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2016
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Valérie Bonet, « Les orchidées dans le monde gréco-romain », Vita Latina, ID : 10.3406/vita.2016.1832
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Résumé
Orchids of ancient times are aphrodisiac or cause an opposite effect according to the way they are used ; they also make it possible to give birth to girls or boys as the case may be, and their names are more or less evocative and descriptive according to ancient texts. So, even if their appearance has nothing to do with our beautiful and decorative orchids, which come from the Orient, and even if it is sometimes difficult for us to identify them, Greco-Roman orchids are nonetheless fascinating. The healing properties, which are given to them and which especially, concern sexuality and generation are often connected to a context not only medical but also popular and mythological. This paper examines the way ancient texts, and especially medical texts, talk about these plants, and shows how a physical characteristic (the tubers look like testicles) gives them a special aura and makes them plants different from the others.