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Acupuncture | History | History |
Acupuncture | Origins | Origins
thumb|right|Acupuncture chart from the Ming dynasty ()
Acupuncture, along with moxibustion, is one of the oldest practices of traditional Chinese medicine. Most historians believe the practice began in China, though there are some conflicting narratives on when it originated. Academics David Ramey and Paul Buell said the exact date acupuncture was founded depends on the extent to which dating of ancient texts can be trusted and the interpretation of what constitutes acupuncture.
Acupressure therapy was prevalent in India. Once Buddhism spread to China, the acupressure therapy was also integrated into common medical practice in China and it came to be known as acupuncture. The major points of Indian acupressure and Chinese acupuncture are similar to each other.
According to an article in Rheumatology, the first documentation of an "organized system of diagnosis and treatment" for acupuncture was in Inner Classic of Huang Di (Huangdi Neijing) from about 100 BC. Gold and silver needles found in the tomb of Liu Sheng from around 100 BC are believed to be the earliest archaeological evidence of acupuncture, though it is unclear if that was their purpose. According to Plinio Prioreschi, the earliest known historical record of acupuncture is the Shiji ("Records of the Grand Historian"), written by a historian around 100 BC. It is believed that this text was documenting what was established practice at that time. |
Acupuncture | Alternative theories | Alternative theories
The 5,000-year-old mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman was found with 15 groups of tattoos, many of which were located at points on the body where acupuncture needles are used for abdominal or lower back problems. Evidence from the body suggests Ötzi had these conditions. This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practised elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age; however, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine calls this theory "speculative". It is considered unlikely that acupuncture was practised before 2000 BC.
Acupuncture may have been practised during the Neolithic era, near the end of the Stone Age, using sharpened stones called Bian shi. Many Chinese texts from later eras refer to sharp stones called "plen", which means "stone probe", that may have been used for acupuncture purposes. The ancient Chinese medical text, Huangdi Neijing, indicates that sharp stones were believed at-the-time to cure illnesses at or near the body's surface, perhaps because of the short depth a stone could penetrate. However, it is more likely that stones were used for other medical purposes, such as puncturing a growth to drain its pus. The Mawangdui texts, which are believed to be from the 2nd century BC, mention the use of pointed stones to open abscesses, and moxibustion, but not for acupuncture. It is also speculated that these stones may have been used for bloodletting, due to the ancient Chinese belief that illnesses were caused by demons within the body that could be killed or released. It is likely bloodletting was an antecedent to acupuncture.
According to historians Lu Gwei-djen and Joseph Needham, there is substantial evidence that acupuncture may have begun around 600 BC. Some hieroglyphs and pictographs from that era suggests acupuncture and moxibustion were practised. However, historians Lu and Needham said it was unlikely a needle could be made out of the materials available in China during this time period. It is possible that bronze was used for early acupuncture needles. Tin, copper, gold and silver are also possibilities, though they are considered less likely, or to have been used in fewer cases. If acupuncture was practised during the Shang dynasty (1766 to 1122 BC), organic materials like thorns, sharpened bones, or bamboo may have been used. Once methods for producing steel were discovered, it would replace all other materials, since it could be used to create a very fine, but sturdy needle. Lu and Needham noted that all the ancient materials that could have been used for acupuncture and which often produce archaeological evidence, such as sharpened bones, bamboo or stones, were also used for other purposes. An article in Rheumatology said that the absence of any mention of acupuncture in documents found in the tomb of Mawangdui from 198 BC suggest that acupuncture was not practised by that time. |
Acupuncture | Belief systems | Belief systems
Several different and sometimes conflicting belief systems emerged regarding acupuncture. This may have been the result of competing schools of thought. Some ancient texts referred to using acupuncture to cause bleeding, while others mixed the ideas of blood-letting and spiritual ch'i energy. Over time, the focus shifted from blood to the concept of puncturing specific points on the body, and eventually to balancing Yin and Yang energies as well. According to David Ramey, no single "method or theory" was ever predominantly adopted as the standard. At the time, scientific knowledge of medicine was not yet developed, especially because in China dissection of the deceased was forbidden, preventing the development of basic anatomical knowledge.
It is not certain when specific acupuncture points were introduced, but the autobiography of Bian Que from around 400–500 BC references inserting needles at designated areas. Bian Que believed there was a single acupuncture point at the top of one's skull that he called the point "of the hundred meetings." Texts dated to be from 156 to 186 BC document early beliefs in channels of life force energy called meridians that would later be an element in early acupuncture beliefs.
Ramey and Buell said the "practice and theoretical underpinnings" of modern acupuncture were introduced in The Yellow Emperor's Classic (Huangdi Neijing) around 100 BC. It introduced the concept of using acupuncture to manipulate the flow of life energy (qi) in a network of meridian (channels) in the body. The network concept was made up of acu-tracts, such as a line down the arms, where it said acupoints were located. Some of the sites acupuncturists use needles at today still have the same names as those given to them by the Yellow Emperor's Classic. Numerous additional documents were published over the centuries introducing new acupoints. By the 4th century AD, most of the acupuncture sites in use today had been named and identified. |
Acupuncture | Early development in China | Early development in China |
Acupuncture | Establishment and growth | Establishment and growth
In the first half of the 1st century AD, acupuncturists began promoting the belief that acupuncture's effectiveness was influenced by the time of day or night, the lunar cycle, and the season. The 'science of the yin-yang cycles' ( ) was a set of beliefs that curing diseases relied on the alignment of both heavenly () and earthly () forces that were attuned to cycles like that of the sun and moon. There were several different belief systems that relied on a number of celestial and earthly bodies or elements that rotated and only became aligned at certain times. According to Needham and Lu, these "arbitrary predictions" were depicted by acupuncturists in complex charts and through a set of special terminology.
Acupuncture needles during this period were much thicker than most modern ones and often resulted in infection. Infection is caused by a lack of sterilization, but at that time it was believed to be caused by use of the wrong needle, or needling in the wrong place, or at the wrong time. Later, many needles were heated in boiling water, or in a flame. Sometimes needles were used while they were still hot, creating a cauterizing effect at the injection site. Nine needles were recommended in the Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion from 1601, which may have been because of an ancient Chinese belief that nine was a magic number.
Other belief systems were based on the idea that the human body operated on a rhythm and acupuncture had to be applied at the right point in the rhythm to be effective. In some cases a lack of balance between Yin and Yang were believed to be the cause of disease.
In the 1st century AD, many of the first books about acupuncture were published and recognized acupuncturist experts began to emerge. The Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing, which was published in the mid-3rd century, became the oldest acupuncture book that is still in existence in the modern era. Other books like the Yu Gui Zhen Jing, written by the Director of Medical Services for China, were also influential during this period, but were not preserved. In the mid 7th century, Sun Simiao published acupuncture-related diagrams and charts that established standardized methods for finding acupuncture sites on people of different sizes and categorized acupuncture sites in a set of modules.
Acupuncture became more established in China as improvements in paper led to the publication of more acupuncture books. The Imperial Medical Service and the Imperial Medical College, which both supported acupuncture, became more established and created medical colleges in every province. The public was also exposed to stories about royal figures being cured of their diseases by prominent acupuncturists. By time the Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was published during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD), most of the acupuncture practices used in the modern era had been established. |
Acupuncture | Decline | Decline
By the end of the Song dynasty (1279 AD), acupuncture had lost much of its status in China. It became rarer in the following centuries, and was associated with less prestigious professions like alchemy, shamanism, midwifery and moxibustion. Additionally, by the 18th century, scientific rationality was becoming more popular than traditional superstitious beliefs. By 1757 a book documenting the history of Chinese medicine called acupuncture a "lost art". Its decline was attributed in part to the popularity of prescriptions and medications, as well as its association with the lower classes.
In 1822, the Chinese Emperor signed a decree excluding the practice of acupuncture from the Imperial Medical Institute. He said it was unfit for practice by gentlemen-scholars. In China acupuncture was increasingly associated with lower-class, illiterate practitioners. It was restored for a time, but banned again in 1929 in favor of science-based medicine. Although acupuncture declined in China during this time period, it was also growing in popularity in other countries. |
Acupuncture | International expansion | International expansion
thumb|Acupuncture chart from Shisi jing fahui (Expression of the Fourteen Meridians) written by Hua Shou (, Ming dynasty). Japanese reprint by Suharaya Heisuke (Edo, 1. year Kyōhō = 1716).
Korea is believed to be the first country in Asia that acupuncture spread to outside of China. Within Korea there is a legend that acupuncture was developed by emperor Dangun, though it is more likely to have been brought into Korea from a Chinese colonial prefecture in 514 AD. Acupuncture use was commonplace in Korea by the 6th century. It spread to Vietnam in the 8th and 9th centuries. As Vietnam began trading with Japan and China around the 9th century, it was influenced by their acupuncture practices as well. China and Korea sent "medical missionaries" that spread traditional Chinese medicine to Japan, starting around 219 AD. In 553, several Korean and Chinese citizens were appointed to re-organize medical education in Japan and they incorporated acupuncture as part of that system. Japan later sent students back to China and established acupuncture as one of five divisions of the Chinese State Medical Administration System.
Acupuncture began to spread to Europe in the second half of the 17th century. Around this time the surgeon-general of the Dutch East India Company met Japanese and Chinese acupuncture practitioners and later encouraged Europeans to further investigate it. He published the first in-depth description of acupuncture for the European audience and created the term "acupuncture" in his 1683 work De Acupunctura. France was an early adopter among the West due to the influence of Jesuit missionaries, who brought the practice to French clinics in the 16th century. The French doctor Louis Berlioz (the father of the composer Hector Berlioz) is usually credited with being the first to experiment with the procedure in Europe in 1810, before publishing his findings in 1816.
By the 19th century, acupuncture had become commonplace in many areas of the world. Americans and Britons began showing interest in acupuncture in the early 19th century, although interest waned by mid-century. Western practitioners abandoned acupuncture's traditional beliefs in spiritual energy, pulse diagnosis, and the cycles of the moon, sun or the body's rhythm. Diagrams of the flow of spiritual energy, for example, conflicted with the West's own anatomical diagrams. It adopted a new set of ideas for acupuncture based on tapping needles into nerves. In Europe it was speculated that acupuncture may allow or prevent the flow of electricity in the body, as electrical pulses were found to make a frog's leg twitch after death.
The West eventually created a belief system based on Travell trigger points that were believed to inhibit pain. They were in the same locations as China's spiritually identified acupuncture points, but under a different nomenclature. The first elaborate Western treatise on acupuncture was published in 1683 by Willem ten Rhijne. |
Acupuncture | Modern era | Modern era
thumb| An ancient Acupuncture statue at the lobby of the Emperor's College clinic, California
In China, the popularity of acupuncture rebounded in 1949 when Mao Zedong took power and sought to unite China behind traditional cultural values. It was also during this time that many Eastern medical practices were consolidated under the name traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
New practices were adopted in the 20th century, such as using a cluster of needles, electrified needles, or leaving needles inserted for up to a week. A lot of emphasis developed on using acupuncture on the ear. Acupuncture research organizations such as the International Society of Acupuncture were founded in the 1940s and 1950s and acupuncture services became available in modern hospitals. China, where acupuncture was believed to have originated, was increasingly influenced by Western medicine. Meanwhile, acupuncture grew in popularity in the US. The US Congress created the Office of Alternative Medicine in 1992 and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) declared support for acupuncture for some conditions in November 1997. In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine was created within the NIH. Acupuncture became the most popular alternative medicine in the US.
Politicians from the Chinese Communist Party said acupuncture was superstitious and conflicted with the party's commitment to science. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong later reversed this position, arguing that the practice was based on scientific principles. During the Cultural Revolution, disbelief in acupuncture anesthesia was subjected to ruthless political repression.
In 1971, New York Times reporter James Reston published an article on his acupuncture experiences in China, which led to more investigation of and support for acupuncture. The US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972. During one part of the visit, the delegation was shown a patient undergoing major surgery while fully awake, ostensibly receiving acupuncture rather than anesthesia. Later it was found that the patients selected for the surgery had both a high pain tolerance and received heavy indoctrination before the operation; these demonstration cases were also frequently receiving morphine surreptitiously through an intravenous drip that observers were told contained only fluids and nutrients. One patient receiving open heart surgery while awake was ultimately found to have received a combination of three powerful sedatives as well as large injections of a local anesthetic into the wound. After the National Institute of Health expressed support for acupuncture for a limited number of conditions, adoption in the US grew further. In 1972 the first legal acupuncture center in the US was established in Washington DC and in 1973 the American Internal Revenue Service allowed acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense.
In 2006, a BBC documentary Alternative Medicine filmed a patient undergoing open heart surgery allegedly under acupuncture-induced anesthesia. It was later revealed that the patient had been given a cocktail of anesthetics.
In 2010, UNESCO inscribed "acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine" on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List following China's nomination. |
Acupuncture | Adoption | Adoption
Acupuncture is most heavily practiced in China and is popular in the US, Australia, and Europe. In Switzerland, acupuncture has become the most frequently used alternative medicine since 2004. In the United Kingdom, a total of 4 million acupuncture treatments were administered in 2009. Acupuncture is used in most pain clinics and hospices in the UK. An estimated 1 in 10 adults in Australia used acupuncture in 2004. In Japan, it is estimated that 25 percent of the population will try acupuncture at some point, though in most cases it is not covered by public health insurance. Users of acupuncture in Japan are more likely to be elderly and to have a limited education. Approximately half of users surveyed indicated a likelihood to seek such remedies in the future, while 37% did not. Less than one percent of the US population reported having used acupuncture in the early 1990s. By the early 2010s, more than 14 million Americans reported having used acupuncture as part of their health care.
In the US, acupuncture is increasingly () used at academic medical centers, and is usually offered through CAM centers or anesthesia and pain management services. Examples include those at Harvard University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and UCLA. CDC clinical practice guidelines from 2022 list acupuncture among the types of complementary and alternative medicines physicians should consider in preference to opioid prescription for certain kinds of pain.
The use of acupuncture in Germany increased by 20% in 2007, after the German acupuncture trials supported its efficacy for certain uses. In 2011, there were more than one million users, and insurance companies have estimated that two-thirds of German users are women. As a result of the trials, German public health insurers began to cover acupuncture for chronic low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee, but not tension headache or migraine. This decision was based in part on socio-political reasons. Some insurers in Germany chose to stop reimbursement of acupuncture because of the trials. For other conditions, insurers in Germany were not convinced that acupuncture had adequate benefits over usual care or sham treatments. Highlighting the results of the placebo group, researchers refused to accept a placebo therapy as efficient. |
Acupuncture | Regulation | Regulation
There are various government and trade association regulatory bodies for acupuncture in the United Kingdom, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, and in European countries and elsewhere. The World Health Organization recommends that an acupuncturist receive 200 hours of specialized training if they are a physician and 2,500 hours for non-physicians before being licensed or certified; many governments have adopted similar standards.
In Hong Kong, the practice of acupuncture is regulated by the Chinese Medicine Council, which was formed in 1999 by the Legislative Council. It includes a licensing exam, registration, and degree courses approved by the board. Canada has acupuncture licensing programs in the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec; standards set by the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada are used in provinces without government regulation. Regulation in the US began in the 1970s in California, which was eventually followed by every state but Wyoming and Idaho. Licensing requirements vary greatly from state to state. The needles used in acupuncture are regulated in the US by the Food and Drug Administration. In some states acupuncture is regulated by a board of medical examiners, while in others by the board of licensing, health or education.
In Japan, acupuncturists are licensed by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare after passing an examination and graduating from a technical school or university. In Australia, the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia regulates acupuncture, among other Chinese medical traditions, and restricts the use of titles like 'acupuncturist' to registered practitioners only. The practice of Acupuncture in New Zealand in 1990 acupuncture was included into the Governmental Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Act. This inclusion granted qualified and professionally registered acupuncturists the ability to provide subsidised care and treatment to citizens, residents, and temporary visitors for work- or sports-related injuries that occurred within the country of New Zealand. The two bodies for the regulation of acupuncture and attainment of ACC treatment provider status in New Zealand are Acupuncture NZ, and The New Zealand Acupuncture Standards Authority. At least 28 countries in Europe have professional associations for acupuncturists. In France, the Académie Nationale de Médecine (National Academy of Medicine) has regulated acupuncture since 1955. |
Acupuncture | See also | See also |
Acupuncture | Notes | Notes |
Acupuncture | References | References |
Acupuncture | Bibliography | Bibliography
|
Acupuncture | Further reading | Further reading
FRONTLINE: The Alternative Fix - "What is acupuncture?" (4 November 2003). PBS Video.
Category:Alternative medicine
Category:Chinese inventions
Category:Energy therapies
Category:Pain management
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Traditional Chinese medicine |
Acupuncture | Table of Content | Short description, Clinical practice, Needles, Needling technique, Insertion, ''{{Lang, Related practices, Efficacy, Research methodology and challenges, Sham acupuncture and research, Publication bias, Safety, Adverse events, English-language, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese-language, Children and pregnancy, Moxibustion and cupping, Risk of forgoing conventional medical care, Conceptual basis, Traditional, Purported scientific basis, Rationalizations of traditional medicine, Release of endorphins or adenosine, History, Origins, Alternative theories, Belief systems, Early development in China, Establishment and growth, Decline, International expansion, Modern era, Adoption, Regulation, See also, Notes, References, Bibliography, Further reading |
Adder (disambiguation) | wiktionary | Vipera berus, the common European adder, is a snake found in Europe and northern Asia.
Adder may also refer to:
AA-12 Adder, a Russian air-to-air missile
Adder (electronics), an electronic circuit designed to do addition
Adder Technology, a manufacturing company
Armstrong Siddeley Adder, a late 1940s British turbojet engine
Blackadder, a series of BBC sitcoms
Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, a video game
HMS Adder, any of seven ships of the Royal Navy
Any of several groups of venomous snakes
USS Adder, a US submarine |
Adder (disambiguation) | See also | See also
Addition, a mathematical operation |
Adder (disambiguation) | Table of Content | wiktionary, See also |
Aeneas | short description | thumb|Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 (Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy)
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons of Ilus, founder of Troy), making Aeneas a second cousin to Priam's children (such as Hector and Paris). He is a minor character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgil's Aeneid, where he is cast as an ancestor of Romulus and Remus. He became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse god Víðarr of the Æsir.The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur [1916] Prologue II at Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Accessed 11/14/17 |
Aeneas | Etymology | Etymology
thumb|Coinage of Aenea, with portrait of Aeneas. c. 510–480 BCE.
Aeneas is the Romanization of the hero's original Greek name (Aineías). Aineías is first introduced in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite when Aphrodite gives him his name from the adjective
(,
"terrible"), for the "terrible grief" () he has caused her by being born a mortal who will age and die."His name will be Aineias [Aeneas], since it was an unspeakable [ainos] akhos that took hold of me – grief that I had fallen into the bed of a mortal man." (Nagy 2001, 198–99)Nagy, Gregory, trans. (2001) Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, edited by C. Dué Hackney. Houston: University of Houston. It is a popular etymology for the name, apparently exploited by Homer in the Iliad.Andrew Faulkner, The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: Introduction, Text, and Commentary (2008) p. 257 Later in the Medieval period there were writers who held that, because the Aeneid was written by a philosopher, it is meant to be read philosophically.Desmond, Marilynn (1994), Reading Dido: Gender, Textuality, and Medieval Aeneid. pp. 85–86. As such, in the "natural order", the meaning of Aeneas' name combines Greek ("dweller") with ("body"), which becomes or "in-dweller"—i.e. as a god inhabiting a mortal body.John of Salisbury, Polycraticus 8.24–25; Bernard Sylvestris of Tours, Commentum supra sex libros Eneidos Vergilii However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name. |
Aeneas | Epithets | Epithets
In imitation of the Iliad, Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including: Anchisiades, magnanimum, magnus, heros, and bonus. Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own, in the Aeneid: pater and pius. The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of an attitude different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is ("wily"), Aeneas is described as ("pious"), which conveys a strong moral tone. The purpose of these epithets seems to enforce the notion of Aeneas' divine hand as father and founder of the Roman race, and their use seems circumstantial: when Aeneas is praying he refers to himself as pius, and is referred to as such by the author only when the character is acting on behalf of the gods to fulfill his divine mission. Likewise, Aeneas is called pater when acting in the interest of his men.Parry, Milman (1971), The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry, edited by Adam Parry. p. 169 |
Aeneas | Greek myth and epos | Greek myth and epos |
Aeneas | Homeric ''Hymn to Aphrodite'' | Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
upright=1.5|Venus and Anchises by William Blake Richmond (1889 or 1890)|thumb
The story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, one of the major Homeric Hymns. Aphrodite has caused Zeus the king of the Gods to fall in love with mortal women. In retaliation, Zeus decided to put a desire over her heart for the mortal Prince Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near Mount Ida. When Aphrodite saw him, she was immediately smitten. She adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, but Aphrodite identifies herself as a Phrygian princess. After they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected and tells him that she will bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that he must never tell anyone that he has lain with a goddess. When Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the nymphs of Mount Ida, instructing them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises. According to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy.Virgil, Aeneid |
Aeneas | Homer's ''Iliad'' | Homer's Iliad
thumb|left|Aeneas carrying Anchises, black-figured oinochoe, 520–510 BCE, Louvre (F 118)
Aeneas is a minor character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny but is an honorable warrior in his own right. Having held back from the fighting, aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he was not given his due share of honor, he leads an attack against Idomeneus to recover the body of his brother-in-law Alcathous at the urging of Deiphobus. He is the leader of the Trojans' Dardanian allies, as well as a third cousin and principal lieutenant of Hector, son and heir of the Trojan king Priam.
Aeneas's mother Aphrodite frequently comes to his aid on the battlefield, and he is a favorite of the Sun God Apollo. Aphrodite and Apollo would frequently rescue Aeneas from combat with Diomedes of Argos, who nearly kills him, and carry him away to Pergamos for healing. Even the Sea God Poseidon, who usually favors the Greeks, comes to Aeneas's rescue after he falls under the assault of Achilles, noting that Aeneas, though from a junior branch of the royal family, is destined to become king of the Trojan people.
Bruce Louden presents Aeneas as an archetype: The sole virtuous individual (or family) spared from general destruction, following the mytheme of Utnapishtim, Baucis and Philemon, Noah, and Lot. Pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca explains that "... the Greeks [spared] him alone, on account of his piety." Heinrich Schliemann wrote that it seemed "extremely probable that, at the time of Homer's visit [to the Troad], the King of Troy declared that his race was descended in a direct line from Æneas." |
Aeneas | Other sources | Other sources
The Roman mythographer Gaius Julius Hyginus ( – CE 17) in his FabulaeHyginus, Fabulae 115. credits Aeneas with killing 28 enemies in the Trojan War. Aeneas also appears in the Trojan narratives attributed to Dares Phrygius and Dictys of Crete. |
Aeneas | Roman myth and literature | Roman myth and literature
thumb|Aeneas and Anchises
The history of Aeneas was continued by Roman authors. One influential source was the account of Rome's founding in Cato the Elder's Origines. The Aeneas legend was well known in Virgil's day and appeared in various historical works, including the Roman Antiquities of the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus (relying on Marcus Terentius Varro), Ab Urbe Condita by Livy (probably dependent on Quintus Fabius Pictor, fl. 200 BCE), and Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (now extant only in an epitome by Justin). |
Aeneas | Virgil's ''Aeneid'' | Virgil's Aeneid
thumb|Venus as Huntress Appears to Aeneas, by Pietro da Cortona
The Aeneid which is 12 books of the legendary foundation of Lavinium which explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then traveled to Italy and became progenitors of the Romans. The Aeneads included Aeneas's trumpeter Misenus, his father Anchises, his friends Achates, Sergestus, and Acmon, the healer Iapyx, the helmsman Palinurus, and his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus, Julus, or Ascanius Julius). He carried with him the Lares and Penates, the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to Italy.
Several attempts to find a new home failed; one such stop was on Sicily, where in Drepanum, on the island's western coast, his father, Anchises, died peacefully.
thumb|right|Aeneas tells Dido about the fall of Troy, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
After a brief but fierce storm sent up against the group at Juno's request, Aeneas and his fleet made landfall at Carthage after six years of wanderings. Aeneas had a year-long affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido (also known as Elissa), who proposed that the Trojans settle in her land and that she and Aeneas reign jointly over their peoples. A marriage of sorts was arranged between Dido and Aeneas at the instigation of Juno, who was told that her favorite city would eventually be defeated by the Trojans' descendants. Aeneas's mother Venus (the Roman adaptation of Aphrodite) realized that her son and his company needed a temporary respite to reinforce themselves for the journey to come. However, the messenger god Mercury (the adaptation of Hermes) was sent by Jupiter (who was Zeus in this version) and Venus to remind Aeneas of his journey and his purpose, compelling him to leave secretly. When Dido learned of this, she uttered a curse that would forever pit Carthage against Rome, an enmity that would culminate in the Punic Wars. She then committed suicide by stabbing herself with the same sword she gave Aeneas when they first met.
After the sojourn in Carthage, the Trojans returned to Sicily where Aeneas organized funeral games to honor his father, who had died a year before. The company traveled on and landed on the western coast of Italy. Aeneas descended into the underworld where he met Dido (who turned away from him to return to her husband) and his father, who showed him the future of his descendants and thus the history of Rome.
thumb|left|Aeneas defeats Turnus, by Luca Giordano, 1634–1705. The genius of Aeneas is shown ascendant, looking into the light of the future, while that of Turnus is setting, shrouded in darkness
Latinus, king of the Latins, welcomed Aeneas's army of exiled Trojans and let them reorganize their lives in Latium. His daughter Lavinia had been promised to Turnus, king of the Rutuli, but Latinus received a prophecy that Lavinia would be betrothed to one from another land – namely, Aeneas. Latinus heeded the prophecy, and Turnus consequently declared war on Aeneas at the urging of Juno, who was aligned with King Mezentius of the Etruscans and Queen Amata of the Latins. Aeneas's forces prevailed. Turnus was killed, and Virgil's account ends abruptly. |
Aeneas | Other sources | Other sources
thumb|the twin sons Romulus and Remus suckling off of a she-wolf
The rest of Aeneas's biography is gleaned from other ancient sources, including Livy and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Livy, Aeneas was victorious, but Latinus died in the war. Aeneas founded the city of Lavinium, named after his wife. He later welcomed Dido's sister, Anna Perenna, who then committed suicide after learning of Lavinia's jealousy. After Aeneas's death, Venus asked Jupiter to make her son immortal. Jupiter agreed. The river god Numicus cleansed Aeneas of all his mortal parts and Venus anointed him with ambrosia and nectar, making him a god. Aeneas was recognized as the god Jupiter Indiges.Titus Livius. The History of Rome (Rev. Canon Roberts, trans.), Vol. I, J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., London, 1905 It's also been stated that Prince Aeneas is the ancestor to the founders of Rome, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus; the two orphan boys who are seen suckling from a she-wolf. |
Aeneas | English mythology | English mythology
The Brut Chronicle tells the story of Britain's settling by Brutus of Troy, son of Aeneas. Belief in this story was once widespread, but by the time of the Renaissance had begun to fade. |
Aeneas | Further reading | Further reading
One surviving version of the Brut Chronicle is a late Middle Ages manuscript, known as the St Albans Chronicle. |
Aeneas | Medieval accounts | Medieval accounts
Snorri Sturlason, in the Prologue of the Prose Edda, tells of the world as parted in three continents: Africa, Asia and the third part called Europe or Enea.Edda Snorra Sturlusonar GUÐNI JÓNSSON bjó til prentunar. Prologus 2 Snorri also tells of a Trojan named Munon (or Mennon), who marries the daughter of the High King (Yfirkonungr) Priam called Troan and travels to distant lands, marries the Sybil and got a son, Tror, who, as Snorri tells, is identical to Thor. This tale resembles some episodes of the Aeneid.The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur [1916] Prologue III at Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Accessed November 14, 2017
Continuations of Trojan matter in the Middle Ages had their effects on the character of Aeneas as well. The 12th-century French Roman d'Enéas addresses Aeneas's sexuality. Though Virgil appears to deflect all homoeroticism onto Nisus and Euryalus, making his Aeneas a purely heterosexual character, in the Middle Ages there was at least a suspicion of homoeroticism in Aeneas. The Roman d'Enéas addresses that charge, when Queen Amata opposes Aeneas's marrying Lavinia.
Medieval interpretations of Aeneas were greatly influenced by both Virgil and other Latin sources. Specifically, the accounts by Dares and Dictys, which were reworked by the 13th-century Italian writer Guido delle Colonne (in Historia destructionis Troiae), colored many later readings. From Guido, for instance, the Pearl Poet and other English writers get the suggestion that Aeneas's safe departure from Troy with his possessions and family was a reward for treason, for which he was chastised by Hecuba. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century) the Pearl Poet, like many other English writers, employed Aeneas to establish a genealogy for the foundation of Britain, and explains that Aeneas was "impeached for his perfidy, proven most true" (line 4). In Marie Boroff's translation, edited by Laura Howes, the treacherous knight of line 3 is identified as Antenor, incorrectly, as Tolkien argues. |
Aeneas | Family and legendary descendants | Family and legendary descendants
thumb|right|Aeneas and the god Tiber, by Bartolomeo Pinelli
Aeneas had an extensive family tree. His wet-nurse was Caieta,Vergil Aeneid 7.1–4 and he is the father of Ascanius with Creusa, and of Silvius with Lavinia. Ascanius, also known as Iulus (or Julius),Vergil, Aeneid 1983 1.267 founded Alba Longa and was the first in a long series of kings. According to the mythology used by Virgil in the Aeneid, Romulus and Remus were both descendants of Aeneas through their mother Rhea Silvia, making Aeneas the progenitor of the Roman people.C.F. L'Homond Selections from Viri Romae p.1 Some early sources call him their father or grandfather,Romulus by Plutarch but once the dates of the fall of Troy (1184 BCE) and the founding of Rome (753 BCE) became accepted, authors added generations between them. The Julian family of Rome, most notably Julius Cæsar and Augustus, traced their lineage to Ascanius and Aeneas,Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities I.70.4 thus to the goddess Venus. Through the Julians, the Palemonids make this claim. The legendary kings of Britain – including King Arthur – trace their family through a grandson of Aeneas, Brutus.Charles Selby Events to be Remembered in the History of Britain pp. 1–2 |
Aeneas | Character and appearance | Character and appearance
thumb|upright|Dido and Aeneas, from a Roman fresco, Pompeian Third Style (10 BCE – 45 CE), Pompeii, Italy
Aeneas's consistent epithet in Virgil and other Latin authors is pius, a term that connotes reverence toward the gods and familial dutifulness. There is significant scholarly debate, however, over the degree to which this epithet is genuine within the poem, and to what extent its deployment by Virgil is sarcastic.
In the Aeneid, Aeneas is described as strong and handsome, but neither his hair colour nor complexion are described.Mark Griffith, "What Does Aeneas Look like?", Classical Philology, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Oct., 1985), p. 309. . . In late antiquity however sources add further physical descriptions. The De excidio Troiae of Dares Phrygius describes Aeneas as "auburn-haired, stocky, eloquent, courteous, prudent, pious, and charming. His eyes were black and twinkling".Dares Phrygius, History of the Fall of Troy 12 There is also a brief physical description found in the 6th-century John Malalas' Chronographia: "Aeneas: short, fat, with a good chest, powerful, with a ruddy complexion, a broad face, a good nose, fair skin, bald on the forehead, a good beard, grey eyes."Lowden, John. Illuminated prophet books: a study of Byzantine manuscripts of the major and minor prophets Penn State Press, 1988, p. 62Malalas, Chronography 5.106 |
Aeneas | Modern portrayals | Modern portrayals |
Aeneas | Literature | Literature
Aeneas appears as a character in William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida, set during the Trojan War.
Aeneas is a major character in Christopher Marlowe's play Dido, Queen of Carthage.
Aeneas and Dido are the main characters of a 17th-century broadside ballad called "The Wandering Prince of Troy". The ballad ultimately alters Aeneas's fate from traveling on years after Dido's death to joining her as a spirit soon after her suicide.English Broadside Ballad Archive, ballad facsimile and full text
In modern literature, Aeneas is the speaker in two poems by Allen Tate, "Aeneas at Washington" and "Aeneas at New York". He is a main character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Lavinia, a re-telling of the last six books of the Aeneid told from the point of view of Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus of Latium.
Aeneas appears in David Gemmell's Troy series as a main heroic character who goes by the name Helikaon.
In Rick Riordan's book series The Heroes of Olympus, Aeneas is regarded as the first Roman demigod, son of Venus rather than Aphrodite.
Will Adams' novel City of the Lost assumes that much of the information provided by Virgil is mistaken, and that the true Aeneas and Dido did not meet and love in Carthage but in a Phoenician colony at Cyprus, on the site of the modern Famagusta. Their tale is interspersed with that of modern activists who, while striving to stop an ambitious Turkish Army general trying to stage a coup, accidentally discover the hidden ruins of Dido's palace. |
Aeneas | Opera, film and other media | Opera, film and other media
thumb|upright=1.25|Lea Desandre performs an aria from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Les Arts Florissants in 2020
Aeneas is a title character in Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas (), and Jakob Greber's (Aeneas in Carthage) (1711), and one of the principal roles in Hector Berlioz' opera Les Troyens (), as well as in Metastasio's immensely popularWilliam Fitzgerald "Vergil in Music" in
"A Companion to Vergil's Aeneid and its Tradition" Joseph Farrell, Michael C. J. Putnam eds, p.344 : "Metastasio's Didone Abbandonata was set over eighty times in the period between 1724 and 1824" opera libretto Didone abbandonata. Canadian composer James Rolfe composed his opera Aeneas and Dido (2007; to a libretto by André Alexis) as a companion piece to Purcell's opera.
Despite its many dramatic elements, Aeneas's story has generated little interest from the film industry. Ronald Lewis portrayed Aeneas in Helen of Troy, directed by Robert Wise, as a supporting character, who is a member of the Trojan Royal family, and a close and loyal friend to Paris, and escapes at the end of the film. Portrayed by Steve Reeves, he was the main character in the 1961 sword and sandal film Guerra di Troia (The Trojan War). Reeves reprised the role the following year in the film The Avenger, about Aeneas's arrival in Latium and his conflicts with local tribes as he tries to settle his fellow Trojan refugees there.
Giulio Brogi, portrayed as Aeneas in the 1971 Italian TV miniseries series called Eneide, which gives the whole story of the Aeneid, from Aeneas escape from to Troy, to his meeting of Dido, his arrival in Italy, and his duel with Turnus.
The most recent cinematic portrayal of Aeneas was in the film Troy, in which he appears as a youth charged by Paris to protect the Trojan refugees, and to continue the ideals of the city and its people. Paris gives Aeneas Priam's sword, in order to give legitimacy and continuity to the royal line of Troy – and lay the foundations of Roman culture. In this film, he is not a member of the royal family and does not appear to fight in the war.
In the role-playing game Vampire: The Requiem by White Wolf Game Studios, Aeneas figures as one of the mythical founders of the Ventrue Clan.
in the action game Warriors: Legends of Troy, Aeneas is a playable character. The game ends with him and the Aeneans fleeing Troy's destruction and, spurned by the words of a prophetess thought crazed, goes to a new country (Italy) where he will start an empire greater than Greece and Troy combined that shall rule the world for 1000 years, never to be outdone in the tale of men (the Roman Empire).
In the 2018 TV miniseries Troy: Fall of a City, Aeneas is portrayed by Alfred Enoch. He also featured as an Epic Fighter of the Dardania faction in the Total War Saga: Troy in 2020. |
Aeneas | Depictions in art | Depictions in art
Scenes depicting Aeneas, especially from the Aeneid, have been the focus of study for centuries. They have been the frequent subject of art and literature since their debut in the 1st century. |
Aeneas | Villa Valmarana | Villa Valmarana
The artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was commissioned by Gaetano Valmarana in 1757 to fresco several rooms in the Villa Valmarana, the family villa situated outside Vicenza. Tiepolo decorated the palazzina with scenes from epics such as Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid.Michael Collins, Elise K. Kirk ed. Opera and Vivaldi p. 150
thumb|upright|Aeneas Introducing Cupid Dressed as Ascanius to Dido, by Tiepolo (1757).thumb|upright|Venus Appearing to Aeneas on the Shores of Carthage, by Tiepolo (1757).thumb|upright|Mercury Appearing to Aeneas, by Tiepolo (1757).thumb|upright|Venus and Vulcan, by Tiepolo (between 1762 and 1766). |
Aeneas | Aeneas flees Troy | Aeneas flees Troy
thumb|Flight of Aeneas from Troy, by Girolamo Genga (between 1507 and 1510).thumb|Aeneas and his Father Fleeing Troy, by Simon Vouet (c. 1635).thumb|Aeneas & Anchises, by Pierre Lepautre (c. 1697).thumb|Aeneas fleeing from Troy, by Pompeo Batoni (c. 1750). |
Aeneas | Aeneas with Dido | Aeneas with Dido
thumb|Dido and Aeneas, by Rutilio Manetti (c. 1630)thumb|The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas, by Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1766)thumb| Landscape with Dido and Aeneas, by Thomas Jones (1769)thumb|Dido meeting Aeneas, by Johann Heinrich the Elder Tischbein (3 January 1780) |
Aeneas | Family tree | Family tree |
Aeneas | See also | See also
Cumaean Sibyl
Lacrimae rerum
The Golden Bough
Latin kings of Alba Longa |
Aeneas | Notes | Notes |
Aeneas | References | References |
Aeneas | Sources | Sources
Homer, Iliad II. 819–21; V. 217–575; XIII. 455–544; XX. 75–352.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca III. xii. 2; Epitome III. 32–IV. 2; V. 21.
Virgil, Aeneid.
Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII. 623–715; XIV. 75–153; 581–608.
Ovid, Heroides, VII.
Livy, Book 1.1–2.
Dictys Cretensis.
Dares Phrygius. |
Aeneas | Further reading | Further reading
Cramer, D. "The Wrath of Aeneas: Iliad 13.455–67 and 20.75–352." Syllecta Classica, vol. 11, 2000, pp. 16–33. .
de Vasconcellos, P.S. "A Sound Play on Aeneas' Name in the Aeneid: A Brief Note on VII.69." Vergilius (1959–), vol. 61, 2015, pp. 125–29. .
Farron, S. "The Aeneas–Dido Episode as an Attack on Aeneas' Mission and Rome." Greece & Rome, vol. 27, no. 1, 1980, pp. 34–47. . .
Gowers, E. "Trees and Family Trees in the Aeneid." Classical Antiquity, vol. 30, no. 1, 2011, pp. 87–118. . .
Grillo, L. "Leaving Troy and Creusa: Reflections on Aeneas' Flight." The Classical Journal, vol. 106, no. 1, 2010, pp. 43–68. . .
Noonan, J. "Sum Pius Aeneas: Aeneas and the Leader as Conservator/Σωτήρ" The Classical Bulletin. vol. 83, no. 1, 2007, pp. 65–91.
Putnam, M.C.J. The Humanness of Heroes: Studies in the Conclusion of Virgil's Aeneid. The Amsterdam Vergil lectures, 1. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011.
Starr, R.J. "Aeneas the Rhetorician: 'Aeneid IV', 279–95." Latomus, vol. 62, no. 1, 2003, pp. 36–46. .
Scafoglio, G. "The Betrayal of Aeneas." Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, vol. 53 no. 1, 2013, pp. 1–14.
Schauer, M. Aeneas dux in Vergils Aeneis. Eine literarische Fiktion in augusteischer Zeit. Zetemata vol. 128. Munich: C.H. Beck, 2007. |
Aeneas | External links | External links
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (about 900 images related to the Aeneid)
Category:Trojan Leaders
Category:Characters in the Aeneid
Category:Greek mythological heroes
Category:Children of Aphrodite
Category:Characters in Roman mythology
Category:Characters in the Divine Comedy
Category:Katabasis in classical mythology
Category:Demigods in classical mythology
Category:Legendary progenitors
Category:Metamorphoses characters
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Deified men |
Aeneas | Table of Content | short description, Etymology, Epithets, Greek myth and epos, Homeric ''Hymn to Aphrodite'', Homer's ''Iliad'', Other sources, Roman myth and literature, Virgil's ''Aeneid'', Other sources, English mythology, Further reading, Medieval accounts, Family and legendary descendants, Character and appearance, Modern portrayals, Literature, Opera, film and other media, Depictions in art, Villa Valmarana, Aeneas flees Troy, Aeneas with Dido, Family tree, See also, Notes, References, Sources, Further reading, External links |
April 13 | pp-move | |
April 13 | Events | Events |
April 13 | Pre-1600 | Pre-1600
1111 – Henry V, King of Germany, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1455 – Thirteen Years' War: the beginning of the Battle for Kneiphof. |
April 13 | 1601–1900 | 1601–1900
1612 – Samurai Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō in a duel at Funajima island.
1613 – Samuel Argall, having captured Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father.
1699 – The Sikh religion is formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saintsby Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.
1849 – Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly.
1861 – American Civil War: Union forces surrender Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.
1865 – American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union forces.
1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.
1873 – The Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan. |
April 13 | 1901–present | 1901–present
1909 – The 31 March Incident leads to the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
1919 – Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops led by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer kill approximately 379–1,000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India; and approximately 1,500 injured.
1924 – A.E.K., a major Greek multi-sport club, is established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople.
1941 – A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
1943 – World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.
1945 – World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.
1945 – World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.
1948 – In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.
1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra.
1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.
1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
1970 – An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon.
1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
1975 – An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
1976 – Forty workers die in the Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion, the deadliest industrial accident in modern Finnish history.
1996 – Two women and four children are killed after Israeli helicopter fired rockets at an ambulance in Mansouri, Lebanon.
1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2006 – The United Front for Democratic Change's attack on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is repelled by the Chadian army
2009 – A fire destroys a homeless hostel and kills at least 22 people in Kamień Pomorski, Poland.
2013 – Salam Fayyad resigns as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority following an ongoing dispute with the President Mahmoud Abbas.
2014 – Three people are killed in a shooting in Overland Park, Kansas.
2023 – The house of Jack Teixeira is raided in an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents; he is arrested on the same day.
2024 – Six people and the perpetrator are killed and twelve others injured in a mass stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney, Australia.
2025 – Rory McIlroy wins the Masters Tournament, becoming just the sixth person to complete the Grand Slam in golf. |
April 13 | Births | Births |
April 13 | Pre-1600 | Pre-1600
1229 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1294)
1350 – Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (d. 1405)
1506 – Peter Faber, French priest and theologian, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1546)
1519 – Catherine de' Medici, Italian-French wife of Henry II of France (d. 1589)
1570 – Guy Fawkes, English soldier, member of the Gunpowder Plot (probable; d. 1606)
1573 – Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1625)
1593 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1641) |
April 13 | 1601–1900 | 1601–1900
1618 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (d. 1693)
1636 – Hendrik van Rheede, Dutch botanist (d. 1691)
1648 – Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (d. 1717)
1713 – Pierre Jélyotte, French tenor (d. 1797)
1729 – Thomas Percy, Irish bishop and poet (d. 1811)
1732 – Frederick North, Lord North, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1792)
1735 – Isaac Low, American merchant and politician, founded the New York Chamber of Commerce (d. 1791)
1743 – Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
1747 – Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1793)
1764 – Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1830)
1769 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (d. 1830)
1771 – Richard Trevithick, Cornish-English engineer and explorer (d. 1833)
1780 – Alexander Mitchell, Irish engineer, invented the Screw-pile lighthouse (d. 1868)
1784 – Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
1787 – John Robertson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1873)
1794 – Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist and academic (d. 1867)
1802 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist and herpetologist (d. 1884)
1808 – Antonio Meucci, Italian-American engineer (d. 1889)
1810 – Félicien David, French composer (d. 1876)
1824 – William Alexander, Irish archbishop, poet, and theologian (d. 1911)
1825 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1868)
1828 – Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (d. 1906)
1828 – Joseph Lightfoot, English bishop and theologian (d. 1889)
1832 – Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorian author and diplomat (d. 1889)
1841 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (d. 1905)
1850 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, Irish astronomer (d. 1917)
1851 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (d. 1928)
1851 – William Quan Judge, Irish occultist and theosophist (d. 1896)
1852 – Frank Winfield Woolworth, American businessman, founded the F. W. Woolworth Company (d. 1919)
1854 – Lucy Craft Laney, American founder of the Haines Normal and Industrial School, Augusta, Georgia (d. 1933)
1860 – James Ensor, English-Belgian painter, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism (d. 1949)
1866 – Butch Cassidy, American criminal (d. 1908)
1872 – John Cameron, Scottish international footballer and manager (d. 1935)
1872 – Alexander Roda Roda, Austrian-Croatian journalist and author (d. 1945)
1873 – John W. Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Solicitor General (d. 1955)
1875 – Ray Lyman Wilbur, American physician, academic, and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1949)
1879 – Edward Bruce, American lawyer and painter (d. 1943)
1879 – Oswald Bruce Cooper, American type designer, lettering artist, graphic designer, and educator (d. 1940)
1880 – Charles Christie, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded the Christie Film Company (d. 1955)
1885 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1885 – Juhan Kukk, Estonian politician, Head of State of Estonia (d. 1942)
1885 – György Lukács, Hungarian philosopher and critic (d. 1971)
1885 – Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Dutch politician (d. 1961)
1887 – Gordon S. Fahrni, Canadian physician and golfer (d. 1995)
1889 – Herbert Yardley, American cryptologist and author (d. 1958)
1890 – Frank Murphy, American jurist and politician, 56th United States Attorney General (d. 1949)
1890 – Dadasaheb Torne, Indian director and producer (d. 1960)
1891 – Maurice Buckley, Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1921)
1891 – Nella Larsen, Danish/African-American nurse, librarian, and author (d. 1964)
1891 – Robert Scholl, German accountant and politician (d. 1973)
1892 – Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet, English air marshal (d. 1984)
1892 – Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, invented Radar (d. 1973)
1894 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)
1894 – May Brodney, Australian labour activist (d. 1973)
1896 – Fred Barnett, English footballer (d. 1982)
1897 – Werner Voss, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1917)
1899 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and game designer, created Scrabble (d. 1993)
1899 – Harold Osborn, American high jumper and decathlete (d. 1975)
1900 – Sorcha Boru, American potter and ceramic sculptor (d. 2006)
1900 – Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer (d. 1976) |
April 13 | 1901–present | 1901–present
1901 – Jacques Lacan, French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1981)
1901 – Alan Watt, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian Ambassador to Japan (d. 1988)
1902 – Philippe de Rothschild, French Grand Prix driver, playwright, and producer (d. 1988)
1902 – Marguerite Henry, American author (d. 1997)
1904 – David Robinson, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1987)
1905 – Rae Johnstone, Australian jockey (d. 1964)
1906 – Samuel Beckett, Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1906 – Bud Freeman, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
1907 – Harold Stassen, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2001)
1909 – Eudora Welty, American short story writer and novelist (d. 2001)
1911 – Ico Hitrec, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 1946)
1911 – Jean-Louis Lévesque, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1994)
1911 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1913 – Dave Albritton, American high jumper and coach (d. 1994)
1913 – Kermit Tyler, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 2010)
1914 – Orhan Veli Kanık, Turkish poet and author (d. 1950)
1916 – Phyllis Fraser, Welsh-American actress, journalist, and publisher, co-founded Beginner Books (d. 2006)as per Social Security Death Index under the name Phyllis C Wagner
1917 – Robert Orville Anderson, American businessman, founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
1917 – Bill Clements, American soldier, engineer, and politician, 15th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (d. 2011)
1919 – Roland Gaucher, French journalist and politician (d. 2007)
1919 – Howard Keel, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American activist, founded American Atheists (d. 1995)
1920 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (d. 1982)
1920 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2012)
1920 – Liam Cosgrave, Irish lawyer and politician, 6th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2017)
1920 – Theodore L. Thomas, American chemical engineer, Patent attorney and writer (d. 2005)
1922 – Heinz Baas, German footballer and manager (d. 1994)
1922 – John Braine, English librarian and author (d. 1986)
1922 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician and teacher, 1st President of Tanzania (d. 1999)
1922 – Valve Pormeister, Estonian architect (d. 2002)"Valve Pormeister 13. IV 1922 – 27. X 2002", Sirp.ee. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
1923 – Don Adams, American actor and director (d. 2005)
1923 – A. H. Halsey, English sociologist and academic (d. 2014)
1924 – John T. Biggers, American painter (d. 2001)
1924 – Jack T. Chick, American author, illustrator, and publisher (d. 2016)
1924 – Stanley Donen, American film director and choreographer (d. 2019)
1926 – Ellie Lambeti, Greek actress (d. 1983)
1926 – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English businessman (d. 2014)
1927 – Rosemary Haughton, English philosopher, theologian, and author (d. 2024)
1927 – Maurice Ronet, French actor and director (d. 1983)
1928 – Alan Clark, English historian and politician, Minister of State for Trade (d. 1999)
1928 – Gianni Marzotto, Italian racing driver and businessman (d. 2012)
1929 – Marilynn Smith, American golfer (d. 2019)
1931 – Anita Cerquetti, Italian soprano (d. 2014)
1931 – Robert Enrico, French director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1931 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver and engineer (d. 2018)
1931 – Jon Stone, American composer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1932 – Orlando Letelier, Chilean-American economist and politician, Chilean Minister of National Defense (d. 1976)
1934 – John Muckler, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2021)
1937 – Col Joye, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1937 – Edward Fox, English actor
1937 – Lanford Wilson, American playwright, co-founded the Circle Repertory Company (d. 2011)Fox, Margalit. "Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright, Dies at 73" The New York Times, March 24, 2011.
1938 – Klaus Lehnertz, German pole vaulter
1939 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1939 – Paul Sorvino, American actor and singer (d. 2022)
1940 – Mike Beuttler, Egyptian-English racing driver (d. 1988)
1940 – J. M. G. Le Clézio, Breton French-Mauritian author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Vladimir Cosma, French composer, conductor and violinist
1940 – Jim McNab, Scottish footballer (d. 2006)
1940 – Max Mosley, English racing driver and engineer, co-founded March Engineering, former president of the FIA (d. 2021)
1940 – Ruby Puryear Hearn, African-American biophysicist
1941 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Jean-Marc Reiser, French author and illustrator (d. 1983)
1942 – Bill Conti, American composer and conductor
1943 – Alan Jones, Australian rugby coach and radio host
1943 – Tim Krabbé, Dutch journalist and author
1944 – Susan Davis, Russian-American social worker and politician
1945 – Judy Nunn, Australian actress and author
1946 – Al Green, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor
1947 – Rae Armantrout, American poet and academic
1947 – Mike Chapman, Australian-English songwriter and producer
1947 – Jean-Jacques Laffont, French economist and academic (d. 2004)
1947 – Thanos Mikroutsikos, Greek composer and politician (d. 2019)
1948 – Nam Hae-il, South Korean admiral
1948 – Drago Jančar, Slovenian author and playwright
1948 – Mikhail Shufutinsky, Soviet and Russian singer, actor, TV presenter
1949 – Len Cook, New Zealand-English mathematician and statistician
1949 – Frank Doran, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1949 – Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (d. 2011)
1950 – Ron Perlman, American actor
1950 – Tommy Raudonikis, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2021)
1950 – William Sadler, American actor
1951 – Leszek Borysiewicz, Welsh immunologist and academic
1951 – Peabo Bryson, American singer
1951 – Peter Davison, English actor
1951 – Joachim Streich, German footballer (d. 2022)
1951 – Max Weinberg, American musician and bandleader
1952 – Gabrielle Gourdeau, Canadian writer (d. 2006)
1952 – Jonjo O'Neill, Irish jockey and trainer
1955 – Steve Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Muwenda Mutebi II, current King of Buganda Kingdom
1955 – Safet Sušić, Bosnian footballer and manager
1956 – César, Brazilian footballer (d. 2024)
1958 – Jean-Marc Pilorget, French footballer and manager
1959 – John Middendorf, American mountain climber (d. 2024)
1960 – Rudi Völler, German footballer and manager
1963 – Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player and author
1964 – Davis Love III, American golfer and sportscaster
1965 – Patricio Pouchulu, Argentinian architect and educator
1966 – Mando, Greek singer
1967 – Dana Barros, American basketball player and coach
1967 – Michael Eisen, American biologist and academic
1967 – Olga Tañón, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter
1970 – Ricky Schroder, American actor
1971 – Franck Esposito, French swimmer La fiche de Franck Esposto, from L'Équipe; retrieved 23 June 2013.
1971 – Danie Mellor, Australian painter and sculptor
1971 – Bo Outlaw, American basketball player
1972 – Aaron Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Bokeem Woodbine, American actor
1975 – Lou Bega, German singer
1976 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
1976 – Dan Campbell, American football player and coach
1976 – Glenn Howerton, American actor
1977 – Margus Tsahkna, Estonian lawyer and politician
1978 – Carles Puyol, Spanish footballer
1979 – Baron Davis, American basketball player
1980 – Kelli Giddish, American actress
1980 – Quentin Richardson, American basketball player
1982 – Nellie McKay, British-American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress
1982 – Ty Dolla Sign, American singer, songwriter, and musician
1983 – Claudio Bravo, Chilean footballer
1983 – Hunter Pence, American baseball player
1984 – Anders Lindegaard, Danish footballer
1986 – Lorenzo Cain, American baseball player
1987 – Steven De Vuyst, Belgian politician
1987 – John-Allison Weiss, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Allison Williams, American actress and singer
1988 – Anderson, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Josh Reynolds, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Josh Gordon, American football player
1992 – Jordan Silk, Australian cricketerhttps://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/jordan-silk-437669 ESPNcricinfo
1993 – Melvin Gordon, American football player
1993 – Darrun Hilliard, American basketball player
1994 – Kahraba, Egyptian footballer
1996 – Marko Grujić, Serbian footballer
1997 – Mateo Cassierra, Colombian footballer
1997 – Kyle Walker-Peters, English footballer
1999 – Alessandro Bastoni, Italian footballer
1999 – András Schäfer, Hungarian footballer
2000 – Rasmus Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
2000 – Facundo Torres, Uruguayan footballer
2001 – Neco Williams, Welsh footballer
2002 – Karl Hein, Estonian footballer |
April 13 | Deaths | Deaths |
April 13 | Pre-1600 | Pre-1600
548 – Lý Nam Đế, Vietnamese emperor (b. 503)
585 – Hermenegild, Visigothic prince and saint
799 – Paul the Deacon, Italian monk and historian (b. 720)
814 – Krum, khan of the Bulgarian Khanate
862 – Donald I, king of the Picts (b. 812)
989 – Bardas Phokas, Byzantine general
1035 – Herbert I, Count of Maine
1093 – Vsevolod I of Kiev (b. 1030)
1113 – Ida of Lorraine, saint and noblewoman (b. c. 1040)
1138 – Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)
1213 – Guy of Thouars, regent of Brittany
1275 – Eleanor of England (b. 1215)
1367 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (b. 1313)
1592 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511) |
April 13 | 1601–1900 | 1601–1900
1605 – Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia (b. 1551)
1612 – Sasaki Kojirō, Japanese samurai (b. 1585)
1635 – Fakhr-al-Din II, Ottoman prince (b. 1572)
1638 – Henri, Duke of Rohan (b. 1579)
1641 – Richard Montagu, English bishop (b. 1577)
1695 – Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (b. 1621)
1716 – Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, English admiral and politician (b. 1648)
1722 – Charles Leslie, Irish priest and theologian (b. 1650)
1793 – Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French botanist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1763)
1794 – Nicolas Chamfort, French playwright and poet (b. 1741)
1826 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (b. 1763)
1853 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist and academic (b. 1788)
1853 – James Iredell, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of North Carolina (b. 1788)
1855 – Henry De la Beche, English geologist and palaeontologist (b. 1796)
1868 – Tewodros II of Ethiopia (b. 1818)
1880 – Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist and author (b. 1813)
1882 – Bruno Bauer, German historian and philosopher (b. 1809)
1886 – John Humphrey Noyes, American religious leader, founded the Oneida Community (b. 1811)
1890 – Samuel J. Randall, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 33rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1828) |
April 13 | 1901–present | 1901–present
1909 – Whitley Stokes, Anglo-Irish lawyer and scholar (b. 1830)
1910 – William Quiller Orchardson, Scottish-English painter and educator (b. 1835)
1911 – John McLane, Scottish-American politician, 50th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1852)
1911 – George Washington Glick, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Kansas (b. 1827)
1912 – Takuboku Ishikawa, Japanese poet and author (b. 1886)
1917 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1856)
1918 – Lavr Kornilov, Russian general (b. 1870)
1920 – Stefanos Streit, Greek jurist, banker and politician (b. 1896)
1927 – Georg Voigt, German politician, Mayor of Frankfurt (b. 1866)
1936 – Konstantinos Demertzis, Greek politician 129th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
1938 – Grey Owl, English-Canadian environmentalist and author (b. 1888)
1941 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer and academic (b. 1863)
1941 – William Twaits, Canadian soccer player (b. 1879)
1942 – Henk Sneevliet, Dutch politician (b. 1883)
1942 – Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (b. 1879)
1944 – Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and composer (b. 1857)
1945 – Ernst Cassirer, Polish-American philosopher and academic (b. 1874)
1954 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (b. 1880)
1954 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1890)
1956 – Emil Nolde, Danish-German painter and educator (b. 1867)
1959 – Eduard van Beinum, Dutch pianist, violinist, and conductor (b. 1901)
1961 – John A. Bennett, American soldier (b. 1936)
1962 – Culbert Olson, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of California (b. 1876)
1964 – Kristian Krefting, Norwegian footballer and chemical engineer (b. 1891)
1966 – Abdul Salam Arif, Iraqi colonel and politician, 2nd President of Iraq (b. 1921)
1966 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (b. 1881)
1966 – Georges Duhamel, French soldier and author (b. 1884)
1967 – Nicole Berger, French actress (b. 1934)
1969 – Ambrogio Gianotti, Italian partigiano and priest (b. 1901)https://www.museopartigiano.it/upload/documenti/G/G-17.PDF
1969 – Alfred Karindi, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1901)
1971 – Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
1971 – Juhan Smuul, Estonian author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1975 – Larry Parks, American actor and singer (b. 1914)
1975 – François Tombalbaye, Chadian soldier, academic, and politician, 1st President of Chad (b. 1918)
1978 – Jack Chambers, Canadian painter and director (b. 1931)
1978 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian educator and women's rights activist (b. 1900)
1980 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (b. 1956)
1983 – Gerry Hitchens, English footballer (b. 1934)
1983 – Theodore Stephanides, Greek physician, author, and poet (b. 1896)
1984 – Ralph Kirkpatrick, American harpsichordist and musicologist (b. 1911)
1984 – Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1912)
1988 – Jean Gascon, Canadian actor and director (b. 1920)
1992 – Maurice Sauvé, Canadian economist and politician (b. 1923)
1992 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (b. 1921)
1992 – Daniel Pollock, Australian actor (b. 1968)
1993 – Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1909)
1996 – Leila Mackinlay, English author and educator (b. 1910)
1997 – Bryant Bowles, American soldier and white supremacist, founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People (b. 1920)
1997 – Alan Cooley, Australian public servant (b. 1920)
1997 – Dorothy Frooks, American author and actress (b. 1896)
1997 – Voldemar Väli, Estonian wrestler (b. 1903)
1998 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and base jumper (b. 1960)
1999 – Ortvin Sarapu, Estonian-New Zealand chess player and author (b. 1924)
1999 – Willi Stoph, German engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of East Germany (b. 1914)
2000 – Giorgio Bassani, Italian author and poet (b. 1916)
2000 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (b. 1910)
2004 – Caron Keating, Northern Irish television host (b. 1962)
2005 – Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (b. 1924)
2005 – Phillip Pavia, American painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
2006 – Muriel Spark, Scottish novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1918)
2008 – John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist and academic (b. 1911)
2012 – Cecil Chaudhry, Pakistani pilot, academic, and activist (b. 1941)
2012 – Shūichi Higurashi, Japanese illustrator (b. 1936)
2013 – Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (b. 1924)
2014 – Ernesto Laclau, Argentinian-Spanish philosopher and theorist (b. 1935)
2014 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (b. 1951)
2015 – Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist and author (b. 1940)
2015 – Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, and illustrator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2015 – Herb Trimpe, American author and illustrator (b. 1939)
2017 – Dan Rooney, American football executive and former United States Ambassador to Ireland (b. 1932)
2022 – Michel Bouquet, French stage and film actor (b. 1925)
2022 – Gloria Parker, American musician and bandleader (b. 1921)
2024 – Faith Ringgold, American artist and author (b. 1930)
2025 – Richard Armitage, American diplomat and government official (b. 1945)
2025 – Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian novelist and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
2025 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter (b. 1934) |
April 13 | Holidays and observances | Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Ida of Louvain
Margaret of Castello
April 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Songkran
Songkran (Thailand)
Water-Sprinkling Festival
Vaisakhi (between 1902 and 2011) |
April 13 | References | References |
April 13 | External links | External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 13
Category:Days of April |
April 13 | Table of Content | pp-move, Events, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Births, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Deaths, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Holidays and observances, References, External links |
Amaranth | short description | Amaranthus is a cosmopolitan group of more than 50 species which make up the genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some of the better known names include "prostrate pigweed" and "love lies bleeding". Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants.
Catkin-like cymes of densely-packed flowers grow in summer or fall. Amaranth varies in flower, leaf, and stem color with a range of striking pigments from the spectrum of maroon to crimson and can grow longitudinally from tall with a cylindrical, succulent, fibrous stem that is hollow with grooves and bracteoles when mature.
There are approximately 75 species in the genus, 10 of which are dioecious and native to North America, and the remaining 65 are monoecious species that are endemic to every continent (except Antarctica) from tropical lowlands to the Himalayas. Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia. Amaranth grain is collected from the genus. The leaves of some species are also eaten. |
Amaranth | Names and etymology | Names and etymology
Amaranthus comes from the name of this plant in Ancient Greek, , "amaranth, immortal", noun formed from the privative prefix , "without", and the verb , "to consume, to exhaust".Dioscorides, 3, 9; 4, 55 and 57. Indeed, the amaranth has a reputation for not withering, with in particular its calice which remains persistent, and for this reason, represents a symbol of immortality. Some species are used in dry bouquets.
The form (with H), comes from an erroneous association with the Greek etymon (lat. ) meaning , found in the name of many plants (agapanthus, for example).
Its denominations in the languages of the peoples cultivating it since ancient times in America are in Nahuatl, , in Quechua, or in Maya, ahparie in Purépecha, in Huichol, and guegui in Tarahumara. |
Amaranth | Description | Description
thumb|Amaranth grain (left) and wheat (right)
Amaranth is a herbaceous plant or shrub that is either annual or perennial across the genus. Flowers vary interspecifically from the presence of 3 or 5 tepals and stamens, whereas a 7-porate pollen grain structure remains consistent across the family. Species across the genus contain concentric rings of vascular bundles, and fix carbon efficiently with a C4 photosynthetic pathway. Leaves are approximately and of oval or elliptical shape that are either opposite or alternate across species, although most leaves are whole and simple with entire margins.
Amaranth has a primary root with deeper spreading secondary fibrous root structures. Inflorescences are in the form a large panicle that varies from terminal to axial, color, and sex. The tassel of fluorescence is either erect or bent and varies in width and length between species. Flowers are radially symmetric and either bisexual or unisexual with very small, bristly perianth and pointy bracts. Species in this genus are either monecious (e.g. A. hybridus,) or dioecious (e.g. A. palmeri). Fruits are in the form of capsules referred to as a unilocular pixdio that opens at maturity. The top (operculum) of the unilocular pixdio releases the urn that contains the seed. Seeds are circular form from 1 to 1.5 millimeters in diameter and range in color with a shiny, smooth seed coat. The panicle is harvested 200 days after cultivation with approximately 1,000 to 3,000 seeds harvested per gram. |
Amaranth | Chemistry | Chemistry
Amaranth grain contains phytochemicals that are not defined as nutrients and may be antinutrient factors, such as polyphenols, saponins, tannins, and oxalates. These compounds are reduced in content and antinutrient effect by cooking. |
Amaranth | Taxonomy | Taxonomy
Amaranthus shows a wide variety of morphological diversity among and even within certain species. Amaranthus is part of the Amaranthaceae that is part of the larger grouping of the Carophyllales. Although the family (Amaranthaceae) is distinctive, the genus has few distinguishing characters among the 75 species present across six continents. This complicates taxonomy and Amaranthus has generally been considered among systematists as a "difficult" genus and to hybridize often.
In 1955, Sauer classified the genus into two subgenera, differentiating only between monoecious and dioecious species: Acnida (L.) Aellen ex K.R. Robertson and Amaranthus. Although this classification was widely accepted, further infrageneric classification was (and still is) needed to differentiate this widely diverse group. Mosyakin and Robertson 1996 later divided into three subgenera: Acnida, Amaranthus, and Albersia. The support for the addition of the subdivision Albersia because of its indehiscent fruits coupled with three elliptic to linear tepals to be exclusive characters to members of this subgenus. The classification of these groups are further supported with a combination of floral characters, reproductive strategies, geographic distribution, and molecular evidence.
The phylogenies of Amaranthus using maximum parsimony and Bayesian analysis of nuclear and chloroplast genes suggest five clades within the genus: Diecious / Pumilus, Hybris, Galapagos, Eurasian/ South African, Australian (ESA), ESA + South American.
Amaranthus includes three recognised subgenera and 75 species, although species numbers are questionable due to hybridisation and species concepts. Infrageneric classification focuses on inflorescence, flower characters and whether a species is monoecious/dioecious, as in the Sauer (1955) suggested classification. Bracteole morphology present on the stem is used for taxonomic classification of Amaranth. Wild species have longer bracteoles compared to cultivated species. A modified infrageneric classification of Amaranthus includes three subgenera: Acnida, Amaranthus, and Albersia, with the taxonomy further differentiated by sections within each of the subgenera.
There is near certainty that A. hypochondriacus is the common ancestor to the cultivated grain species, however the later series of domestication to follow remains unclear. There has been opposing hypotheses of a single as opposed to multiple domestication events of the three grain species. There is evidence of phylogenetic and geographical support for clear groupings that indicate separate domestication events in South America and Central America. A. hybridus may derive from South America, whereas A. caudatus, A. hypochondriacus, and A. quentiensis are native to Central and North America. |
Amaranth | Species | Species
Species include:
Amaranthus acanthochiton – greenstripe
Amaranthus acutilobus – a synonym of Amaranthus viridis
Amaranthus albus – white pigweed, tumble pigweed
Amaranthus anderssonii
Amaranthus arenicola – sandhill amaranth
Amaranthus australis – southern amaranth
Amaranthus bigelovii – Bigelow's amaranth
Amaranthus blitoides – mat amaranth, prostrate amaranth, prostrate pigweed
Amaranthus blitum – purple amaranth
Amaranthus brownii – Brown's amaranth
Amaranthus californicus – California amaranth, California pigweed
Amaranthus cannabinus – tidal-marsh amaranth
Amaranthus caudatus – love-lies-bleeding, pendant amaranth, tassel flower, quilete
Amaranthus chihuahuensis – Chihuahuan amaranth
Amaranthus crassipes – spreading amaranth
Amaranthus crispus – crispleaf amaranth
Amaranthus cruentus – purple amaranth, red amaranth, Mexican grain amaranth
Amaranthus deflexus – large-fruit amaranth
Amaranthus dubius – spleen amaranth, khada sag
Amaranthus fimbriatus – fringed amaranth, fringed pigweed
Amaranthus floridanus – Florida amaranth
Amaranthus furcatus
Amaranthus graecizans
Amaranthus grandiflorus
Amaranthus greggii – Gregg's amaranth
Amaranthus hybridus – smooth amaranth, smooth pigweed, red amaranth
Amaranthus hypochondriacus – Prince-of-Wales feather, prince's feather
Amaranthus interruptus – Australian amaranth
Amaranthus minimus
Amaranthus mitchellii
Amaranthus muricatus – African amaranth
Amaranthus obcordatus – Trans-Pecos amaranth
Amaranthus palmeri – Palmer's amaranth, Palmer pigweed, careless weed
Amaranthus polygonoides – tropical amaranth
Amaranthus powellii – green amaranth, Powell amaranth, Powell pigweed
Amaranthus pringlei – Pringle's amaranth
Amaranthus pumilus – seaside amaranth
Amaranthus quitensis - Mucronate Amaranth
Amaranthus retroflexus – red-root amaranth, redroot pigweed, common amaranth
Amaranthus saradhiana - purpal stem amaranth, green leaf amaranth
Amaranthus scleranthoides – variously Amaranthus sclerantoides
Amaranthus scleropoides – bone-bract amaranth
Amaranthus spinosus – spiny amaranth, prickly amaranth, thorny amaranth
Amaranthus standleyanus
Amaranthus thunbergii – Thunberg's amaranth
Amaranthus torreyi – Torrey's amaranth
Amaranthus tricolor – Joseph's-coat
Amaranthus tuberculatus – rough-fruit amaranth, tall waterhemp
Amaranthus viridis – slender amaranth, green amaranth
Amaranthus watsonii – Watson's amaranth
Amaranthus wrightii – Wright's amaranth |
Amaranth | Etymology | Etymology
"Amaranth" derives from Greek (), "unfading", with the Greek word for "flower", (), factoring into the word's development as amaranth, the unfading flower. Amarant is an archaic variant. The name was first applied to the related Celosia (Amaranthus and Celosia share long-lasting dried flowers), as Amaranthus plants were not yet known in Europe. |
Amaranth | Ecology | Ecology
Amaranth weed species have an extended period of germination, rapid growth, and high rates of seed production, and have been causing problems for farmers since the mid-1990s. This is partially due to the reduction in tillage, reduction in herbicidal use and the evolution of herbicidal resistance in several species where herbicides have been applied more often.Wetzel et al. (1999). Use of PCR-based molecular markers to identify weedy Amaranthus species. Weed Science 47: 518–523. The following 9 species of Amaranthus are considered invasive and noxious weeds in the U.S. and Canada: A. albus, A. blitoides, A. hybridus, A. palmeri, A. powellii, A. retroflexus, A. spinosus, A. tuberculatus, and A. viridis.USDA Plant Database. Plants Profile- Amaranthus L[Assad, R., Reshi, Z. A., Jan, S., & Rashid, I. (2017). "Biology of amaranths". The Botanical Review, 83(4), 382–436.]
A new herbicide-resistant strain of A. palmeri has appeared; it is glyphosate-resistant and so cannot be killed by herbicides using the chemical. Also, this plant can survive in tough conditions. The species Amaranthus palmeri (Palmer amaranth) causes the greatest reduction in soybean yields and has the potential to reduce yields by 17-68% in field experiments. Palmer amaranth is among the "top five most troublesome weeds" in the southeast of the United States and has already evolved resistances to dinitroaniline herbicides and acetolactate synthase inhibitors.Culpepper et al. (2006). Glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) confirmed in Georgia. Weed Science 54: 620–626. This makes the proper identification of Amaranthus species at the seedling stage essential for agriculturalists. Proper weed control needs to be applied before the species successfully colonizes in the crop field and causes significant yield reductions.
An evolutionary lineage of around 90 species within the genus has acquired the carbon fixation pathway, which increases their photosynthetic efficiency. This probably occurred in the Miocene. |
Amaranth | Uses | Uses
All parts of the plant are considered edible, though some may have sharp spines that need to be removed before consumption. Amaranth is high in oxalates, but this may be partially offset by its high calcium content. |
Amaranth | Nutrition | Nutrition
Uncooked amaranth grain by weight is 12% water, 65% carbohydrates (including 7% dietary fiber), 14% protein, and 7% fat (table). A reference serving of uncooked amaranth grain provides of food energy, and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, dietary fiber, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, folate, and several dietary minerals (table). Uncooked amaranth is particularly rich in manganese (159% DV), phosphorus (80% DV), magnesium (70% DV), iron (59% DV), and selenium (34% DV). Amaranth has a high oxalate content.
Cooking decreases its nutritional value substantially across all nutrients, with only dietary minerals remaining at moderate levels. Cooked amaranth leaves are a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and manganese, with moderate levels of folate, iron, magnesium, and potassium. Amaranth does not contain gluten. |
Amaranth | History | History
The native range of the genus is cosmopolitan. In pre-Hispanic times, amaranth was cultivated by the Aztec and their tributary communities in a quantity very similar to maize.Mapes, Cristina, Eduardo Espitia, and Scott Sessions. "Amaranth." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001. Known to the Aztecs as , amaranth is thought to have represented up to 80% of their energy consumption before the Spanish conquest. Another important use of amaranth throughout Mesoamerica was in ritual drinks and foods. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like popcorn and mixed with honey, molasses, or chocolate to make a treat called , meaning "joy" in Spanish.
While all species are believed to be native to the Americas, several have been cultivated and introduced to warm regions worldwide. Amaranth's cosmopolitan distribution makes it one of many plants providing evidence of pre-Columbian oceanic contact. The earliest archeological evidence for amaranth in the Old World was found in an excavation in Narhan, India, dated to 1000–800 BCE.
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, its palatability, ease of cooking, and a protein that is particularly well-suited to human nutritional needs, interest in amaranth seeds (especially A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus) revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated. It is a popular snack in Mexico, sometimes mixed with chocolate or puffed rice, and its use has spread to Europe and other parts of North America. |
Amaranth | Seed | Seed
Several species are raised for amaranth "grain" in Asia and the Americas. Amaranth and its relative quinoa are considered pseudocereals because of their similarities to cereals in flavor and cooking. The spread of Amaranthus is of a joint effort of human expansion, adaptation, and fertilization strategies. Grain amaranth has been used for food by humans in several ways. The grain can be ground into a flour for use like other grain flours. It can be popped like popcorn, or flaked like oatmeal.
Seeds of Amaranth grain have been found in Antofagasta de la Sierra Department, Catamarca, Argentina in the southern Puna desert of the north of Argentina dating from 4,500 years ago, with evidence suggesting earlier use. Archeological digs unearthed A. cruentus seeds in a cave in Tehuacán, Mexico that dated to 6,000 years before present, while other digs in the same caves found A. hypochondriacus seeds dating to 1500 years before present.
Ancient amaranth grains still used include the three species Amaranthus caudatus, A. cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus. Evidence from single-nucleotide polymorphisms and chromosome structure supports A. hypochondriacus as the common ancestor of the three grain species.
It has been proposed as an inexpensive native crop that could be cultivated by indigenous people in rural areas for several reasons:
A small amount of seed plants a large area (seeding rate 1 kg/ha).
Yields are high compared to the seeding rate: 1,000 kg or more per hectare.
It is easily harvested and easily processed, post harvest, as there are no hulls to remove.
Its seeds are a source of protein.De Macvean & Pöll (1997). Chapter 8: Ethnobotany. Tropical Tree Seed Manual, USDA Forest Service, edt. J.A Vozzo.
It has rich content of the dietary minerals, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
In cooked and edible forms, amaranth retains adequate content of several dietary minerals.
It is easy to cook. Boil in water with twice the amount of water as grain by volume (or 2.4 times as much water by weight). Amaranth seed can also be popped one tablespoon at a time in a hot pan without oil, shaken every few seconds to avoid burning.
It grows fast and, in three cultivated species, the large seedheads can weigh up to 1 kg and contain a half-million small seeds.
In the United States, the amaranth crop is mostly used for seed production. Most amaranth in American food products starts as a ground flour, blended with wheat or other flours to create cereals, crackers, cookies, bread or other baked products. Despite utilization studies showing that amaranth can be blended with other flours at levels above 50% without affecting functional properties or taste, most commercial products use amaranth only as a minor portion of their ingredients despite them being marketed as "amaranth" products. |
Amaranth | Leaves, roots, and stems | Leaves, roots, and stems
thumb|Southern Kerala-style traditional Thoran made with Cheera (amaranth) leaves
Amaranth species are cultivated and consumed as a leaf vegetable in many parts of the world. Four species of Amaranthus are documented as cultivated vegetables in eastern Asia: Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus blitum, Amaranthus dubius, and Amaranthus tricolor.Costea (2003). Notes on Economic Plants. Economic Botany 57(4): 646-649 |
Amaranth | Asia | Asia
In Indonesia and Malaysia, leaf amaranth is called (although the word has since been loaned to refer to spinach, in a different genus). In the Philippines, the Ilocano word for the plant is ; the Tagalog word for the plant is or .
In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India, it is called and is a popular red leafy vegetable (referred to in the class of vegetable preparations called ). It is called chua in Kumaun area of Uttarakhand, where it is a popular red-green vegetable. In Karnataka in India, it is called (). It is used to prepare curries such as hulee, palya, majjigay-hulee, and so on. In Kerala, it is called cheera and is consumed by stir-frying the leaves with spices and red chili peppers to make a dish called cheera thoran. In Tamil Nadu, it is called and is regularly consumed as a favourite dish, where the greens are steamed and mashed with light seasoning of salt, red chili pepper, and cumin. It is called . In the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and other Telugu speaking regions of the country, this leaf is called as "Thotakura" and is cooked as a standalone curry, added as a part of mix leafy vegetable curry or added in preparation of a popular dal called () in (Telugu). In Maharashtra, it is called and is available in both red and white colour. In Orissa, it is called , it is used to prepare , in which the leaf is fried with chili and onions. In West Bengal, the green variant is called () and the red variant is called ().
In China, the leaves and stems are used as a stir-fry vegetable, or in soups. In Vietnam, it is called and is used to make soup. Two species are popular as edible vegetable in Vietnam: (Amaranthus tricolor) and or (Amaranthus viridis). |
Amaranth | Africa | Africa
A traditional food plant in Africa, amaranth has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care.
In Bantu regions of Uganda and western Kenya, it is known as doodo or litoto. It is also known among the Kalenjin as a drought crop (chepkerta). In Lingala (spoken in the Congo), it is known as or . In Nigeria, it is a common vegetable and goes with all Nigerian starch dishes. It is known in Yoruba as , a short form of (meaning "make the husband fat"), or (meaning "we have money left over for fish"). In Botswana, it is referred to as morug and cooked as a staple green vegetable. |
Amaranth | Europe | Europe
In Greece, purple amaranth (Amaranthus blitum) is a popular dish called , or . It is boiled, then served with olive oil and lemon juice like a salad, sometimes alongside fried fish. Greeks stop harvesting the plant (which also grows wild) when it starts to bloom at the end of August. |
Amaranth | Americas | Americas
In Brazil, green amaranth was, and to a degree still is, often considered an invasive species as all other species of amaranth (except the generally imported A. caudatus cultivar), though some have traditionally appreciated it as a leaf vegetable, under the names of or , which is consumed cooked, generally accompanying the staple food, rice and beans.
In the Caribbean, the leaves are called bhaji in Trinidad and callaloo in Jamaica, and are sautéed with onions, garlic, and tomatoes, or sometimes used in a soup called pepperpot soup. |
Amaranth | Oil | Oil
Making up about 5% of the total fatty acids of amaranth, squalene is extracted as a vegetable-based alternative to the more expensive shark oil for use in dietary supplements and cosmetics. |
Amaranth | Dyes | Dyes
The flowers of the 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth were used by the Hopi (a tribe in the western United States) as the source of a deep red dye. Also a synthetic dye was named "amaranth" for its similarity in color to the natural amaranth pigments known as betalains. This synthetic dye is also known as Red No. 2 in North America and E123 in the European Union."The following color additives are not authorized for use in food products in the United States: (1) Amaranth (C.I. 16185, EEC No. E123, formerly certifiable as FD&C red No. 2);" FDA/CFSAN Food Compliance Program: Domestic Food Safety Program |
Amaranth | Ornamentals | Ornamentals
thumb|A. hypochondriacus (prince's feather) flowering
The genus also contains several well-known ornamental plants, such as Amaranthus caudatus (love-lies-bleeding), a vigorous, hardy annual with dark purplish flowers crowded in handsome drooping spikes. Another Indian annual, A. hypochondriacus (prince's feather), has deeply veined, lance-shaped leaves, purple on the under face, and deep crimson flowers densely packed on erect spikes.
Amaranths are recorded as food plants for some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including the nutmeg moth and various case-bearer moths of the genus Coleophora: C. amaranthella, C. enchorda (feeds exclusively on Amaranthus), C. immortalis (feeds exclusively on Amaranthus), C. lineapulvella, and C. versurella (recorded on A. spinosus). |
Amaranth | Culture | Culture
Diego Durán described the festivities for the Aztec god . The Aztec month of (7 December to 26 December) was dedicated to . People decorated their homes and trees with paper flags; ritual races, processions, dances, songs, prayers, and finally human sacrifices were held. This was one of the more important Aztec festivals, and the people prepared for the whole month. They fasted or ate very little; a statue of the god was made out of amaranth seeds and honey, and at the end of the month, it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a piece of the god. After the Spanish conquest, cultivation of amaranth was outlawed, while some of the festivities were subsumed into the Christmas celebration.
Amaranth is associated with longevity and, poetically, with death and immortality. Amaranth garlands were used in the mourning of Achilles.
John Milton's Paradise Lost portrays a showy amaranth in the Garden of Eden, "remov'd from Heav'n" when it blossoms because the flowers "shade the fountain of life". He describes amaranth as "immortal" in reference to the flowers that generally do not wither and retain bright reddish tones of color, even when deceased; referred to in one species as "love-lies-bleeding." |
Amaranth | Gallery | Gallery |
Amaranth | See also | See also
Ancient grains |
Amaranth | References | References |
Amaranth | Further reading | Further reading
Howard, Brian Clark. "Amaranth: Another Ancient Wonder Food, But Who Will Eat It?". National Geographic Online, August 12, 2013.
Fanton M., Fanton J. Amaranth The Seed Savers' Handbook. (1993)
Assad, R., Reshi, Z. A., Jan, S., & Rashid, I. (2017). Biology of amaranths. The Botanical Review, 83(4), 382–436. |
Amaranth | External links | External links
Grain amaranth, Crops For A Future
Category:Leaf vegetables
Category:Tropical agriculture
Category:Asian vegetables
Category:Pseudocereals
Category:E-number additives
Category:Plants used in Native American cuisine |
Amaranth | Table of Content | short description, Names and etymology, Description, Chemistry, Taxonomy, Species, Etymology, Ecology, Uses, Nutrition, History, Seed, Leaves, roots, and stems, Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas, Oil, Dyes, Ornamentals, Culture, Gallery, See also, References, Further reading, External links |
Agapanthus africanus | Short description | Agapanthus africanus, or the African lily, is a flowering plant from the genus Agapanthus found only on rocky sandstone slopes of the winter rainfall fynbos from the Cape Peninsula to Swellendam. It is also known as the lily-of-the-Nile in spite of only occurring in South Africa. |
Agapanthus africanus | Description | Description
left|thumb|Agapanthus africanus in Nusantara Flower Garden, Indonesia
The plant is a rhizomatous evergreen geophyte from in height. The leathery leaves are suberect and long and strap shaped. Flowers are broadly funnel-shaped, pale to deep blue, and thick-textured with a dark blue stripe running down the center of each petal. Paler flowers are more common in Agapanthus africanus walshii while Agapanthus africanus africanus flowers tend to be darker. The flowers grow in large clusters, with each flower being long. This species flowers from November to April, particularly after fire. Peak flowering occurs from December to February. |
Agapanthus africanus | Ecology | Ecology
Pollination is by wind, bees and sunbirds and seed dispersal by the wind. Chacma baboons and buck sometimes eat the flower heads just as the first flowers begin to open. These plants are adapted to survive fire in the fynbos and resprout from thick, fleshy roots after fire has passed through the area. |
Agapanthus africanus | Cultivation and use | Cultivation and use
Unlike the more common Agapanthus praecox, this species is less suitable as a garden plant as it is far more difficult to grow. A. africanus subsp. africanus may be grown in rockeries in a well drained, slightly acid sandy mix. They seem to be best when grown in shallow pots and will flower regularly if fed with a slow release fertiliser. A. africanus subsp. walshii is by far the most difficult Agapanthus to grow. It can only be grown as a container plant and will not survive if planted out. They require a very well-drained, sandy, acid mix with minimal watering in summer. Both subspecies require hot, dry summers, and winter rainfall climate. It will not tolerate extended freezing temperatures.
The name A. africanus has long been misapplied to A. praecox in horticultural use and publications across the world, and horticultural plants sold as A. africanus are actually hybrids or cultivars of A. praecox.
Extracts of A. africanus have been shown to have antifungal properties. Application of these extracts to the seeds of other plant species, including economically important species, has shown that it significantly reduces the severity of the impacts of certain pathogens. In the case of sorghum, this application was even found to perform better than Thiram, a commonly used fungicide when exposed to Sporisorium sorghi and S. cruentum. Similarly, it has found to induce resistance to rust leaf in wheat through increasing the activity of pathogenesis related proteins. |
Agapanthus africanus | Conservation | Conservation
While the species as a whole has not yet been assessed, A. africanus subsp. walshii is considered to be endangered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). It is known only from a small area in the Elgin valley (less than five locations) and the population continues to decline. The largest subpopulation is threatened by unregulated informal settlement expansion. A proportion of the population is protected within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and is not threatened. |
Agapanthus africanus | See also | See also
List of plants known as lily |
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