CLAS3051 Lecture 2Pre-rational Medicine in Near East and Greece

Interplay Between Greece, Egypt, Babylon, etc.1500ish: great decay in civilization in EuropeIn Archaic period (900 500 BC) major influence on GreeksCivilizations of Great antiquity to the GreeksCommerce

Greek View of Egyptian MedicineHomer: '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 MedicineInformation recorded in written text, using hieroglyphs, on papyrus (pl. papyri) documents

PapyrusReed-like plantGrows in Nile deltaPounded into sheetsWritten upon with black sticky stuff

Preservation of PapyriIn ideal dry conditions of desertLast for thousands of yearsTreasure hunt in late 19th, early 20th centuriesLeads to forgeries

Ebers Papyrus (LI.1)Dated to 1500 BC!?Some content as early as 3000 BCBegins with spellsOther 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 Tabletscuneiform lit. means 'wedge-shaped'preserved through firing of clay in disasters3000 BC onwards

Sumerian IncantationsLI.4 How is it like Egyptian ones?LI.5-6 what picture of disease do they offeron what principle do they operate?

Greek Pestilence from godsArtemis and Apollo, brother and sisterHere, killing children of NiobeBringers of diseaseHealers of disease

Zeus's RoleAlso brings sudden deathBlindness to PolyphemusWhat is his relationship with disease in Hesiod Works and Days L1.13-14?

Wounds in HomerHomer thought to be a 'medical officer' (!) by German scholarEmphasis on anatomical correctnessTreatment of Menelaos by Machaon in bk. 4 fairly realistic

Healing CultsAmphiaraus and AsclepiusHow did these work? LI.21

AsclepiusHuman son of ApolloTaught by ChironOver-used magical artsKilled by Zeus, but made a godAssociated with snake, staff

Temple Complex of Asclepius at EpidaurusBest known for this well-preserved theatreThis a late (4th c. BC) additionNot crucial to its healing functionTestament to prosperity of 'cult'

Location of Epidaurus

Sanctuary of AsclepiusWhat happened here?LI.22-23: myth and legendLI.24-26: contemporary accounts

Evidence from InscriptionsSometimes called 'epigraphic' evidence from Greek for 'carving upon'Tens of thousands of these documentsRecords of healings at EpidaurusForm of advertisement

Votive OfferingsRepayment to the godsOften in shape of limb or organHere probably in thanks for restored health of child

Surgery at EpidaurusBronze medical instruments found at siteSee LI.23,25

Evidence from Manuscript TraditionBooks copied through the agesBy 9th c. AD, looked like this

Spread of the Cult of AsclepiusCame to Athens in late 5th c. BC L.27

Organization of Asclepius CultSo-called Asclepiadai, travelling priests of godLI.29 shows agreements between these groups

Mixing of Scientific Medicine with ReligionCult influenced by Hippocratic medicine?Hippocratic by cult practices?What distinguished these?Which was preferable to Greeks?