What does the Hippocratic Oath reveal about the ethics of ancient medical practitioners? Did religious and natural models of disease and healing comfortably coexist in Greece and Rome? How was the female body interpreted by male medical writers? In this course, students will investigate ancient approaches to illness and health, focusing on the writings of authors such as Homer, Hesiod, the Hippocratic writers, Herophilus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Celsus, Soranus, Rufus, and Galen. Moving from archaic and classical Greece to Hellenistic Alexandria to imperial Rome and, finally, to the medieval West and Middle East, we will trace the development, organization, and influence of ancient medical thought and practice. |