Silphium: The Miracle Herb That Disappeared Forever

Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/cogito Watch Modern Conflicts exclusively on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/modernconflicts?ref=cogito Miracle contraceptive, wonder drug, aphrodisiac, the origin of the heart symbol, and hemorrhoid cure??? Tiktok, National Geographic, even FACEBOOK are all obsessed with this plant, Silphium, which grew over 2000 years ago here near Cyrene, Libya. It’s been called THE most effective contraceptive of the ancient world. But the ancient randy Romans boinked this plant into extinction by the first century CE. Making Silphium the first victim of human-induced extinction. But is this story actually true? Who killed Silphium? And what does it have to do with a Beaver based birth-control? Let’s find out! This video was researched and co-written by Deborah Melo. The illustrations were created by our illustrator https://twitter.com/ChicoDLHistoria https://www.patreon.com/CogitoEdu Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/CogitoEdu Or Reddit r/cogitoedu Or Facebook @CogitoYT MERCHANDISE teespring.com/stores/cogito-store SOURCES: The Silphium Motif Adorning Ancient Libyan Coinage: Marketing a Medicinal Plant Riddle, J., & Estes, J. (1992). Oral contraceptives in ancient and medieval times. American Scientist, 80(3), 226-233. Reassessing the Role of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the Extinction of Silphium The Economic Condition of the Main Cyrenaican Cities (North-Eastern Libya) from the Hellenistic to the mid-Roman period: textual analysis Pliny's Historia Naturalis Pliny the Elder’s Silphium: First Recorded Species Extinction John Riddle Eve's Herbs Ibn Sina, A. A System of Medicine (Arabic Text); Bulaq: Cairo, Egypt, 1877; Volume 2. Asciutti, Valentina(2004)The Silphium plant:analysiso f ancient sources Douaa Elalfy Silphium, the Extinct Plant Monika Kiehn, Silphion revisited, Medicinal Plant Conservation https://www.insider.com/dont-take-mugwort-pennyroyal-for-abortion-toxic-2022-6 Amy Richlin Pliny's Brassiere POST-COITAL ANTIFERTILITY ACTIVITY OF FERULA ASSAFOETIDA EXTRACT IN FEMALE RATS https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=32:chapter=46&highlight=beaver Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance Applebaum, S. (1979). Jews and Greeks in Ancient Cyrene APICIUS COOKERY AND DINING IN IMPERIAL ROME https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29728/29728-h/29728-h.htm Manam W. B. Saaed, Yacoub M. El-Barasi & Rebeh O. Rahil (2019) Our present knowledge about the history and composition of the vegetation and flora of Libya Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants De Materia Medica - Dioskorides Gynaecology - Soranus Mahmut Miski Next Chapter in the Legend of Silphion: Preliminary Morphological, Chemical, Biological and Pharmacological Evaluations, Initial Conservation Studies, and Reassessment of the Regional Extinction Event Music by Epidemic Sound: https://epidemicsound.com/creator Video/Images provided by Getty Images and Archive.org Maps provided by maptiler/Geolayers