Studies in ancient medicine最新文献

Once written down, every pharmacological text becomes open to all kinds of distortion of its content. It may have been inaccurately copied, for example, or its dosages may have been intentionally altered. The transcription in verse of pharmacological preparations was supposed to protect the text against any distortion, for metrical demands of verse do not easily allow for the substitution of the specified quantities of a remedy's ingredients. Furthermore, rhythmical poetry can facilitate memorization of the prescriptions. Beside its very practical functions, this production was not alien to inspiration from the Muses, and physicians shared with poets the right to invoke the gods' favour for their lines. The present paper focuses on the addresses to the readers in Greek and Latin pharmacological poetry; it shows how the practical function of preserving and transmitting information was interwoven with the author's own literary ambitions.

Celsus' approach to physical pain in his On Medicine (De medicina) is both subtle and extensive. The encyclopaedist shows a deep consciousness of the difficulties of its evaluation and tries to tackle related issues as well as he can. Indeed, taking pain into consideration seems to play a major part in the relationship between the patient and the practitioner.

Pliny the Elder was the first Latin medical author to mention magical formulas. His writings refer to twenty-seven in all, thirteen being of the simplest type. The origin is discernible for two-thirds of them. A Latin origin is noted for only two of them, and two are given in Greek The Greek influence seems decisive, with an important role played by the sympathies-antipathies and Pseudo-Democritus trend. Nine magical formulas are attributed to magi and one is also found in the Cyranides (Kupsilonrhoalphavídeltaepsilonzeta) and the Geoponica (gammaepsilonomegapiovichialpha). An author is named for only one incantation: King Attalus III of Pergamum. One carmen probably dates back to a model existing in Classical Greece, which is likely to be true even for one of the incantations in Greek. The text of the latter needs to be better understood in order for one to grasp its principle of action and perhaps its origin.

More than a hundred epigraphic documents on different writing materials refer to medical staff in the Roman army. This paper focuses on the identity, legal status and origin of the Roman army medical staff--a topic which until now has hardly been studied. Various titles were conferred to a large number of medical staff in every unit of the Roman army; the doctors (medici) were the most numerous and had different ranks and status. The onomastic study of the inscriptions reveals a large proportion of Roman citizens in the military medical service. Most of them are ingenui with a Latin name, but freedmen with a Greek origin are frequently attested, though less so than among civilian doctors. These results dispel some misconceptions such as the Greek origin of most military doctors, which can be explained by the legal requirements of the recruitment into the Roman army.

Some linguists explain the etymology of the botanical name euphorbion as deriving from the Greek verb phiepsilonrhobetaomega ("nourish, feed"). But according to Pliny this plant was discovered in the Atlas Mountains by Juba II, King of Mauretania, and named after his personal physician, Euphorbos. This paper aims to give credence to Pliny's version. Indeed, Juba described the plant, its latex and its therapeutical applications in a now lost treatise On Euphorbion (piepsilonrhoí epsilonvphiorhobetaioupsilon), which can be reconstructed through Greek and Latin testimonies. This treatise was the beginning of a long standing success. Juba and Euphorbos were living at the time when Greek medicine invaded the Roman world, and they are both representative of this cultural change.