Garlic - History and Folklore
Garlic has been cultivated and consumed at least since the times when the Egyptian pyramids were built and since the earliest dynasties in China. Garlic cloves were found in the tombs of pharaohs, confirming reports of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus of extensive use of garlic in Egypt. In Roman times, garlic was used for medicinal purposes, as described by the contemporary Roman historian and naturalist, Pliny the Elder.
Since then, the popularity of garlic has not always been constant. Innumerable healing qualities have been attributed to garlic at one time or another. At various times, garlic has been popular as an aphrodisiac, an antidote for snakebites and poisonous plants such as aconite, a treatment for bites of dogs and shrews, a treatment for asthma and coughs, a treatment for digestive problems, a method to rid intestinal parasites, and a rinse against toothaches. During medieval times, it was used as an anti-infective remedy and as a preventive against "contagious and pestilent aire."
Among the more recent uses of garlic reported by Foster and Duke (1990) are treatment of upper-respiratory symptoms, earaches, fever, shortness of breath, sinus congestion, headache, stomachache, diarrhea, dysentery, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, rheumatism, gout, pinworms, whooping cough, ulcers, snakebites, and many other conditions, as well as an aphrodisiac.
