Call for papers
“You should consider a physician learned and wise, trained an d skillful, if he can cure with drugs diseases which surgeons treat by maki ng incisions” (Galen, Opt.Med.Cogn. I, 10, trans. A.Z. Iskandar). With thes e words, Galen (2nd century CE) reveals his profound preference for pharmac ology over surgery. As a towering figure in the history of medicine, the ph ysician from Pergamon, Galen, lends his name to ‘Galenic formulations,’ yet the origins of pharmacological practices are much more ancient and are oft en shrouded in myth. In Ancient Greece, traces of this medical knowledge ca n be found in the Mycenaean Linear B tablets, but the first systematic trea tises date back only to the 4th century BC and focus primarily on simples. Jean-Marie Jacques has described the simples as the first “tool” to employ in cases of illness, and has stated that, if these fail, one should turn to the more complex compounded remedies. The science of compounded medicines and toxicology flourishes in the Hellenistic era, driven by the medical bre akthroughs of Herophilean physicians, the patronage of Hellenistic rulers, and the introduction of exotic substances. Pharmacological texts proliferat ed across this era, but they were later overshadowed by the monumental synt heses that emerged in the Roman period, particularly the works of Dioscorid es and Galen. Even in Latin literature, Celsus, Pliny the Elder, and Scribo nius Largus contributed comprehensive treatises, preserving a mere fragment of what had once been a diverse corpus of medicinal knowledge. Our confere nce aims to investigate those aspects of the history of ancient and late-an tique pharmacology that remain unexplored, not only by examining the substa nces used for healing but also by exploring the linguistic, cultural, and m aterial contexts in which ancient remedies were acquired, prepared and admi nistered. Through the analysis of both medical and non-medical technical te xts (alchemy, cuisine, law, magic, philosophy, religion, and trade), the ar chaeological contexts and the tools they have uncovered, skeletal remains, illustrations from early manuscripts, paintings and sculptures from the pas t, and modern reproductions of ancient recipes, we will uncover the intrica te networks of knowledge and practices that shaped the healing arts in the ancient world.
Scientific committee
Petros Bouras-V
allianatos (University of Athens)
Marie Cronier (IRHT, Paris)
Mar
tina Dattilo (Università di Bologna)
Marco Maiuro (Sapienza Università
di Roma, Columbia University)
Caterina Manco (Università di Bologna)<
br />Laurence Totelin (Cardiff University)
Keynote speakers
Vale
ntina Giuffra (Università di Pisa)
Alessia Guardasole (UMR Orient &
; Méditerranée, Paris)
Andrew Koh (Yale University)
Manuela Marai
(indipendent scholar)
Dario Nappo (Università degli Studi di Napoli F
ederico II)
Link on-line meeting.
&nbs p;
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