John Riddle is an Alumni Distinguished Professor emeritus of History at North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...

 and a specialist in the history of medicine

History of medicine

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

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His specialization is the history of drugs particularly during the classical and medieval periods.

He is best known for advancing the view that women in Classical Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

, the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and the Early Modern period

Early modern period

In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...

 deliberately used herbal abortifacients as a means of fertility regulation.
John M. Riddle is also one of the foremost experts on Dioscorides
He has accepted comunications in the International Congresses of the International Society for the History of Medicine

International Society for the History of Medicine

The International Society for the History of Medicine is a non profit international society devoted to the academic study of the History of Medicine, including the sponsorship of conferences in international congresses....

works.

He was the former President of theSociety for Ancient Medicine and the American Institute for the History of Pharmacy.

Awards

In 1987 he was awarded the International Urdang Medal for Outstanding Writing in the History of Medicine

History of medicine

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

 and Pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

In 1988 he was made a member of the Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...

, in Princeton

Princeton

-Princeton, New Jersey:*Borough of Princeton, New Jersey*Princeton Township, New Jersey*Princeton, New Jersey -Other places in New Jersey:*Princeton Junction, New Jersey*Princeton Meadows, New Jersey...

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Published works

• Marbode of Rennes' De Lapidibus: Considered as a Medical Treatise with Text, Commentary, and C.W. King's Translation, Together with Text and Translation of Marbode's Minor Works on Stones (Steiner,Sudhoffs Archiv, 1977)
• Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine (University of Texas press,1986)
• Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992)
• Quid pro quo: Studies in the History of Drugs (Aldershot: Variorum, 1992)
• Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997)
• A History of the Middle Ages, 300-1500 (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008)
• Goddesses, Elixirs, and Witches: Plants and Sexuality Throughout Human History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
• Dioscorides on Pharmacy and Medicine (University of Texas press, 2011)