The dramatic date of Smp.2 is 416 (Agathon’s first tragic victory); the date of narration is c. 400 (from 172c, many years since Agathon left Athens); the date of composition is perhaps c. 380 (from 193a2, allusion to events of 385).3 The only certainty in this supposed chain of construction is the final link: writing by Plato. A further certainty is that many medical works, including many treatises of the Hippocratic Corpus, were in circulation by the last decades of the fifth century.4 The language of medicine seen in the speeches of Eryximachos and Aristophanes,5 two of the first five speakers who discourse on eros, is here discussed. It has frequently been noted that Eryximachos uses medical terminology akin to that of particular Hippocratic works, notably Flat., Vict. 1, VM. It has been observed too that Aristophanes draws on general medical ideas such as those presented in Nat. Hom. and Vict. 1. More specific parallels, especially with the surgically technical Artic., are here outlined, and it is argued that Aristophanes’ play on medical ideas is more extensive, and his expression more technical, than hitherto realized; that certain techniques of anatomical exposition are favoured; that Hippocratic didactic expressions are present, and several idioms characteristic of Ionic prose can be isolated. This Platonic parody of an Aristophanic parody of Hippocratic discourse is seen to be important evidence for the dissemination of medical material in the late fifth and early fourth century, and a demonstration of the extent to which this pervaded intellectual discourse. Finally, the nature of Plato’s own extensive medical knowledge and the clever use he makes of it in these interlocking speeches is briefly discussed. Eryximachos, who presides over the debate, is a real person from a real medical family (Pl. Prt. 315c, Phdr. 268a; cf. X. Mem. 3.13.2). The name (lit. ‘combating retching), was probably an auspicious one in a medical family (retching and vomiting being a regular part of medical symptoms and treatment) but is treated with bathos, as here Eryximachos combats merely a fit of hiccups.6 His prescriptions at 185d–e are given in Classical Quarterly 51.1 109–114 (2001) Printed in Great Britain 109
{"title":"Plato and medical texts: Symposium 185c - 193d.","authors":"E M Craik","doi":"10.1093/cq/51.1.109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/51.1.109","url":null,"abstract":"The dramatic date of Smp.2 is 416 (Agathon’s first tragic victory); the date of narration is c. 400 (from 172c, many years since Agathon left Athens); the date of composition is perhaps c. 380 (from 193a2, allusion to events of 385).3 The only certainty in this supposed chain of construction is the final link: writing by Plato. A further certainty is that many medical works, including many treatises of the Hippocratic Corpus, were in circulation by the last decades of the fifth century.4 The language of medicine seen in the speeches of Eryximachos and Aristophanes,5 two of the first five speakers who discourse on eros, is here discussed. It has frequently been noted that Eryximachos uses medical terminology akin to that of particular Hippocratic works, notably Flat., Vict. 1, VM. It has been observed too that Aristophanes draws on general medical ideas such as those presented in Nat. Hom. and Vict. 1. More specific parallels, especially with the surgically technical Artic., are here outlined, and it is argued that Aristophanes’ play on medical ideas is more extensive, and his expression more technical, than hitherto realized; that certain techniques of anatomical exposition are favoured; that Hippocratic didactic expressions are present, and several idioms characteristic of Ionic prose can be isolated. This Platonic parody of an Aristophanic parody of Hippocratic discourse is seen to be important evidence for the dissemination of medical material in the late fifth and early fourth century, and a demonstration of the extent to which this pervaded intellectual discourse. Finally, the nature of Plato’s own extensive medical knowledge and the clever use he makes of it in these interlocking speeches is briefly discussed. Eryximachos, who presides over the debate, is a real person from a real medical family (Pl. Prt. 315c, Phdr. 268a; cf. X. Mem. 3.13.2). The name (lit. ‘combating retching), was probably an auspicious one in a medical family (retching and vomiting being a regular part of medical symptoms and treatment) but is treated with bathos, as here Eryximachos combats merely a fit of hiccups.6 His prescriptions at 185d–e are given in Classical Quarterly 51.1 109–114 (2001) Printed in Great Britain 109","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2001-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/51.1.109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"26541979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Plutarch's excerpt of Ctesias' version of the death of Cyrus makes fascinating reading. Although Ctesias has an unenviable reputation among scholars from antiquity onwards for fabrication and self-promotion, his description of the effects of trauma to the temple match well the clinical signs listed in a modern study of such injuries. Since he was a doctor from a family of doctors, this is not surprising, but it does suggest that his account here can be relied upon.
{"title":"The death of Cyrus the Younger.","authors":"S R Bassett","doi":"10.1093/cq/49.2.473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/49.2.473","url":null,"abstract":"Plutarch's excerpt of Ctesias' version of the death of Cyrus makes fascinating reading. Although Ctesias has an unenviable reputation among scholars from antiquity onwards for fabrication and self-promotion, his description of the effects of trauma to the temple match well the clinical signs listed in a modern study of such injuries. Since he was a doctor from a family of doctors, this is not surprising, but it does suggest that his account here can be relied upon.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/49.2.473","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An eleventh-century manuscript in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence preserves a short excerpt of a calendar outlining stages in the development of the foetus. It is headed Δαμναστού έκ τού Περί κυουσών καί βρεΦών θεραπείας, ‘Damnastes, from On the Care of Pregnant Women and of Infants’. Though its existence has long been noted, it has not been previously edited or published.
{"title":"Greek embryological calendars and a fragment from the lost work of Damastes, \"On the care of pregnant women and of infants\".","authors":"H N Parker","doi":"10.1093/cq/49.2.515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/49.2.515","url":null,"abstract":"An eleventh-century manuscript in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence preserves a short excerpt of a calendar outlining stages in the development of the foetus. It is headed Δαμναστού έκ τού Περί κυουσών καί βρεΦών θεραπείας, ‘Damnastes, from On the Care of Pregnant Women and of Infants’. Though its existence has long been noted, it has not been previously edited or published.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/49.2.515","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The wounds inflicted by Homer's warriors fascinate readers, since they are vividly described and often curious or even grotesque. Commentators have struggled to explain some of them since commentaries began: some of the explanations are more curious than the wounds. Not surprisingly, the commentaries have not usually been graced by a high standard of anatomical or, especially, physiological background knowledge, and are often misleading in these respects. When such knowledge is applied, some wounds which have appeared problematic become realistic, but some which have been accepted as straightforward become problematic.
{"title":"The wounds in \"Iliad\" 13-16.","authors":"K B Saunders","doi":"10.1093/cq/49.2.345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/49.2.345","url":null,"abstract":"The wounds inflicted by Homer's warriors fascinate readers, since they are vividly described and often curious or even grotesque. Commentators have struggled to explain some of them since commentaries began: some of the explanations are more curious than the wounds. Not surprisingly, the commentaries have not usually been graced by a high standard of anatomical or, especially, physiological background knowledge, and are often misleading in these respects. When such knowledge is applied, some wounds which have appeared problematic become realistic, but some which have been accepted as straightforward become problematic.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/49.2.345","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The opening pages of the annals of the Roman monarchy tell of long-lived rulers and thriving families. Augustus lived to the ripe age of seventy-six, survived by his wife of fifty-one years, Livia, who died at eighty-six, while her son Tiberius bettered his predecessor's record by two more years. Augustus’ sister Octavia gave birth to five children, all of whom lived long enough to get married; Agrippa left at least half a dozen children, and perhaps more; Germanicus, despite his tender age at death, was survived by no fewer than three sons and three daughters. At the same time, longevity and abundant offspring went hand in hand with early death and misery. More than a few luminaries of Augustus’ court were less fortunate than their elders: Marcellus died at twenty-three, the elder Drusus at twenty-nine, Augustus’ heirs Gaius and Lucius Caesar at twenty-three and eighteen. Drusus had lost a number of children save three that survived; Germanicus buried three of his six sons as infants.
{"title":"Emperors, aristocrats, and the Grim Reaper: towards a demographic profile of the Roman elite.","authors":"W Scheidel","doi":"10.1093/cq/49.1.254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/49.1.254","url":null,"abstract":"The opening pages of the annals of the Roman monarchy tell of long-lived rulers and thriving families. Augustus lived to the ripe age of seventy-six, survived by his wife of fifty-one years, Livia, who died at eighty-six, while her son Tiberius bettered his predecessor's record by two more years. Augustus’ sister Octavia gave birth to five children, all of whom lived long enough to get married; Agrippa left at least half a dozen children, and perhaps more; Germanicus, despite his tender age at death, was survived by no fewer than three sons and three daughters. At the same time, longevity and abundant offspring went hand in hand with early death and misery. More than a few luminaries of Augustus’ court were less fortunate than their elders: Marcellus died at twenty-three, the elder Drusus at twenty-nine, Augustus’ heirs Gaius and Lucius Caesar at twenty-three and eighteen. Drusus had lost a number of children save three that survived; Germanicus buried three of his six sons as infants.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/49.1.254","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Whether its title, ύπέρ τοῦ μ⋯ γεννᾶν is authentic or not, the work transmitted as ‘Book X’ of Aristotle's History of Animals (HA) deals with a wide range of possible causes for failure to conceive and generate offspring. It sets out by saying that these causes may lie in both partners or in either of them, but in the sequel the author devotes most of his attention to problems of the female body. Thus he discusses the state of the uterus, the occurrence and modalities of menstruation, the condition and position of the mouth of the uterus, the emission of fluid during sleep (when the woman dreams that she is having intercourse with a man), physical weakness or vigour on awakening after this nocturnal emission, the occurrence of flatulence in the uterus and the ability to discharge this, moistness or dryness of the uterus, wind-pregnancy, and spasms in the uterus. Then he briefly considers the possibility that the cause of infertility lies with the male, but this is disposed of in one sentence: if you want to find out whether the man is to blame, the author says, just let him have intercourse with another woman and see whether that produces a satisfactory result (636bl 1–13; see also 637b23–4). The writer also acknowledges that the problem may lie in a failure of two otherwise healthy partners to match sexually, or as he puts it, to ‘run at the same pace’ ἲσοδρομῆσαι during intercourse, but he does not go into this possibility at great length (636b 15–23), and he proceeds to discuss further particulars on the female side.
{"title":"\"On Sterility\" ('HA X'), a medical work by Aristotle?","authors":"P Eijk","doi":"10.1093/cq/49.2.490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/49.2.490","url":null,"abstract":"Whether its title, ύπέρ τοῦ μ⋯ γεννᾶν is authentic or not, the work transmitted as ‘Book X’ of Aristotle's History of Animals (HA) deals with a wide range of possible causes for failure to conceive and generate offspring. It sets out by saying that these causes may lie in both partners or in either of them, but in the sequel the author devotes most of his attention to problems of the female body. Thus he discusses the state of the uterus, the occurrence and modalities of menstruation, the condition and position of the mouth of the uterus, the emission of fluid during sleep (when the woman dreams that she is having intercourse with a man), physical weakness or vigour on awakening after this nocturnal emission, the occurrence of flatulence in the uterus and the ability to discharge this, moistness or dryness of the uterus, wind-pregnancy, and spasms in the uterus. Then he briefly considers the possibility that the cause of infertility lies with the male, but this is disposed of in one sentence: if you want to find out whether the man is to blame, the author says, just let him have intercourse with another woman and see whether that produces a satisfactory result (636bl 1–13; see also 637b23–4). The writer also acknowledges that the problem may lie in a failure of two otherwise healthy partners to match sexually, or as he puts it, to ‘run at the same pace’ ἲσοδρομῆσαι during intercourse, but he does not go into this possibility at great length (636b 15–23), and he proceeds to discuss further particulars on the female side.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/49.2.490","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"TIME AND ARETE IN HOMER","authors":"M. Finkelberg","doi":"10.1093/CQ/48.1.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/CQ/48.1.14","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1998-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60905365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
On Anatomy (Anat.) is the shortest treatise preserved in the Hippocratic Corpus (HC). It describes the internal configuration of the human trunk. The account is for the most part descriptive, function being largely disregarded and speculation completely eschewed. Though systematic it is unsophisticated: two orifices for ingestion are linked by miscellaneous organs, vessels, and viscera to two orifices for evacuation. There is a clear progression in two parallel sections: first, trachea to lung, lung described, location of heart, heart described, kidneys to bladder, bladder described, bladder to genitals, conclusion; and second, oesophagus to belly, location of diaphragm, location of spleen, location and description of belly (close to liver), belly to intestine/colon, colon to rectum and anus, conclusion. The text offers good basic topographical or regional anatomy (the organs studied as they lie in relationship with one another in the different regions of the body). That the work is concerned with human anatomy is certain from the precise description of lung and liver, with features peculiar to human organs; and is corroborated by frequent references to comparative anatomy, with which familiarity is apparently assumed. Such anatomical knowledge, based on extensive observation of animals (probably sacrificial victims as well as laboratory specimens), may have been corroborated by some human dissection, perhaps of the aborted foetus or exposed infant, in conjunction with opportunistic observation of war wounded and accident victims. While the syntax is bald, telegraphic, and asyndetic, the vocabulary is recondite, and poetic. There is erratic omission of the article and recurrent use of compendious comparisons. These features suggest that Anat. may be an abridgement of a fuller and more flowery account; this hypothesis is supported by several passages where erroneous or unclear information apparently results from excessive compression or imperfect comprehension of a source.
{"title":"The Hippocratic treatise \"On Anatomy\".","authors":"E M Craik, Hippocrates","doi":"10.1093/cq/48.1.135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/48.1.135","url":null,"abstract":"On Anatomy (Anat.) is the shortest treatise preserved in the Hippocratic Corpus (HC). It describes the internal configuration of the human trunk. The account is for the most part descriptive, function being largely disregarded and speculation completely eschewed. Though systematic it is unsophisticated: two orifices for ingestion are linked by miscellaneous organs, vessels, and viscera to two orifices for evacuation. There is a clear progression in two parallel sections: first, trachea to lung, lung described, location of heart, heart described, kidneys to bladder, bladder described, bladder to genitals, conclusion; and second, oesophagus to belly, location of diaphragm, location of spleen, location and description of belly (close to liver), belly to intestine/colon, colon to rectum and anus, conclusion. The text offers good basic topographical or regional anatomy (the organs studied as they lie in relationship with one another in the different regions of the body). That the work is concerned with human anatomy is certain from the precise description of lung and liver, with features peculiar to human organs; and is corroborated by frequent references to comparative anatomy, with which familiarity is apparently assumed. Such anatomical knowledge, based on extensive observation of animals (probably sacrificial victims as well as laboratory specimens), may have been corroborated by some human dissection, perhaps of the aborted foetus or exposed infant, in conjunction with opportunistic observation of war wounded and accident victims. While the syntax is bald, telegraphic, and asyndetic, the vocabulary is recondite, and poetic. There is erratic omission of the article and recurrent use of compendious comparisons. These features suggest that Anat. may be an abridgement of a fuller and more flowery account; this hypothesis is supported by several passages where erroneous or unclear information apparently results from excessive compression or imperfect comprehension of a source.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1998-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/48.1.135","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Most ancient philosophers found access to the mental states of people other than the perceiver less problematic than the moderns did. But there is evidence, however scarce, that some groups of ancient sceptics raised questions which I shall call, for brevity's sake, doubts about other minds.
{"title":"Doubts about other minds and the science of physiognomics.","authors":"V Tsouna","doi":"10.1093/cq/48.1.175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/cq/48.1.175","url":null,"abstract":"Most ancient philosophers found access to the mental states of people other than the perceiver less problematic than the moderns did. But there is evidence, however scarce, that some groups of ancient sceptics raised questions which I shall call, for brevity's sake, doubts about other minds.","PeriodicalId":47185,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"1998-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/cq/48.1.175","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25822362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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