Medicine, philosophy and science in the ancient world.
From the British Museum: Pompey consulting the witch Erictho, the witch kneels on the ground in a clearing holding her staff over the body of a dead soldier which she conjures on the ground before her; illustration to Lucan's 'Pharsalia'; by Elisha Kirkall after Louis Chéron. 1718 Etching and engraving. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons…
An arctic fox peeking out from its den. Image by Eric Kilby via wikimedia commons . The authors I usually work on tend to admire “the ancients” — an important part of their scholastic game is figuring out ways of interpreting them charitably (i.e. in a way that the ancient view is strikingly like their own). This bit attributed to Soranus’ Gynaecology shows a bit of the opposite tendency,…
In his De Orbe Novo (1516), Peter Martyr of Angleria records a cosmogony of the Taíno people of Hispaniola, derived from the earlier report of the friar Ramón Pané. Pané notes that his informant, a baptized cacique named Íñigo, told the story reluctantly and in fragments, and that he himself had to assemble it into coherent form. The Taíno say that in the time before time there was a great chief…
Goat, located in Fiesch, Valais (Switzerland). Source: Armin Kübelbeck via Wikimedia Commons. The last part of Galen’s comment on Epid. 6.4.7, here on smell, including advice on how to use deodorants and breath fresheners — and a nice Quintus’ story as well. Odour . Some people naturally have an unpleasant smell, whether of the body as a whole or of the mouth, while others are naturally free of…
Votive relief from the sanctuary of Amphiaraos at Oropos (Γ 3369). Source: National Archaeological Museum, Athens . Continuing Galen’s bedside manner advice Posture. The physician should maintain a mean when it comes to the posture of his whole body, both when entering and when seated: neither so low as to invite contempt, nor so lax as to advertise arrogance. Some come in and sit down rigid and…
Fragment of bas-relief, female patient on a bed. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection. Let’s get back into this. A story from Galen on how not to talk to patients, and how to use Hippocrates to get them on your side. “The comforts for those who are ill, like doing things in a clean way when it comes to drink, food, and whatever they may see; with softness whatever they touch. [There are other…
Garum , mosaic from the villa of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, Pompeii: G(ari) F(los) SCOM(bri) SCAURI EX OFFI(ci)NA SCAURI. “Flower of Scaurus’ mackrel gaurum, from Scaurus’ manufacturer.” Image by Claus Ableiter CC-BY-SA 3.0 via wikimedia commons . This is the last preface to the pharmacological entries of books 6 - 11 of Galen’s work on the capacities of simple drugs . Galen’s Simple Drugs 11…
Leopard attacking a prisoner in an amphitheatre spectacle in a Roman mosaic (late 2nd century CE). Image by Dennis Jarvis . CC-BY-SA 2.0 . Via wikimedia commons . Galen’s Simple Drugs 11 preface (I) In the case of animals, most parts are common to them all, but surely nothing is as common as flesh. For every animal has this: the blooded ones, like humans, the entire group of quadrupeds, birds,…
Scenes of artisans at work: a shoemaker (left) and a rope-maker (right). Sarcophagus of Titus Flavius Trophimas, found in Ostia. National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian. Image by Carole Raddato CC-BY-SA 2.0 via wikimedia commons . “Simon the Athenian, a shoemaker. When Socrates used to come to his workshop and have a conversation about something, Simon would make notes of the things he would…
Honey bees. Image from 14th c. manuscript Casanatense 4182 of Taqwīm aṣ‑Ṣiḥḥa by Ibn Butlan , also known by the Latin title, Tacuinum Sanitatis . Image via wikimedia commons . This preface has been edited and translated in part before by Petit 2017: 56–59 and Petit 2020: 100 – 101 . Galen’s Simple Drugs 10 preface Nothing of what I am now about to say will be very beneficial to those who don’t…
Cornus mas , the Cornelian cherry. Illustration in Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Flora von Deutschland , Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany, via wikimedia commons. Galen’s Simple Drugs 9 preface So far, I have spoken about the parts of plants, as well as their fruits, juices, and saps. Now, of the drugs that remain, I propose to go through those that are mined and those types that are…
Al-nâridîn or al-sunbul al-hindî or Indian spikenard. From Fī Hayūlā al-tibb, trans. Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq of Dioscorides’ De materia medica . In the Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library . Galen’s Simple Drugs 8 preface The remaining entries on the capacity in plants will be discussed in this [book], not every capacity, but only the activities ( energeiai ) of the active qualities (…
Tile mosaic with rabbit, lizard and mushroom. 19th or 20th c. via Metropolitan Museum of Art . Rufus of Ephesus was likely practicing in ancient Alexandria or in ancient Ephesus. Some of his writings are preserved by Oribasius and Aetius, and in some of those, Rufus preserves patient concerns. Here, he records his interactions with several young men who are concerned about their sexual health, and…
Fresco depicting the reading of the rituals of the bridal mysteries. From the Villa of the Mysteries , Pompeii, painted c. mid-1st century BCE. Image via wikimedia commons thanks to the donation of The Yorck Project Gesellschaft für Bildarchivierung GmbH . Galen’s Simple Drugs 7 preface As I am writing this seventh book of comments on the capacity of simple drugs, I think it is necessary to…
Angos in the Vienna Dioscorides, Codex Vindobonensis Med. Gr. 1 or the Juliana Anicia Codex, fol. 36v. Via Wikimedia commons . Galen’s Simple Drugs 6, Chapter 2 Agnos (= “chaste”), or lugos , the shrubby plant, is hot and drying somewhere in the third degree; however, agnos or lugos is considerably fine-parted and tastes both acrid and at the same time is astringent. The lugoi [i.e., the branches…
Abrotano maschino. From Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s Discorsi, assembled and illustrated by Gherardo Cibo, c. 1564–1584. British Library Add MS 22332, fol. 157r. The following is a translation of Galen’s Simple Drugs Book 6, chapter 1, on abrotonum (probably Artemisia abrotanum L. ). While not a preface strictly speaking, this chapter (and book 6 chapter 2, up next week) still include useful summaries…
Nut and astrological figures. Hypostyle, Temple of Hathor at Dendera, Egypt. March 2023. Parts of the preface to book 6 have been published before. See Jouanna 2011: 72–74 (French); Danielle Gourevitch 2016: 251 (English); and with important textual improvements by Petit 2017: 53–54 (English). Galen’s Simple Drugs 6 preface When I set out to write about the forms and capacities of simple drugs, I…
A Snake by Maria Sibylla Merian . Held at The Maida and George Abrams Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Image via the Harvard Art Museums Collections Online . Originally found as the frontispiece for this article by Johnathan Hay . Until recently, Galen’s works on drugs had not received much attention, and this makes some sense. They don’t have critical…
Octopus, detail from Oceanus and Tethys mosaic, Zeugmas Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep . Image by Dosseman via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 . On Sexual Activity from the works of Rufus (of Ephesus). Sex is indeed a natural act, while nothing natural is harmful. But intimacy becomes harmful when it is immoderate and frequent and when it is engaged in at inappropriate times. Frequent intimacy is…
House of Chaste Lovers, Pompeii. Image by Alessandra Benedetti, available here . On luxurious preparations of drugs for nerve damage. It would not be useless to know about these kinds of drugs as well. While perhaps not as frequently as budget drugs, there is sometimes a need for them. For wherever there is a man who is an amateur pharmacist or doctor, even if he does not have more than five…