“As to diseases, make a habit of two things—to help, or at least to do no harm. The art [of medicine] has three factors: the disease, the patient, the physician. The physician is the servant of the art. The patient must cooperate with the physician in combating the disease.” –[Hipp.] Epid. 1.11
“The history of illness is not the history of medicine—it’s the history of the world—and the history of having a body could well be the history of what is done to most of us in the interests of the few…” –Anne Boyer
Cross-disciplinary in approach, ANCIENT BODIES, IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH examines traditions of medicine, health, and healing in ancient Mediterranean communities, and explores the long afterlife of ancient GraecoRoman medicine in later Islamic and European traditions. Covering a wide array of topics— including ancient diagnostic practices, notions of the body, environmental determinism, plague and pandemic, mobility and disability, gynecological theories of women’s health and disease, drugs, surgery, the training and work of physicians, the experiences of patients, and the various spaces in which healing took place—this colloquium aims to engage a broad audience interested in the history of Graeco-Roman medicine, in addition to its reception and adaptation within later traditions. We seek especially to ask: What resources does medicine afford towards understanding sickness and health in the ancient world? What gaps does it leave? What shape should a study of ancient medicine attentive to these lacunae assume?
This year-long colloquium, generously funded by the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund, strives to explore current trends and new approaches in the fields of ancient medicine, healthcare, disease, and history of the body through a variety of interdisciplinary lenses. We ask how ancient medicine can be used to think about broader histories of illness, health, and embodiment in the ancient world and examine the rich methodological and evidentiary resources that Graeco-Roman medicine can offer the disciplines of Classics, History, and Philosophy. Our roster of speakers traverse a broad geographic and chronological scope, ranging from the “Hippocratic” medical writings of Classical Greece down through Graeco-Arabic medical traditions, making use of philological, historical, material, archaeological, and theoretical lines of inquiry.
This colloquium is particularly timely as it dovetails in exciting ways with undergraduate and graduate curriculum planned for Yale’s 2024-25 academic year, including a CLSS-HIST-HSHM graduate seminar on “Graeco-Roman Medicine,” undergraduate and graduate Greek language courses on Hippocratic medical treatises, and a new CLCV-RLST-HIST undergraduate lecture on “Medicine, Magic, Miracle.” Interested departments and programs will include: Classics, Philosophy, History, History of Science and Medicine, Religious Studies, WGSS, and in some instances, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. All are welcome for monthly lunch seminars in Phelps 401 (see poster).
Organizers
Malina Buturović (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Classics)
Jessica Lamont (Assistant Professor, Depts of Classics & [by courtesy] History; Affiliate, HSHM)
