Roman aphrodisiacs

Pliny the Elder wrote that the white juice of lettuce calms the love enthusiasm, but also lowers the fever and also increases the volume of blood. What salad was it? Modern researchers have discovered that it was probably the so-called compass plant (lactuca serriola) – a wild plant, the ancestor of lettuce, resembling more dandelion than the familiar round vegetable.

Romans considered aphrodisiac to be arugula and its seeds – in the taste of pepper. The plant was offered to the god of fertility and home gardens – Priap.

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Pliny the Elder Gallic Wars Pliny the Younger Second Punic War Silphium juice