plant
Mandrake
A Mediterranean plant with a forked root. Dioscorides treats it as a drug; later witchcraft books make the root a person. Those are two literatures.
Also known as mandragora
Hellenic religion
Mandrake is used in Medicine.
Dioscorides lists mandrake as a drug plant with narcotic uses. A pharmacological entry, not a screaming homunculus.
from Pedanius Dioscorides · De Materia Medica, 1st century CE
used in · sourced · documented
Roman religion
Mandrake is used in Healing.
Pliny treats mandragora among medicinal plants. Roman encyclopedia, still not a witchcraft root-person.
from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE
used in · sourced · documented
European folklore · Eighteenth-century Europe
Mandrake is associated with Charm.
Later European witchcraft books make the forked root a little body and a charm. That literature is not Dioscorides.
associated with · interpretive · modern interpretation
Mandrake is used in Offerings.
Mandrake used in Offerings. A Mediterranean plant with a forked root. Gifts given to gods, dead, or powers: fire, food, blood, incense, words. The Atlas keeps their meeting local, without dissolving either into a single meaning.
from SHOE.BLUE · SHOE.BLUE, 2026
used in · interpretive · modern interpretation
sources
- De Materia Medica · Pedanius Dioscorides
Dioscorides, De Materia Medica.
- Natural History · Pliny the Elder
Pliny, Naturalis Historia.
- SHOE.BLUE · SHOE.BLUE
SHOE.BLUE, Atlas instrument voice.