Ancient Medicine

by Vivian Nutton

Overview

The third edition of this magisterial account of medicine in the Greek and Roman worlds, written by the foremost expert on the subject, has been updated to incorporate the many new discoveries made in the field over the past decade.

This revised volume includes discussions of several new or forgotten works by Galen and his contemporaries, as well as of new archaeological material. RNA analysis has expanded our understanding of disease in the ancient world; the book explores the consequences of this for sufferers, for example in creating disability. Nutton also expands upon the treatment of pre-Galenic medicine in Greece and Rome. In addition, subtitles and a chronology will make for easier student consultation, and the bibliography is substantially revised and updated, providing avenues for future student research.

This third edition of Ancient Medicine will remain the definitive textbook on the subject for students of medicine in the classical world, and the history of medicine and science more broadly, with much to interest scholars in the field as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032282824
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/14/2023
Series:	Sciences of Antiquity
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vivian Nutton, FBA, is Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine at University College London. He has published extensively on all aspects of medicine before the seventeenth century. His most recent books include Galen: A Thinking Doctor in Imperial Rome (Routledge, 2020) and Renaissance Medicine (Routledge, 2022).

Table of Contents

1 Sources and scope; 2 Patterns of disease; 3 Before Hippocrates; 4 Hippocrates, the Hippocratic Corpus and the defining of medicine; 5 ‘Hippocratic‘ theories; 6 ‘Hippocratic‘ practices; 7 Religion and medicine in fifth- and fourth-century Greece; 8 From Plato to Praxagoras; 9 Alexandria, anatomy and experimentation; 10 Hellenistic medicine; 11 Rome and the transplantation of Greek medicine; 12 The consequences of empire: pharmacology, surgery and the Roman army; 13 The rise of Methodism; 14 Humoral alternatives; 15 The life and career of Galen; 16 Galenic medicine; 17 All sorts and conditions of (mainly) men; 18 Medicine and the religions of the Roman Empire; 19 Medicine in the Later Roman Empire; 20 Conclusion; Appendix 1 Editions and Translations of Ancient Medical Text; Appendix 2 Chronological Table.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the first edition (2004):

'A worthy enterprise ... The result is a masterful evaluation of health and disease ... Galen would have been pleased.' – W.F Bynum, The Times Higher Education Supplement

'[A] near-masterpiece, Ancient Medicine is a huge quarry, fit for mining and exploitation by those who have the proper equipment.' – BMCR

'This is an impressive piece of research. It will . . . serve both as introduction and as comprehensive guide for generations of scholars interested in the development of medical ideas from early Greece to late antiquity . . . This book is an essential tool for anyone interested in the history of Western medicine.' - Biblical Theology Bulletin

"It is difficult to find a scholar with more expertise in Greco-Roman medical texts than Nutton, or as much historical breadth and range. Indeed, this is the only book available in English that offers a comprehensive survey of the long and complex tradition of Greek medicine from its earliest periods to the end of the Roman empire... Nutton masterfully guides the reader through the massive amount of literary, scientific, philosophical and material evidence, constructing a coherent and compelling narrative of the often heroic attempts of ancient doctors to understand and treat disease. The new edition will be essential as a starting point for all serious students of Greek and Roman medicine." – Ralph M. Rosen, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

"The first edition of Vivian Nutton’s Ancient Medicine (2004) is already established as the most authoritative, and expansive, synthetic treatment of the subject available... This new edition is motivated by the recent discovery, and/or publication, of new evidence to add to this rich picture, as well as the continued development of the scholarly field more broadly. All of this is encompassed in Nutton’s new edition, from the items that have made a big splash, to those that have more stealthily crept up on us... None of this changes the basic pattern which Nutton outlines, all can be incorporated into his basic narrative, but this is still an even richer, and more complex, version of that story: the new edition is even more authoritative as a result." - Rebecca Flemming, University of Cambridge, UK.

Praise for the first edition (2004):

'A worthy enterprise ... The result is a masterful evaluation of health and disease ... Galen would have been pleased.' – W.F Bynum, The Times Higher Education Supplement

'[A] near-masterpiece, Ancient Medicine is a huge quarry, fit for mining and exploitation by those who have the proper equipment.' – BMCR

'This is an impressive piece of research. It will . . . serve both as introduction and as comprehensive guide for generations of scholars interested in the development of medical ideas from early Greece to late antiquity . . . This book is an essential tool for anyone interested in the history of Western medicine.' - Biblical Theology Bulletin

From the Publisher