelin, L. eds. Bodily Fluids in Antiquity. London: Routledge, pp. 1-14.
Bradley, M., Leonard, V. and Totelin, L. eds. 2021. Bodily fluids in antiquity. London: Routledge.
Totelin, L. ed. 2021. A cultural history of medicine in antiquity. The Cultural Histories Series. London: Bloomsbury.
Totelin, L. 2021. Easy remedies – difficult texts: the Pseudo-Galenic Euporista. In: Petit, C., Swain, S. and Fischer, K. eds. PseudoGalenica: The Formation of the Galenic Corpus from Antiquity to the Renaissance. London: The Warburg Institute, pp. 31-45.

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. Do no harm: Phanostrate's midwifery practice. Technai, An International Journal for Ancient Science and Technology 11, pp. 129-143. (10.19272/202010501010)
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. 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. M. V. 2019. Review of the pharmakon: concept figure, image of transgression, poetic practice ed. by Hermann Herlinghaus. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 93(3), pp. 453-454. (10.1353/bhm.2019.0061)
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. 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.
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. Puberté. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 529-531.
Totelin, L. 2019. Hystérie. In: Bodiou, L. and Mehl, V. eds. Dictionnaire du corps dans l'Antiquité. Presses universitaires de Rennes, pp. 326-327.

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. Review of A. Ferraces Rodriguez, Curae quae ex hominibus atque animalibus fiunt. Estudio y edición crítica. L’Antiquité Classique 87, article number: 396.
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. 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.
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.

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., (10.1515/9781501502538)
Totelin, L. 2017. From technē 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., (10.1017/9781316718575.008)
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. 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.
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.

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)
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.

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)
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)
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.

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. 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)
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.

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. 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.
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.

2009

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. 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. 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. 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.
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.

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)

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. With Dr Rebecca Flemming (Cambridge), I have edited a volume on the ancient medical marketplace, Medicine and Markets in the Graeco-Roman World and Beyond. Essays on Ancient Medicine in Hnour of Vivian Nutton (2020). 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

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 Mark Bradley and Dr Victoria Leonard, I am editing a volume entitled Bodily Fluids in Antiquity (Routledge, 2021). I have also worked on a project entitled 'Nain, Mam and Me: infant feeding in Wales, social history and modern practices' with sociologist Dr Heather Trickey and professor of midwifery Professor Julia Sander. Our aim was to use historical artefacts to promote discussions on infant feeding in Wales.

Undergraduate

Investigating the Ancient World: Skills and Evidence
Ancient Objects, Then and Now
Empires East and West
Life in Rome
Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World
Greek and Roman Medicine
Independent Second Year Study
Researching the Ancient World: Final Year Dissertation

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

2022–present Professor of Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
2019–2022 Reader in Ancient History, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff University
2015–2019 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

Marie Curie Consortium Grant, led by Professor Stavroula Constantinou, with collaboration from colleagues in Cardiff, Bamberg, Lund, and Saleno, 2024-2028
Institute of Classical Studies Engagement grant for virtual exhibition ‘I’m Your Venus: An exhibition on the reception of Antiquity in Modern Cosmetic Advertising and Marketing', 2022
Named collaborator for the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation Grant awarded to Dr Stavroula Constantinou and Dr Aspasia Skouroumouni for their project MotherBreas, 2019-2021
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

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

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, and gynaecology. I would also be interested in topics relating to the reception of ancient botany and pharmacology, especially in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Current supervision

Zi Hui Liao

Research student

Past projects

Rhian Williams, Childlessness in the Roman World

Gina Bevan, Pop! Medusa: The Reappropriation of the Gorgon in Pop Music

Shuya Yang (visiting PhD), Theophrastus' botany

Ioan McAvoy, Effeminacy and Orientalism in Latin Literature

Contact Details

TotelinLM@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 75631
John Percival Building, Room 4.03, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

Research themes

Specialisms

Gender studies
history of science
history of medicine
History of sexuality

Professor Laurence Totelin (she/her) FRHistS FLS

Overview

Publication