Ancient Medicine
By: Vivian Nutton
Series: Sciences of antiquity
Publisher: Routledge
Published: May 10, 2004
Place of publication: London, UK
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 504
ISBN-13: 9780415086110
Copyright date: 2004
Subjects: Medicine, Ancient; Physicians -- History
Description: "The book takes a broad view, exploring the place of medicine in ancient society on many different levels. There is a particular focus on the life and work of doctors - the diseases they faced, how they obtained their knowledge, and their relationship with local communities. Vivian Nutton also investigates the connections between medicine and the religious beliefs of Antiquity, asking if there were fixed boundaries between medicine and magic. Finally, he examines different approaches to medicine across the ancient world, from the great cities such as Roman to countries such as Egypt or Roman Britain."

"Many of the texts cited are here made accessible for the first time, as they have previously only been available in medieval translations into Arabic. The book does not just provide new evidence to back up the standard arguments; it also argues for a change of perspective. By refusing to take Hippocratic medicine as the universal standard of ancient medical practice, greater emphasis is given to the alternatives, and Galen of Pergamum, the great Hippocratic physician, is set in a new historical context." "The result of a lifetime's research, this comprehensive volume is essential reading for anyone concerned with the history of medicine."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Sources and Scope; title: Patterns of disease; title: Before Hippocrates; title: Hippocrates, the Hippocratic Corpus, and the defining of medicine; title: Hippocratic theories; title: Hippocratic practices; title: Religion and medicine in fifth- and fourth-century Greece; title: From Plato to Praxagoras; title: Alexandria, anatomy, and experimentation; title: Hellenistic medicine; title: Rome and the transplantation of Greek medicine; title: The Consequences of Empire: pharmacology, surgery and the   Roman Army; title: The rise of Methodism; title: Humoral alternatives; title: The life and career of Galen; title: Galenic medicine; title: All sorts and conditions of (mainly) men; title: Medicine and the Religions of the Roman Empire; title: Medicine in the later Roman Empire.