Tag: Antiquity
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The Greeks in Italy: History and medicine
Beginning around the eighth century BCE, Greek settlers established colonies along the southern coast of the Italian peninsula, notably in Cumae, Neapolis (Naples), Tarentum (Taranto), Sybaris, Croton, Rhegium (Reggio Calabria), and Syracuse. The region became known as Magna Graecia (“Greater Greece”), reflecting the strong influence of Greek culture, language, religion, and learning. Greek colonists, merchants,…
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Damascus, the oldest capital city in the world
Damascus, capital of Syria, was settled as early as 9000 BCE. It stands on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, nourished by the Barada River. The city was never abandoned or swallowed by desert sands; it always served as a center for trade, culture, religion, and medicine. Throughout its rich history, Damascus was conquered…
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C.S. Lewis and the medieval model of the universe
Philip LiebsonChicago, Illinois, United States Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was a famous author and professor of English literature at both Oxford and Cambridge. Much of his scholarly work focused on the Middle Ages. His work The Discarded Image (1964) concerned the medieval concept of the universe. He drew his material from the writings of the…
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The ancient Philistines of Ashkelon and Gaza
The Philistines are remembered primarily through biblical narratives and archaeological discoveries. They interacted with neighboring cultures in the early Iron Age (ca. 1200–600 BCE) and are believed to have been part of the broader “Sea Peoples,” likely originating in the Aegean before settling along the Levantine coast. Excavated skeletal remains at these sites reveal a…
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Theopompus of Chios and public health in antiquity
Theopompus was a Greek historian and rhetorician who lived from c. 380 to 315 BCE. He was not a physician, yet his works offer a window into how the ancient Greeks understood health, disease, and contagion. Born on the Aegean island of Chios in c. 377 BCE, he spent his early youth in Athens with…
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Book review: Roman Emperors and Their Illnesses
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, UK Books about illness in political figures are not a new phenomenon. Lord Moran, Winston Churchill’s personal physician, wrote an important work based on his experience. David Owen, a physician and distinguished Foreign Secretary in the British Labour Government under Prime Minister James Callaghan, in 2008 wrote In Sickness and Power, an…
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Etruscan medicine
The Etruscans were ancient people whose origins are still uncertain. Herodotus believed they had emigrated to Italy from Lydia in Asia Minor, but Dionysius of Halicarnassus, writing in the Augustan era, argued that they were indigenous to Italy, a view supported by modern genetic and archaeological research. This is not to deny the importance of…
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Pandemic in the palace
Farah JasarevicIstanbul, Turkey In the sixteenth century, Istanbul was defined by constant movement of people, goods, ideas, and, inevitably, disease. Plague swept through its streets in recurring waves, shaping social patterns and medical responses. In this environment, Haseki Hürrem Sultan, wife of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent, commissioned a new medical complex: the Haseki Sultan Külliyesi.…
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Princes of Physicians: Avicenna and Maimonides
James MarcumWaco, Texas, United States Islamic and Jewish scholars, such as Al-Kindi (801–873 CE), Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (c. 838 – c. 870 CE), Al-Razi (865–925 CE), Al-Ghazali (1058–1111 CE), and Ibn-Rushd or Averroes (1126–1198 CE), among others, had a major impact on western Medieval medicine.1 Two of the most prominent scholars, however, are…
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“Medical Mannerism” (1520–1580)
Mannerism in art is characterized by the work of innovators who tried new approaches to their discipline—such as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Parmigianino, El Greco, Spranger and Goltzius. Physicians, by contrast, remained rooted in the ancient humoral theory of Hippocrates and Galen, continuing to understand health as a balance between the four bodily humors, making diagnoses…