The Legacy of Asklepios. Healing through gesture in Archaic and Classical Greece.
Editions of the Sorbonne| N° d'inventaire | 33135 |
| Format | 16 x 24 |
| Détails | 456 p., paperback |
| Publication | Paris, 2025 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9791035109240 |
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the ambivalent power of medical gestures, perceived sometimes as life-saving, sometimes as intrusive, even violent. This paradox, far from being unprecedented, invites us to return to the sources of Western medicine: how did the Greeks of the archaic and classical periods practice and represent these gestures? To answer these questions, Hélène Castelli's study focuses on manual actions aimed at healing, whether carried out by doctors or other actors, real or mythical, and restores all their dimensions to these medical gestures: technical, social and symbolic. She draws on texts, images and stories from the Greek world, dated between the 8th and 4th centuries BC, and thus contributes to historicizing Greek medicine in its practical dimension.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the ambivalent power of medical gestures, perceived sometimes as life-saving, sometimes as intrusive, even violent. This paradox, far from being unprecedented, invites us to return to the sources of Western medicine: how did the Greeks of the archaic and classical periods practice and represent these gestures? To answer these questions, Hélène Castelli's study focuses on manual actions aimed at healing, whether carried out by doctors or other actors, real or mythical, and restores all their dimensions to these medical gestures: technical, social and symbolic. She draws on texts, images and stories from the Greek world, dated between the 8th and 4th centuries BC, and thus contributes to historicizing Greek medicine in its practical dimension.