"Memorial" strategies of court physicians in the imperial period.

Abstract

Court physicians enjoyed an outstanding prominence. They were able to perpetuate their memory with ease, an aim of the greatest importance to individuals in antiquity. This paper, using historical, literary, anthropological, and iconographic approaches, investigates the strategies used by those privileged physicians to perpetuate their memory. After focussing on key figures like Antonius Musa, Stertinius Xenophon, and the Statilii and on lesser known personalities like Philotas of Amphissa, Euphorbos, and Andromachus the Elder, it appears that those physicians felt they had to rely mainly on literary works to achieve this end, although uncertain transmission often rendered it inadequate for the purpose. Benefactory practices were of greater weight because their memory was more efficiently perpetuated by members of their family and their native cities as demonstrated by epigraphy and numismatics.