Making and consuming drugs in the Italian and Byzantine worlds (12th–15th century)

Although there were numerous connections between the medieval Italian and Byzantine worlds, there has been no significant study examining the cultural interaction between the two regions in the field of medical knowledge and practice.

I will examine the making, selling and administration of drugs in these two regions in the 12th-15th centuries, using a variety of literary and archaeological sources. I will also make the only group of Byzantine, medieval Greek, recipe books connected with hospitals in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) available for the first time, through an edition and English translation. My research is divided into two main areas: apothecaries and their interaction with patients and physicians; and transfer and exchange of pharmacological knowledge.