Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice): A Comprehensive Review on Its Phytochemistry, Biological Activities, Clinical Evidence and Toxicology

There are more than 30 species of Glycyrrhiza genus extensively spread worldwide. It was the most prescribed herb in Ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, East China, and the West from the Former Han era. There are various beneficial effects of licorice root extracts, such as treating throat infections, tuberculosis, respiratory, liver diseases, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunodeficiency. On the other hand, traditional medicines are getting the attraction to treat many diseases. Therefore, it is vital to screen the medicinal plants to find the potential of new compounds to treat chronic diseases such as respiratory, cardiovascular, anticancer, hepatoprotective, etc. This work comprehensively reviews ethnopharmacological uses, phytochemistry, biological activities, clinical evidence, and the toxicology of licorice, which will serve as a resource for future clinical and fundamental studies. An attempt has been made to establish the pharmacological effect of licorice in different diseases. In addition, the focus of this review article is on the molecular mechanism of licorice extracts and their four flavonoids (isoliquiritigenin, liquiritigenin, lichalocone, and glabridin) pharmacologic activities. Licorice could be a natural alternative for current therapy to exterminate new emerging disorders with mild side effects. This review will provide systematic insights into this ancient drug for further development and clinical use.

Catullan Wanderings

A symbol of disorientation par excellence, the Cretan Labyrinth has become an emblematic image of Catullus’s longest extant work, his “epyllion,” poem 64, on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Chapter 4 argues that due to this depiction and others like it of wandering and roaming in the spaces of Rome’s ever-growing empire, Catullus’s oeuvre represents the culminating example of the Republican poets’ interest in becoming lost as a theme related to expansion. After tracking the theme in the fragmentary “neoteric” poets Cinna, Calvus, Caecilius, and Varro of Atax, this chapter proceeds via a series of specific Catullan examples. In poem 22, Catullus underscores the disorientation of the erring self as a special concern by calling attention to each person’s self-delusional error (20). Catullus depicts a disorienting epic-style journey to Asia Minor, a site of Roman expansion, in another “epyllion” on the eunuch priest of Cybele, Attis (poem 63). Poem 61 represents the roaming, androgynous marriage god Hymen as responsible for producing youths to guard Rome’s imperial borders. The wandering course of the Argonauts in poem 64 again directs attention toward Rome’s imperial ambitions in the Greek East, while the fearful errores of the Cretan Labyrinth link the myth of Theseus to the Argonautic story so as to make wandering an ambiguously unifying theme of the poem as a whole. Such geographical movements become unstable analogs in Catullan verse for internal transitions from love to hate, erotic and familial attachment to isolation and abandonment, and even male to female.

Aphrahat and Pauline Reception: 1 Corinthians 7 and Baptismal Reasoning in East and West

In studies of Pauline reception, most scholars limit themselves to works in the second or early third century (often ending with Irenaeus or the Acts of Paul) and to material from the Latin West and Greek East. Although later Syriac sources are rarely engaged, those who do work on this material have long recognised the importance of Paul's letters for that material. The present argument aims to help broaden the dominant discourse on Pauline reception by attending to early Syriac sources, principally the work of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. I focus in particular on his discussion of baptism and marriage in Dem. 7.18–20, which has confounded scholars over the years. This passage displays a kind of Pauline ‘logic’ indebted to 1 Cor 7.20, which can be discerned among other early Christian applications of that passage in similar contexts, in both East and West.

Synesius of Cyrene, Sophist-Bishop: Rhetoric and Religion in the Greek East at the Turn of the Fifth Century CE

Les études récentes sur Synesius de Cyrène rejettent de plus en plus la thèse traditionnelle qui le considérait comme un nouveau venu dans le christianisme, pour le considérer plutôt comme un chrétien flexible et antidogmatique. Cependant, tout en reflétant notre meilleure compréhension de l’expérience de la religion vécue à la fin de l’Antiquité, cette position néglige un aspect crucial de l’identité religieuse de Synesius: son auto-récit. À travers une étude des stratégies rhétoriques utilisées par Synesius pour communiquer son allégeance religieuse, cet article soutient que Synesius a plutôt cherché des moyens de se présenter comme un concurrent du christianisme et de ses représentants les plus éminents. Le « sophiste » Synesius (défini comme tel en dépit, ou mieux, en vertu de ses prétentions à ne pas en être un), caractérisé par la recherche d’une identité oppositionnelle construite à l’aide de la rhétorique traditionnelle, apparaît ainsi comme incarnant la tension entre innovation et continuité qui marque la Troisième sophistique au IVe siècle.

Ancient Classics and Catholic Tradition through Time and Space

Martin, Bishop of Braga, is of importance not only in the reign of the Suebi. He also influenced the Visigothic reign years before its Arian King Liuvigild completed his military submission of Galicia. Martin’s activities beginning from the middle of the sixth century, during the conflict between Arians and the Catholic Hispano-Roman church on the Iberian Peninsula, promoted once again the classical tradition, as well as the theological traditions of Christian doctrines from late antiquity. He supported his initiatives through a wide-ranging, ‘international’ network with Gallia, Italy/Rome, and the Greek East/Constantinople.