IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 214: Poisoned Food and Poisoned Bodies in Medieval Life, Art, and Literature, I

Monday 4 July 2016, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Center of Archaeometry & Applied Molecular Archaeology, Universität Salzburg / Interfakultärer Fachbereich Gerichtsmedizin und Forensische Neuropsychiatrie, Universität Salzburg / Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft
Organiser:	Sieglinde Hartmann, Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main
Moderator/Chair:	Sieglinde Hartmann, Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main
Paper 214-a	Famous Persons, Infamous Poisons: Toxicological Aspects of Unnatural Deaths in Medieval High Society (Language: English) Jan Cemper-Kiesslich, Interfakultärer Fachbereich Gerichtsmedizin und Forensische Neuropsychiatrie, Universität Salzburg Index terms: Anthropology, Archaeology - General, Daily Life, Medicine
Paper 214-b	What is So Funny about the Extremely Poisonous Aconitum in the Japanese Noh Farce 'Busu' of the 14th Century? (Language: English) Yuko Tagaya, Graduate School of Humanities, Kanto-Gakuin University, Yokohama Index terms: Language and Literature - Other, Medicine, Performance Arts - Drama
Paper 214-c	Death of an Emperor, or, How Alexander the Great Tries to Avoid the Prophecy of His Poisoning (Language: English) Susanne Knaeble, Lehrstuhl für Ältere Deutsche Philologie, Universität Bayreuth Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Mentalities
Abstract	Papers of these two sessions broadly address the theme of poisoned food and poisoned bodies in medieval life, art, and literature. Speakers aim to focus on empirical approaches to archaeological, artistic, and literary evidence in order to reconstruct 'anatomies' of physical and mental poisoning. The transdisciplinary approach as outlined above appears to be a promising tool not only for cross-validation of the methodologies involved but also for potentially gaining new insights into past and recent human life.