Ancient Medicine

Στη μελέτη εξετάζεται από βοτανική, ιστορική και ονοματολογική άποψη το φυτό οινοθήρα, που απαντά (και) στην περιοχή της Καλαμπάκας. Πρόκειται για την Oenothera speciosa ή rosea, δηλαδή για νεότερο, εισηγμένο, καλλωπιστικό είδος αμερικανικής καταγωγής, και όχι για αρχαίο ελληνικό ή μεσογειακό φυτό, αν και μοιάζει να είναι αυτοφυές στην περιοχή μας. Παρουσιάζονται η διάδοση, η ταξινομική θέση, τα ελληνικά είδη και η σημασία του γένους Oenothera. Στη συνέχεια εξετάζεται το αρχαίο φυτό ὀνοθήρας / οἰνοθήρας, ένα τελείως διαφορετικό είδος, το οποίο αναφέρουν αρχαίοι Έλληνες και Ρωμαίοι συγγραφείς, και γίνονται προσπάθειες ταύτισής του με σημερινό φυτικό είδος, οπωσδήποτε διαφορετικό από την οινοθήρα / Oenothera, με την οποία υπάρχει μόνο ονοματολογική σύνδεση.

Punishment by beating was famously known in ancient Egypt and was documented in many scenes and texts. In addition, Ancient Egyptian medical papyri described the treatment of bruises (welts) that resulted from beating and how the injury affected the blood vessels, leading to the appearance of “bruises (welts)”. Beating treatment was mentioned in the Pap. Ebers through five Recipes and the Pap. Hearst in four Recipes. According to these two medical papyri, the treatment varies between ointments, dressings, and oral intake in four cases. Despite the scarcity of recipes for treating bruises (welts) compared to Recipes for treating other diseases and injuries, the distinguished matter is indicated by the physician’s or papyri writer to address everything necessary for treating human body bruises (welts) in these two papyri. The study examines the treatment and drugs of bruises (welts) from beating in the abovementioned papyri by accurately analyzing the attested provided Recipes.

Ancient physicians and philosophers explored how different temporal patterns interacted and overlapped. They were deeply concerned with the meaning of simultaneous events—those moments when natural, bodily, or social processes coincided in ways they considered significant. While Greek and Latin authors had no direct equivalents for what we now call “synchronicity” or “synchronization”, both ideas permeate their reflections on health and the cosmos. This volume adopts these modern terms as a framework for examining how Greco-Roman thinkers conceptualized meaningful coincidence and the effort to align temporal cycles—between body and environment, illness and therapy, or individual and world. Spanning medicine, philosophy, astrology, and meteorology from the fifth century BCE to the sixth CE, the chapters reveal how ancient conceptions of bodily time and cosmic rhythm shaped understandings of health, gender, and disease. By tracing these interconnections, the volume opens new perspectives for scholars of ancient science, philosophy, and culture about the roles of synchrony and asynchrony in understanding and intervening in bodily processes. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783112235690/html?srsltid=AfmBOooqx27kkbkpniDEd-KN23iS4ZNctHkjLsRHuFRcJeKeGpRPlSSE#bibliographicData

Since their discovery in the Villa dei Papiri, the Herculaneum papyri, compressed and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, have always proven to be a big challenge to unroll. After centuries of efforts for mechanical unrolling, the still-rolled scrolls were long left untouched to preserve them and avoid the irreparable damage caused by invasive procedures. The virtual unwrapping of a Herculaneum papyrus stored at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres opens up new prospects to unlock the texts that still remain hidden within the wraps of closed scrolls. Starting from the previous context and preliminary achievements, this paper provides an account of the virtual unwrapping of PHercParis 4 in the framework of the Vesuvius Challenge, an international competition to read the unopened Herculaneum Papyri using machine learning and computer vision techniques.

Epidemics, pandemics, contagion, immunity, social distance, zoonosis are just a few of the concepts that have become commonplace in the academic community and in everyday conversation since the outbreak of the Covid-19. This book aims to provide the reader with a philosophical guide to this conceptual vocabulary by investigating the meanings, implications, and history of words related to the current emergency of Covid-19.

This book addresses the fundamental anthropological, ethical, and political issues that have come under the spotlight of the public debate (life and death, freedom and authority, fear and protection, poverty and access to medical care). In this context, particular attention is given to the conflict between the scientific discourse on the one hand, and irrational bias, misinformation and fake news on the other.

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is only the latest episode in a long history of pandemics and epidemics that have constellated human history since its very beginning. Authoritative accounts have made some of these contagious plagues famous (Thucydides’ pages immortalizing the Athenian epidemic of the 5th century B.C.; Boccaccio’s description of the Black Death; Manzoni’s depiction of the Plague ravaging 17th-century Milan). Because a full understanding of the present is not possible without historical inquiry, several contributions in the book explore debates about calamitous phenomena as documented in philosophical literature from Antiquity to 20th-century philosophy.

Ṭāsat al-ḫaḍḍa, literally the “Bowl of Fright,” also known as talismanic, magic, or incantation bowl, remains a persistent tool of modern Egyptian folk medicine, yet its origins remain insufficiently examined. Attested in Egypt from at least the tenth century and often compared to Aramaic and Mesopotamian counterparts, these bowls are not only displayed in museums in Egypt and worldwide, but are also preserved within Egyptian households inherited through generations as traditional healing objects. Despite the advancement of medicine, Ṭāsat al-ḫaḍḍa, mainly used in popular contexts, are typically metal vessels inscribed
with Qur’anic verses, supplications, pseudo-script, talismans, and images of snakes, dogs, and scorpions. According to their inscriptions, as well as accounts by travellers, orientalists, and anthropologists, these bowls cure maladies, animal bites, demonic afflictions, psychological disturbances, and women-related conditions. Comparatively, many ancient Egyptian objects were employed in similar healing contexts, for example magico-medical texts prescribe spells to be written on bowls then washed into liquids to “drive fear away”, “restore the heart in its place”, as well as heal and/or protect from ailments usually caused by malevolent forces. Although several scholars have suggested the ancient Egyptian antecedency of Ṭāsat al-ḫaḍḍa, no study has systematically demonstrated the resemblance of the magico-medical spells, techniques, and
therapeutic concerns involved.
This study proposes an Egyptological and anthropologically informed
hypothesis that Ṭāsat al-ḫaḍḍa preserve core elements of ancient Egyptian folk medical traditions. Through analysing ancient Egyptian magico-medical spells, therapeutic rituals, and related material culture, and by situating the modern use of these bowls within contemporary folk-healing practices, the paper argues  that Ṭāsat al-ḫaḍḍa represent a long-lived continuity of cultural memory within  Egyptian popular medicine. This interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the  resilience of Egyptian folk therapeutic knowledge and shows how specific  healing techniques and treatments for comparable ailments have persisted, been  reconfigured, and adapted across millennia.

This article examines Anne Conway’s treatment of the mind–body relation in the Principia philosophiae antiquissimae & recentissimae (1690) by situating it within a three-way dialogue with René Descartes and Henry More. First, I reconstruct the Cartesian model of substantial dualism and the ensuing difficulties concerning mind–body union. I then analyse More’s attempt to revise this framework through the doctrine of spiritual extension and Vital Congruity, which aims to secure a stronger metaphysical bond between soul and body while preserving their substantial distinction. Against this background, Conway’s metaphysics appears neither as an eccentric vitalist variant of Platonism nor as a mere “correction” of Cartesianism, but as a radical reconfiguration of the conceptual space: spirit and body are understood as modal gradations of a single created substance, and their union is grounded in likeness and love rather than in mechanical contact or mysterious congruities. Drawing on recent scholarship, I argue that Conway’s ontology combines an anti-dualist objection of an essentially metaphysical kind with an original positive proposal in which the love between spirit and body is both an ontological and an ethical principle.

Questo volume di studi rende omaggio a Maria Michela Sassi, maestra di generazioni di studiosi e figura di riferimento negli studi sulla filosofia antica. I saggi qui raccolti, offerti da allievi, colleghi e amici, riflettono la varietà e la profondità dei suoi interessi scientifici: dagli inizi del pensiero greco ai Presocratici, dalla filosofia classica a quella ellenistica, in costante dialogo con le altre discipline del sapere antico e nella sua ricezione in epoca moderna. Un'attenzione particolare è dedicata anche alla storia antica dei colori, a cui Sassi ha dedicato contributi pioneristici. I saggi contenuti nel volume esplorano temi che attraversano l'intero arco del pensiero classico, mostrando la vitalità di un campo di studi che continua a interrogare il presente. Come nell'insegnamento di Sassi, la ricerca emerge qui come un'indagine condivisa, animata dal desiderio di comprendere e dalla cura per il dettaglio testuale. Il volume vuole così essere non solo un tributo accademico, ma anche il segno di una comunità di ricerca cresciuta nel solco di una lezione esigente e generosa: quella per cui, come dichiara Socrate, una vita senza ricerca non merita di essere vissuta.

Il presente lavoro confuta sistematicamente, con metodi quantitativi e multidisciplinari, il modello diffusionista proposto da Harald Haarmann in Auf den Spuren der Indoeuropäer (2016) sull'origine della ruota e del carro. L'obiettivo specifico è dimostrare che la tecnologia del carro a ruote piene non è il prodotto della sintesi biculturale nella zona di contatto Trypillia-Yamna irradiatasi poi verso il resto dell'Eurasia, ma una proprietà emergente dell'Orizzonte di Rete pan-eurasiatico del IV millennio a.C. Metodi. L'analisi è organizzata su quattro assi analitici indipendenti. (1) Archeologia e tafonomia: il modello bi-esponenziale di sopravvivenza del legno (Janssen & van der Braber 1998) quantifica il bias di preservazione selettiva; il test Ward-Wilson su OxCal/IntCal20 formalizza la simultaneità delle attestazioni. (2) Paleogenomica: il modello qpAdm (ADMIXTOOLS) stima le proporzioni di ammixture steppa/EEF/CHG nei campioni tardo-Trypillia con test di adeguatezza p_fit; l'indice di robustezza ossea (BRICOD) quantifica la trazione bovina come acquisizione parallela. (3) Meccanica strutturale: la discontinuità cinematica tournette–asse da carico è formalizzata con le equazioni di Eulero-Bernoulli; l'analisi tribologica del contatto mozzo-asse (equazione di Hertz) e la curva di Wöhler per il legno di quercia producono la stima della vita strutturale dell'asse. (4) Linguistica computazionale: la cladistica bayesiana (MCMC) calcola la probabilità di omoplasia lessicale per l'isoglossa *kʷékʷlos/*H₂éksos/*ueĝʰ-; il test di permutazione di Ringe verifica la significatività statistica delle associazioni lessicali di Haarmann...

Drevni Egipat podrazumijeva područje uz rijeku Nil na kojemu se razvila staroegipatska civilizacija. Kao državna tvorevina, Egipat je bio mjesto mnogih prvijenaca, od arhitekture, umjetnosti, ekonomije, ali i znanosti. S vremenom se u svećeničkom staležu u Egiptu počinju javljati većenici koji svoj život posvećuju različitim znanostima, ponajprije astronomiji, astrologiji, ali i medicini. Upravo će medicina biti u središtu pozornosti ovoga rada te će se pritom pobliže predstaviti dijagnoze te metode i načini liječenja fraktura kostiju. Unatoč činjenici da će se u radu govoriti o izrazito starim povijesnim razdobljima, izvore za ovu temu može se pronaći na drevnim egipatskim papirusima koji su preživjeli do današnjih dana. Zbog toga treba istaknuti Papirus Edwina Smitha koji je svojedobna riznica o medicinskoj znanosti drevnog Egipta. Također, pošto je egipatska religija bila izrazito snažno ukorijenjena u čitavo egipatsko društvo, ne treba se čuditi što se brojni medicinski postupci i lijekovi mogu pronaći u magičnim tekstovima/inkantacijama koje bi drevni svećenici izgovarali tijekom liječenja pacijenta. Ovaj će rad isprva ukratko predstaviti egipatsku medicinu općenito, zatim njezinu usku povezanost s religijom i magijom te konačno dijagnostiku, metode i zahvate pomoću kojih bi drevni liječnici tretirali frakture kostiju svojih pacijenata na temelju Papirusa Edwin Smitha.

The purpose of this article, drawing on the writings of the philosophers Epictetus (c. 55–130) and Marcus Aurelius (121–180), is to outline the meaning, characteristics and concrete dynamics of the Stoic doctrine of discernment, which most likely served as a model for Christian authors. An overall analysis of the works of these two authors indeed reveals the existence of a precise and coherent doctrine of discernment, with specialised technical terminology and practical rules of conduct for a “therapeutic” work on oneself aimed at achieving inner liberation. The patristic and monastic authors, while never explicitly acknowledging the debt and while being aware of the profound differences and novelties of the Christian doctrines in relation to ancient philosophy, clearly refer to this Stoic model, which in many ways had a lasting impact on their approach to inner life and in particular on their doctrine of discernment of spirits.

Today, Λαζαρίνες (Lazarines) refers to cultural festivities in the settlement of the village Αιανή (Aiani), prefecture of Kozani, Western Macedonia, Greece, held one week before Easter, during which adolescent girls dressed in traditional costumes set out from the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos and visit homes in groups, offering blessings in exchange for payment. Afterwards, they gather in the village square and dance while singing old songs. This text traces pagan and ancient Macedonian elements concerning life and death that survived beneath a two-thousand-year-old Christian mantle.

Thanks to their immediacy 'sealed' by the Egyptian sands, documentary papyri are a time capsule able to bring back to us the voices of people who died nearly two millennia ago, with their everyday reality, struggles and concerns. Illness is a delicate and vital aspect of human existence. It is today, and it was in antiquity. For this reason, health issues were a recurring theme in ancient communication in writing. Texts written by ancient individuals facing sickness can be so communicative that we can still empathise with these humans and relate to the situations that their words describe. These texts have the power to disclose a 'shared humanity', a sense of 'human closeness' that traverses the barriers of time. The present article examines the topic of fighting disease in Late Antique Egypt through the lens of the documentary papyri.

The purpose of the present study is to call attention to the last discourse of the Syriac First Part, 1.82 by Isaac of Nineveh (titled On Humility).  I wish to argue that it was composed for oral performance which most likely addressed Isaac`s pupil monks. Secondly, I will try to suggest a historical context in which this sermon makes sense. It seems that Isaac tries to reorient his monastic audience from, in his eyes, the rather philosophical ideal of wisdom to the genuine Christian ideal of humility.

Presentation at the 26th Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference (AIGSC),  Department of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (AMNE) at the University of British Columbia.

** Cross-cultural comparison (Mediterranean & East Asia) of iodine redistribution strategies is included.

Drawing on Seneca's well-known emphasis on macabre aspects of reality, this chapter examines the plague narrative in the prologue of Seneca's Oedipus (28-81) vis-à-vis Oedipus' self-blinding (915-979) in order to shed light on the interactions between bodily fragmentation and moral corruption, that is, between physical and psychic disease, within the drama. Characterised by continuous violation of corporeal boundaries and identities, the matching of these two scenes articulates the connection between the collapse of physical and mental integrity at the individual level, and the breaking of familial, social and natural laws at the cosmic level.

The Classical, Hellenistic, and Imperial periods appear to have fostered a change toward associating divine power with health across various deities, including Demeter, Kore, and Pluto. 1 The healing cults of Demeter, Kore, and Pluto reveal an expansion of their traditional agricultural and chthonic roles, showing how these deities adapted to address new social needs for health. The Hellenistic period's shift toward viewing Persephone and Hades with the more benevolent names Kore and Pluto highlights the era's re-imagining of these deities with distinctly positive attributes. Evidence of this change primarily appears in Hellenistic and Imperial archaeological settings and written sources from a few specific cities. While not widespread, some sanctuaries dedicated to these three deities became sites where healing was sought alongside their typical association with agriculture and the afterlife. The mirror oracle of Demeter and Kore at Patras is a notable example of this transformation. Devotees sought predictions concerning their health, particularly regarding life-or-death outcomes. 2 Additionally, incubation rituals at Acharaca were intended to promote healing, as worshippers received divine instruction in their dreams for curing ailments. The clay figurines representing body parts unearthed in the sanctuaries of both goddesses reflect votive offerings that likely symbolise the afflicted areas of the body, acting as proxies for worshippers seeking relief. These votives add a material layer to our understanding of healing rituals, indicating that worshippers saw these cults as accessible avenues for addressing physical ailments.

P edanius Dioscorides the Greek wrote this De Materia Medica approximately two thousand years ago. In 1655 John Goodyer made an English translation from a manuscript copy, and in 1933 Robert T Gunther edited this, Hafner Publishing Co, London & New York, printing it. This was probably not corrected against the Greek, and this version of Goodyer's Dioscorides makes no such attempt either. The purpose of this new edition is to offer a more accessible text to today's readers, as the 'english-ed' copy by Goodyer is generously endowed with post-medieval terminology and is presently out of print. The reader may wish to refer to Greek, Latin, or other versionsincluding these lies beyond the scope of the present effort. I have not attempted to make the text uniform, and though I have included some sixteenth-century and Linnaean names, many do not indicate current usage. While it is not my intention to contribute to the controversy surrounding the true identities of the plants, minerals, and creatures in De Materia Medica, where available I have suggested possible plant names, with an indication of other plants using the same name today. I will appreciate any pertinent information that has been overlooked, and wish to acknowledge the errors that remain. Thus the proposed herbs provide some possibilities, and the reader is invited to place a personal interpretation upon the material. The illustrations suggest further options in some instances. Dioscorides' treatise is not offered as a primary resource for medical treatment. Readers should in the first instance obtain medical advice from qualified, registered health professionals. Many treatments considered acceptable two thousand years ago are useless or harmful. This particularly applies to the abortifacients mentioned in the manuscript, most of which contain toxins considered dangerous in the required doses. With all this in mind, I believe the information in this document is still of interest and benefit to us, after all this time.

Journal of Interdisciplinary Mediterranean Studies, is open to users and it is an 'open access' journal. Users are able to read the full texts, to download, to copy, print and distribute without obtaining the permission of the editor and author(s). However, all references to the articles published in the e-journal Phaselis are to indicate through reference the source of the citation from this journal. Phaselis: Journal of Interdisciplinary Mediterranean Studies, is a peer-reviewed journal and the articles which have had their peer reviewing process completed will be published on the web-site (journal.phaselis.org) in the year of the journal's issue (e.g. Issue XII: January-December 2026). At the end of December 2026 the year's issue is completed.

The 7th Res per Nomen Conference took place between the 25th and the 27th of April, 2019
at Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, with contributions in English and in French
by linguists and philosophers on "Lexicon and reference"

A thematic selection of papers will be published by CIRLEP in 2018 at Reims University
Press(EPURE)in the Res per Nomen collection.

Several important questions arise when investigating the early modern reception of Galen’s pharmacology. This chapter focuses on De antidotis (Περί ἀντιδότων, On Antidotes) and examines the textual sources employed by early modern readers of the work. As the editorial work on the first book of De antidotis remains ongoing, a comprehensive account of its readership is not attempted here. Instead, four case studies are considered. The first two examine humanist-period scribes who read and copied the text: Georgios Alexandrou and Petros Hypselas. The other two focus on Renaissance translators who rendered the work into Latin: Józef Struś (Latinised as Josephus Struthius) and Michelangelo Angelico.

En el presente escrito se presenta una nueva traducción al castellano del juramento hipocrático en su versión pagana, tomando en cuenta la última edición de Jacques Jouanna (2018) y todos los avances y descubrimientos codicológicos hasta la fecha. Además, se presenta la traducción al castellano del texto conocido como juramento hipocrático cristiano. A manera de apéndice se presentan las imágenes y transcripciones de manuscritos griegos que no están disponibles en ninguna otra publicación o formato, precisamente para subsanar este vacío en la investigación moderna. El objetivo de las traducciones, realizadas en la medida de lo posible tratando de dejar de lado la interpretación basada en la tradición textual, es presentar al lector de lengua castellana una nueva versión que le permita entender, interpretar y contextualizar de acuerdo con a las necesidades de su propia área de estudio el texto más famoso del Corpus Hippocraticum en sus dos versiones más populares históricamente.

Este trabajo pretende demostrar que en su homilía Contra los juegos y el teatro Juan Crisóstomo se amparó en los recursos narrativos propiciados por la écfrasis para desarrollar su crítica contra aquellos feligreses que dejaron de asistir a misa para frecuentar los espectáculos teatrales con tal grado de asiduidad que motivaron las reprimendas del religioso. Con el fin de llevar a cabo un análisis de tipo retórico-literario de una écfrasis incluida en esta homilía, se ofrecerá en primer lugar una contextualización de las críticas a los espectáculos teatrales en el periodo imperial y tardo-antiguo para, a continuación, analizar dicha écfrasis en la que Crisóstomo denuncia los daños morales que comportaba la asistencia al teatro. El desarrollo de dos de los elementos constitutivos de la écfrasis (ἐνάργεια y σαφήνεια), así como el marco visual generado por una τειχοσκοπία intercalada en la propia écfrasis, facilitaron la exposición de la crítica de Juan Crisóstomo de ciertos aspectos de los espectáculos teatrales que suponían un peligro para el alma de un cristiano.

The consumption of sugar was introduced in the broader society during the late 18th century with the spread of beet sugar. However, it remained a luxury item among the peasantry until the early 1900s. After World War I, the use of sugar by peasants increased, and the number of sugary festive dishes also rose. The 1920s marked the beginning of the sugar jam and jelly-making era. For the poorer sections of peasant society, consuming sugar outside of high holidays was rare. Therefore, it is no coincidence that sugar has become a little-used ingredient in folk medicine. While researching the collections of the Semmelweis Museum, Library, and Archive of the History of Medicine, as well as the Folk Medicine Archive, it became apparent that sugar was also used as an element in treating eye diseases, such as cataracts and trachoma, in addition to aiding wound healing and treating the common cold. My study focuses on the role of sugar in the treatment of eye diseases. By putting the use of sugar in a new perspective, it seeks to answer questions about the effects of the healing images and practices associated with this sweet ingredient.

劉歆的《春秋》學佚說大多存録於杜預《春秋釋例》，然自清儒李貽德、劉文淇以降，學者多誤讀其文，未能深明其立說依據與推理過程。本文從“辭例事義”相互關係的視角全面歸納劉歆《春秋》學的解經方法，揭橥其並未徑引《左傳》本有的“凡”“書曰”諸例解經，而應用“據彼推此”“對立義例”“擴例解經”等方法抉發經義，然所示之義往往與《左傳》褒貶相違、史事不符。在采獲《公》《穀》時，他運用“擴例”“逆推”等方式改變傳例之後才移用解經。劉歆兼取三傳創通大義，未有嚴格意義上“引傳文以解經”的方法論自覺，但自有其内在理路，並不能簡單視爲穿鑿附會、主觀隨意之説。

This series presents the first four-volume English translation of the philosophical course composed by the Discalced Carmelite Fathers of the College of Saint Cyril at Alcalá de Henares, the Complutenses, and published between 1624 and 1628. Covering Logic, Physics, On Generation and Corruption, and On the Soul, the work offers a systematic exposition of Aristotelian philosophy within the Thomistic scholastic tradition. Distinguished by its disputational method, doctrinal precision, and pedagogical clarity, the course is a major witness to early modern Carmelite scholarship and to the broader development of scholastic philosophy in Spain. This translation is intended as a guide for students and scholars, while the original Latin editions remain the sole authoritative source for citation and detailed textual study.

It was a while ago that the name of Ammoes Presbyter & Medicus had piqued my curiosity, as I was browsing the pages of the catalogue of Syriac manuscripts of the Vatican library, published more than two and a half centuries ago by the Maronite scholars Stefanus and Joseph Assemani.1 Later on, I had an opportunity to examine personally the manuscript that contained an unpublished mēmrā by an unknown author ʿAmmoy and to transcribe its text, while postponing to work on it until better times. What follows, then, is a tribute to the memory of Nikolay Seleznyov, a friend and scholar, whose favourite pastime was to wander through pages of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts, and to solve riddles they posed. Manuscript Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sir. 96, comprising 178 folios and written in Serṭo script, is an anthology of diverse writings, dealing with matters theological, canonical, exegetical, and polemical.2 Produced in a West Syrian milieu, the anthology is comprised, for a considerable part, of works by native Syriac writers, such as Jacob of Serugh, Dionysius Bar Ṣalībī, and several others. It also features extracts from works of Greek patristic writers, such as Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, and others. Due to the absence of a concluding colophon, it is difficult to establish the exact date and provenance of the production of Vatican Sir. 96. Some information on the date of the manuscript can be deduced from an intermediate colophon, found on fols. 160v-161r and written in a hand different from that of the main text:

This chapter presents an overview of casual cognition from evolutionary and archaeological perspectives. A comparison between humans and non-human primates suggests that human causal cognition is based on reasoning about the underlying forces that are involved in phenomena, while other primates hardly understand external forces. We illustrate this by an analysis of the causal cognition required for early hominin tool use. Causal cognition about forces does not only concern physical forces, but Theory of Mind is also an integral element of such cognition in humans. The desires, intentions, and beliefs of others function as social causal variables, so that the evolution of human causal cognition depends more and more on representations of mental variables. Another distinguishing aspect is that humans often think about causality in terms of events. Unlike other models in philosophy and psychology where causality is seen as a relation between events, the account of events presented here moves causality inside events in the sense that an event is modeled as containing two entities representing a cause as well as a result. The chapter ends with a presentation of two models of causal reasoning that are particularly relevant for cognitive archaeology: Woodward's three-tier model and our seven-grade model.

В статье на основе сведений из Гиппократова корпуса, сочинений Плиния Старшего, Диоскорида, Галена, Псевдо-Галена и Сорана исследуются различные формы прерывания беременности, применяемые в античном обществе, осведомленность о которых в значительной степени основывалась на знаниях и опыте по части выкидышей. Самый распространенный способ – с помощью различных снадобий и пессариев; приводится ряд примеров. Также античные врачи и на теоретическом, и на практическом уровне знали, что внешнее воздействие (травма, удар, падение) и интенсивные физические упражнения или нагрузка могут привести к выкидышу и использоваться как абортивное средство. В их трактатах подробно описывался и хирургический аборт, применяемый, очевидно, по медицинским показаниям. В статье подчеркивается: поскольку именно зелья были главным абортивным средством, тема абортов обрела магический контекст и подтекст, ибо всё, что касается зелий, в античности в значительной степени относилось к магическим практикам, как правило, связанных с женщинами – колдуньями и знахарками. В исследуемых источниках мы встречаем множество абортивных рецептов и инструкций с магической составляющей. Приводя примеры сомнительных манипуляций и экзотических зелий, античные авторы сообщали не столько медицинские факты, сколько народные верования и суеверия, даже если их невероятность и абсурдность вызывали у них сомнение и недоумение, скрывавшиеся за ссылками на общественное мнение и формулами «говорят», «сообщают», «известно» и т.п. Иногда ученые авторы вступали в дискуссию с «народной медициной» и выражали сомнение в действенности предлагаемых средств, однако победить свою доверчивость или надежду на чудо они до конца не смогли, пытаясь лишь как-то систематизировать и частично рационализировать фантастические рецепты и ритуалы.
The article, based on information from the Hippocratic Corpus, the works of Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen, Pseudo-Galen and Soranus, examines various forms of abortion used in ancient society. The most common method was with the help of various potions and pessaries; a number of examples are given. Ancient Greek and Roman doctors also knew, both theoretically and practically, that external influences (injury, blow, fall) and intense physical exercise could lead to miscarriage and be used as an abortifacient. The surgical abortion was also described in detail in their treatises, obviously it was used for medical reasons. The article emphasizes that since potions were the main abortifacient, the topic of abortion acquired a magical context and subtext, because everything related to potions in Antiquity was largely referred to magical practices, usually associated with women – witches and healers. In the sources studied, we find many abortive recipes and instructions with a magical component. Giving examples of dubious manipulations and exotic potions, the ancient authors reported not so much medical facts as folk beliefs and superstitions, even if their improbability and absurdity caused them doubt were hidden behind references to public opinion and formulas “they say”, “reportedly”, “it is known”, etc. Sometimes the learned authors entered into a discussion with “folk medicine” and expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the proposed remedies, but they were unable to completely overcome gullibility or hope for a miracle, trying only to somehow systematize and partially rationalize the fantastic recipes and rituals.

Are space and time leges entis or leges mentis? In the Sumerian conception, deduced from religious myths, from the morphology of the verb and from the syntax of the “classical” texts of Gudea, king of Lagash (2200-2100 BC) – in the cultures of the ancient East language directly reflects reality –, time depends on the human perception of space, to which man gives socio-political meaning: the past is what is before the eyes and above all designates the original mythical past when the world was born perfect from the divine plan and time must be used to restore this primordial state. Instead, the Russian philosopher Solovyov conceives space and time as ontological characteristics constitutive of creation, but space draws its meaning from the temporal “journey” of the cosmos and history towards their eschatological fulfillment in the Kingdom of God, which is the social and political incarnation of Sophia, the essence of the Trinity, in the universal Church.

The purpose of this bibliography is to offer scholars an up-to-date overview of scholarship on Caelius Aurelianus. Editions, translations and scholarship focusing on the text qua text come first (1-5),1 followed by scholarship on Caelius and his medical significance in context (a set of practical rather than categorical distinctions, especially within the second group): 1 Editions, translations, reference 2 Notes on text and transmission 3 Authorship and translation 4 Quellenforschung, doxography 1 I am indebted to K-D. Fischer for his help, suggestions, corrections on this bibliography, and to Manuel E. Vázquez Buján and Anna Maria Urso also for comments and suggestions; its shortcomings remain nonetheless my own responsibility. fifteen centuries of caelius aurelianus: a bibliography 13

Caelius Aurelianus gives a great deal of attention to emotions in his On Acute Diseases and On Chronic Diseases.  Emotions play a role in triggering many of the diseases he describes, emotions are symptoms of particular diseases, and finally, emotions also often play a role in the lines of therapy he suggests. In this chapter, I explore Caelius's account of the violent, pathological emotions that he takes to be symptoms of conditions such as hydrophobia or mania. While many of the violent emotions he describes would have been widely recognized by his contemporaries as pathological cases requiring medical intervention, others are more controversial. For instance, in his discussion of mania, he classifies cases of emotionally induced mental blindness - such as Medea's violent, homicidal anger - as symptoms of acute or chronic mental illness requiring medical rather than philosophical intervention. By contrast, while postclassical philosophical schools such as the Stoics and Epicureans were also very interested in both violent emotions and the phenomenon of emotional blindness, they took such emotions to have a far greater degree of continuity with more ordinary emotions. For example, in his On Emotions, Chrysippus uses both Medea’s homicidal anger and vivid cases of emotional blindness to illustrate features shared by emotions more generally. By including such emotional phenomena in the category of clinical madness, Caelius Aurelianus thus proposes a radically different account than the postclassical philosophical tradition both of the nature of such violent emotions and also of the most effective means of treating them. In this chapter, I discuss Caelius Aurelianus’s sophisticated and distinctive account of such emotions against the background of both postclassical philosophical theory and his own broader discussion of pathological emotions.

Ομιλία με θέμα: «Hippocrates’ deterministic views on the role of the natural environment in health, in a medical text of the Greek Enlightenment», στη Διεθνή Ιπποκρατική Εβδομάδα «Hippocratic Week and Hippocratic Oath Ceremony», που διοργανώθηκε από το Διεθνές Ιπποκρατικό Ίδρυμα της Κω και τον Ιατρικό Σύλλογο Αθηνών, στην Κω, στις 16-19 Οκτωβρίου 2025.

While intersections between Greek literature and medicine have become a focal point of considerable research among Classicists in the last ten years, little work has been done in the field of Latin literature, with particular regard to poetry. And yet the human body and its affections have pride of place in numerous poems from ancient Rome, the medical influence of which can hardly be denied.

By building on the recent developments in the field of medical humanities, this volume aims at tackling innovatively the intersections between medical sciences and Latin literary texts, with papers exploring the ways in which medicine is integrated into poetry and how poetry, in turn, can propagate medical knowledge across various social classes and cultural contexts.

This volume will uncover the connections between Roman literature and ancient theories of the body, thus showing how indebted Roman poetic production was to both ancient Greek and Roman medical traditions. As such, it will be of significant interest for researchers and postgraduate students working on ancient Greek and Roman medicine and philosophy, Roman poetry and literature more broadly, ancient senses and emotions, and medical humanities.

This article examines the presence of Jewish elements in selected texts from the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM), including the Prayer of Jacob, Charm of Pibechis, Eighth book of Moses, and A love spell of attraction. Through textual and comparative analysis, it argues that Jewish divine names, biblical figures, and ritual registers operate not as markers of Jewish authorship or confessional identity, but as adaptable sources of ritual authority within a broader syncretic repertoire. Hebrew-associated names such as Iaō, Sabaōth, and Adōnai are shown to circulate alongside Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and early Christian elements in efficacy-driven ritual collections shaped by performance, technical competence, and persuasive power. By situating these texts against both Greco-Egyptian magical traditions and materially attested Jewish magical corpora, the study demonstrates that syncretism in the PGM reflects pragmatic strategies of ritual authentication rather than the fusion of coherent belief systems. The article, therefore, contributes to ongoing debates on syncretism, authority, and religious interaction in Late Antiquity by foregrounding practice, transmission, and ritual expertise over rigid notions of religious identity.

Tra il 1522 e il 1625, la casa editrice veneziana dei Giunta pubblicò undici edizioni latine dell’opera omnia di Galeno che furono di riferimento per altre, almeno quella stampata da Frellon a Lione nel 1550-51 e le tre stampate da Froben a Basilea tra il 1549 e il 1562, e per molte delle numerose edizioni singole di Galeno pubblicate nel corso del Cinquecento. Tra il 1541 e il 1545 fu tuttavia pubblicata dai Farri, a Venezia, un’edizione latina dell’opera omnia di Galeno, a cura di Agostino Ricchi e con numerose nuove traduzioni di Vittore Trincavelli, in cui i testi di Galeno furono rivisti non solo sulla base delle edizioni greche a stampa, ma anche di diversi manoscritti greci che erano allora accessibili a Venezia. L'articolo presenta l'edizione farrina, indaga il lavoro filologico fatto e le fonti utilizzate, e ne ricostruisce la fortuna.

Digestive system is crucial for our survival and plays a significant role in the normal functioning of other body systems. It breaks nutrients of food into absorbable form which is used by our body cells and eliminates the waste. It includes the gastrointestinal tract and accessory digestive glands. Numerous scholars have made significant contributions to the anatomy of the digestive system. However, the major breakthrough in this field was made by Galen, a great Roman physician and anatomist. He was the first physician who reported the sensitivity of teeth and their ability to differentiate between hot and cold. He also explained the anatomy of all muscles of the tongue and of those that moves the lower jaw. Galen believed, the food is concocted in stomach by digestive juices and stomach movements, and conveyed to the intestine, where the intestinal wall facilitates absorption of mixture by veins. The mixture is then transported to liver by veins, converted into nutritious new blood by mixing with natural spirit and distributed all over the body. He considered the liver as the centre of venous blood system and blood formation. Although Galen had a remarkable impact on various areas of medicine, his greatest accomplishment was his contribution to the knowledge of anatomy.