• trias10@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    There’s no need to be pedantic for no reason. Whilst it’s true silphium was used for many things (including cooking), we don’t know what percentage of it was used for which aspects, but we do know for certainty that one use was an abortifacient, at huge scale, and that the plant is now extinct.

    Ergo, we can surmise that it’s widespread use as an abortifacient most likely contributed to its eventually extinction, along with its other use cases. Although I never said in my message that abortion was the sole use, I merely said that they used it for so many abortions it eventually ended up extinct.

    Honestly mate, this comment seemed like a superfluous exercise in pedantic narcissism and reminds me why I need to stay far away from Lemmy.

    • rjs001@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Eh, not really being pedantic and absolutely not being narcissistic. It’s simply wrong to argue that silphium went extinct because of the rate of abortions in the Roman Empire. It was massively traded and sold throughout the Mediterranean so it’s ahistorical to claim, with full confidence, that it went extinct due to Roman abortions. I suggest giving this article (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.785962/full) a read on it. The claim that the Romans overused in abortions and lead to its extinction simply isn’t proven in anyway. It was most likely over harvested, sure, but as I said, it was used for many different causes. So to call me narcissistic is ridiculous and arguably ought to be applied to you over me.