Ancient Medicine.
Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 23253 |
| Format | 16 x 24 |
| Détails | 562 p., paperback with dust jacket. |
| Publication | Paris, 2016 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251381350 |
In this masterpiece by world-renowned expert on ancient medicine Vivian Nutton, the reader discovers a fascinating reconstruction of the art of healing as it was practiced in the various social and cultural contexts of Antiquity, from its earliest textual sources (in the 8th century BC) to the 7th century AD. Although they were eventually rejected, the theories of Antiquity formed the foundation of Western medicine for centuries and still contribute to structuring it in discreet but decisive ways. The idea that diseases operate by natural causality, without extra- or supernatural intervention, and that these causes and effects can be studied and identified, is a legacy of Antiquity. Likewise, it seems obvious to us that a doctor or surgeon should not simply repeat the prescriptions and gestures mentioned in a manual. Now, this idea that argumentation and proof are the sole determinants of medical science dates back to the Greeks and Romans. Finally, our conviction that the Hippocratic Oath embodies the primordial principles of medical ethics remains as strong as ever. However, this demand and this need to understand the roots of Western medicine carry a danger: that ancient medicine is studied only for its contribution to something more evolved. Vivian Nutton chooses a different approach: he constantly considers the practice of medicine in Greece and Rome for and in itself. One of the consequences of this attitude is to put the Hippocratic and Galenian contribution into perspective and to show that other schools of thought were important. For what is most striking about ancient medicine, once this point of view is adopted, is its extraordinary diversity. More than in most other societies, and in the absence of any formal and legal definition of what medicine was, it was open to influences of all kinds and could be studied and practiced by many people who did not see themselves as doctors: exorcists, sellers of remedies, magicians and midwives rubbed shoulders with iatroi and medici. A science of life, illness, death and healing, ancient medicine thus appears, in the pen of Vivian Nutton, as a science itself extraordinarily alive.
In this masterpiece by world-renowned expert on ancient medicine Vivian Nutton, the reader discovers a fascinating reconstruction of the art of healing as it was practiced in the various social and cultural contexts of Antiquity, from its earliest textual sources (in the 8th century BC) to the 7th century AD. Although they were eventually rejected, the theories of Antiquity formed the foundation of Western medicine for centuries and still contribute to structuring it in discreet but decisive ways. The idea that diseases operate by natural causality, without extra- or supernatural intervention, and that these causes and effects can be studied and identified, is a legacy of Antiquity. Likewise, it seems obvious to us that a doctor or surgeon should not simply repeat the prescriptions and gestures mentioned in a manual. Now, this idea that argumentation and proof are the sole determinants of medical science dates back to the Greeks and Romans. Finally, our conviction that the Hippocratic Oath embodies the primordial principles of medical ethics remains as strong as ever. However, this demand and this need to understand the roots of Western medicine carry a danger: that ancient medicine is studied only for its contribution to something more evolved. Vivian Nutton chooses a different approach: he constantly considers the practice of medicine in Greece and Rome for and in itself. One of the consequences of this attitude is to put the Hippocratic and Galenian contribution into perspective and to show that other schools of thought were important. For what is most striking about ancient medicine, once this point of view is adopted, is its extraordinary diversity. More than in most other societies, and in the absence of any formal and legal definition of what medicine was, it was open to influences of all kinds and could be studied and practiced by many people who did not see themselves as doctors: exorcists, sellers of remedies, magicians and midwives rubbed shoulders with iatroi and medici. A science of life, illness, death and healing, ancient medicine thus appears, in the pen of Vivian Nutton, as a science itself extraordinarily alive.