Professor John Wilkins
Research Interests
My main research interests are in ancient food and medicine, within a broad cultural context of social practice, religion, and knowledge of the world and of nature. The authors I am principally working on are Athenaeus of Naucratis and Galen, in particular Galen's treatise On the Powers of Foods, and how that might contribute to broader ideas of therapy. These ideas are tested in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, in particular the modules Nature and Culture, Food and Medicine (at BA level) and in the MA pathway Food and Culture. I am working closely with the Centre for Medical History and with staff and students of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in order to explore links between ancient and modern therapy.
Research Students
Valeria Cinaglia, Epistemology in Aristotle and Menander
Grainne Grant, Perfume in the Ancient world
Hannah Mossman, Travel Literature
(from Oct 2009) Robert Leigh, Editing Galen on Theriac
