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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?