Fungi in the Ancient World

Fungi in the Ancient World: How Mushrooms, Mildews, Molds, and Yeast Shaped the Early Civilizations of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East

Were ancient religions the product of hallucinogenic mushrooms?

Did mycotoxins cause the plague of Athens?

Did poisonous mushrooms kill the emperor?

Frank Dugan sifts the evidence, separates hype and hyperbole from factual and plausible events, and conclusively demonstrates that fungi have strongly influenced western civilization from its very beginnings.

Fungi in the ancient world included edible, poisonous and psychoactive mushrooms, potent yeasts for brewing and baking, and pathogens of plants, humans and animals. Fungi and their impacts were recorded in art, literature, folklore, and myth.

Fungi in the Ancient World is a comprehensive review on the impact of fungi in helping to shape ancient civilizations. Mushrooms, mildews, molds, and yeast had a surprisingly profound impact on: diet, custom, politics, religion; human, animal, plant health; art, folklore, and the beginnings of science. This insightful book is a gateway to current methodologies for investigation of the co-evolution of plants, fungi, and humans from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages.

This well documented book presents reproductions and descriptions of fungal motifs in ancient art, myth, and folklore that enable direct examination of evidence by any reader, professional or lay. Interdisciplinary in scope, this detailed and illustrated book includes a historical perspective on co-evolution of fungi with early agriculture that provides documented summaries of contemporary research in this area, from archaeology to molecular-genetics. It also delivers a historical perspective on the impact of fungi on human and animal health in early times, with examples of current methods used to assess historical impacts of mycotoxins, allergens, and pathogens. Translations and summaries from relevant ancient Greek, Roman, Sumerian and other texts are included, demonstrating how ancients themselves observed and recorded significant impacts of fungi.

Peer reviewed for accuracy and balance, the book provides multiple perspectives from professionals in mycology, plant pathology, ancient history, and folklore. It summarizes a wide range of highly controversial published views on the impact of fungi on customs, folklore, and religion. In doing this, the title presents perspectives on what is probable, plausible, or improbable in this highly debated area that helped form western civilization.

Fungi in the Ancient World will be of interest to mycologists, plant pathologists, historians, folklorists, plant breeders, anthropologists, ethnobotanists, ethnomycolgists, and others interested in fungi s impact to ancient history. Extensively referenced and indexed.

Contents

Introduction; Fungi in Baking and Brewing; Edible Fungi; Fungi as Entheogens ; Fungi Used for Medicinal Purposes and Other Technologies; Plant-Pathogenic Fungi; Fungi as Agents of Rot on Wood and Fabric; Human and Animal Pathogens; Environmental and Ecological Roles of Fungi; Ancient Fungi Preserved in Glacial Ice or Permafrost; Ancient Images of Fungi; Fungi in Ancient European Folklore; Ideas of the Ancients on Fungal Biology; Some Additional Hypotheses Regarding the Impact of Fungi in Ancient Times; Conclusions; Literature Cited; Index