CLAS3051 Lecture 2

Pre-rational Medicine in Near East and Greece

Interplay Between Greece, Egypt, Babylon, etc.

1500ish: great decay in civilization in Europe

In Archaic period (900 – 500 BC) major influence on Greeks

Civilizations of Great antiquity to the Greeks

Commerce

Greek View of Egyptian Medicine

Homer: 'everyone is a healer', 'the bountiful land produces many drugs

(Archeology shows trade in medical goods like opium and coriander)

Herodotus (5th c BC) says that they have medical specialists

(Herodotus also says Babylonians have no doctors, and seek medical advice from passers by)

Very difficult to work out interdependence

Egyptian Medicine

Information recorded in written text, using hieroglyphs, on papyrus (pl. papyri) documents

Papyrus

Reed-like plant Grows in Nile delta Pounded into sheets Written upon with

black sticky stuff

Preservation of Papyri

In ideal dry conditions of desert

Last for thousands of years

Treasure hunt in late 19th, early 20th centuries Leads to forgeries

Ebers Papyrus (LI.1)

Dated to 1500 BC! ?Some content as

early as 3000 BC Begins with spells Other sections less

magical: i.e. diseases of the head

What Concepts of Medicine Does it Represent?

How does one become ill? How does one become better? What forces are at work for and against us?

Hearst Papyrus (LI.2) Bancroft Library: “near perfect fake”? Roughly same date as Ebers pap. coprotherapy from copros 'dung' What process is taking place? How is this like the prayer in the Ebers pap.?

Sumerian Cuneiform Tablets

cuneiform lit. means 'wedge-shaped'

preserved through firing of clay in disasters

3000 BC onwards

Sumerian Incantations

LI.4 How is it like Egyptian ones?

LI.5-6 – what picture of

disease do they offer

on what principle do they operate?

Greek Pestilence from gods

Artemis and Apollo, brother and sister

Here, killing children of Niobe Bringers of disease Healers of disease

Zeus's Role

Also brings sudden death

Blindness to Polyphemus

What is his relationship with disease in Hesiod Works and Days L1.13-14?

Wounds in Homer

Homer thought to be a 'medical officer' (!) by German scholar

Emphasis on anatomical correctness

Treatment of Menelaos by Machaon in bk. 4 fairly realistic

Healing Cults

Amphiaraus and Asclepius How did these work? LI.21

Asclepius

Human son of Apollo Taught by Chiron Over-used magical

arts Killed by Zeus, but

made a god Associated with snake,

staff

Temple Complex of Asclepius at Epidaurus

Best known for this well-preserved theatre

This a late (4th c. BC) addition

Not crucial to its healing function

Testament to prosperity of 'cult'

Location of Epidaurus

Sanctuary of Asclepius

What happened here? LI.22-23: myth and

legend LI.24-26:

contemporary accounts

Evidence from Inscriptions

Sometimes called 'epigraphic' evidence from Greek for 'carving upon'

Tens of thousands of these documents

Records of healings at Epidaurus

Form of advertisement

Votive Offerings

Repayment to the gods Often in shape of limb

or organ Here probably in

thanks for restored health of child

Surgery at Epidaurus

Bronze medical instruments found at site

See LI.23,25

Evidence from Manuscript Tradition

Books copied through the ages By 9th c. AD, looked like this

Spread of the Cult of Asclepius

Came to Athens in late 5th c. BC L.27

Organization of Asclepius Cult

So-called Asclepiadai, travelling priests of god LI.29 shows agreements between these groups

Mixing of Scientific Medicine with Religion

Cult influenced by Hippocratic medicine? Hippocratic by cult practices? What distinguished these? Which was preferable to Greeks?