Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-Century Greece

Between Craft and Cult

Inbunden, Engelska, 2009

989 kr

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Delving deeply into ancient medical history, Bronwen L. Wickkiser explores the early development and later spread of the cult of Asklepios, one of the most popular healing gods in the ancient Mediterranean. Though Asklepios had been known as a healer since the time of Homer, evidence suggests that large numbers of people began to flock to the cult during the fifth century BCE, just as practitioners of Hippocratic medicine were gaining dominance. Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult's ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs. Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations to empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult.In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2009-03-30
Mått152 x 229 x 19 mm
Vikt408 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor192
FörlagJohns Hopkins University Press
ISBN9780801889783

Tillhör följande kategorier

Medicinhistoria inom Medicin

AcknowledgmentsTranslations and AbbreviationsIntroductionCommon Perceptions of Asklepios and His CultThe Current Project1. From Practice to Profession: The Development of Greek Medicine from the Bronze Age to the Fifth Century BCThe Bronze Age and HomerBetween Homer and HippocratesTradition and Change in Fifth-Century MedicineMedicine as a TechneMedicine and Its Limits2. Searching for a Cure: The Limits of Medicine and the Development of Asklepios' CultAlternatives to Medicine: What Doctors CondonedHealing GodsThe Early Development of Asklepios' CultThe Popularity of Asklepios and His Healing3. Asklepios and His Colleagues: Doctors and Divine HealersAsklepios as Doctor in Myth and CultOther Healing Gods and HeroesDoctors and Their Patron GodAsklepios' Specialization: Chronic Ailments4. Documenting Asklepios' Arrival in AthensSourcesDesccription, Text, and Translation of Telemachos MoumentReading between the LinesThe Eleusinian Cult of Demeter and KoreThe Location of Asklepios' Sanctuary5. Asklepios and the Topography of Athenian CultThe Acropolis and the Greater PanathenaiaDionysos and DemeterDionysos Eleuthereus and the City DionysiaThe Sanctuary of Dionysos EleuthereusThe City DionysiaEleusinian Demeter and the Mysteries6. Asklepios and Athenian EmpireEpidauros and Athens in the Peloponnesian WarsThe Peace of Nicias and Epidaurian AsklepiosAthens, Cults, and Politics in the Fifth CenturyNegotiating EmpireAsklepios and the Kerykes in 418 BCMapping Meaning: The Epidauria ProcessionConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

Wickkiser, by focusing on a single historical event of some significance, has inserted an intriguing new angle to an old debate... In this respect, the present study provides the basis for further research into the significant questions which it raises. -- Konstantinos Kapparis, Ph.D. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 2009 Elegantly written, and with a sound command of the original Greek, it provides an excellent introduction to the rise of Asclepius' cult in Athens. It also promotes a clear and challenging thesis. -- Vivian Nutton Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science 2010 This book will be very useful to students and scholars (especially chapters four and five) of medical history, as it is a very clear introduction to the subject and somewhat renews our perspective on the origins of the cult of Asclepios in Athens. -- Caroline Petit Social History of Medicine 2010 Wickkiser freshly appraises our best evidence for the importation of the cult-namely, the Telemachus monument-in order to embed the event in both the space of the city and the local dynamics of power. -- Brooke Holmes Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2010 I have enjoyed reading this work enormously, and would recommend it to anyone seeking a short introduction to Asklepios, or to anyone teaching a course on ancient medicine or ancient 'religion'. -- Laurence Totelin Medical History 2010