Classics 2902 Western University | UPDATED Questions with 100%
Verified Answers
Question:
BCE (before the Common Era)
Answer:
4th c. BCE: 399-300 BCE.
Counting backwards.
Question:
CE (Common Era)
Answer:
2nd c CE: 100-199 CE.
Counting upwards.
Question:
Problems we face when studying
ancient medicine:
Answer:
Only a fraction is extant.
Need to draw from a variety of passages.
Means we need to make a lot of educated
guesses.
Complication: structure of Greek society
affected by literacy roles.
Many things were not written down, and were
only passed down through word of mouth.
Passage of time.
Enemy of written works.
Many medical things have been destroyed over
time, and have not survived the passage of time.
Experimental medicine & oral traditions.
Many ancient doctors learn by watching others
Biases of scribes → copying and recopying.
,Particular interests of others.
What could be afforded financially (certain
tools, and what could be preserved).
Highly specialized work is often lost.
General public had no interest.
Question:
Types of Sources:
Answer:
WRITTEN TEXTS:
Treatises
Letters
Inscriptions
Poetry
Papyri
ART:
Vase paintings
Statues, reliefs, etc.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:
Artifacts & tools
Archaeological sites and buildings.
Human remains.
Question:
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE
TRANSMISSION OF SOURCES:
Answer:
Natural disasters, fires and warfare.
Monasteries picking what is transcribed,
empirical work is lost.
Latin medical texts from before 350 AD lost
Exception → Pliny's Natural History & Celsus' on
Medicine; amateur writers.
,These are not medical writers.
Dates from the 1st century AD.
Greek East: scarcity of medical and science
books copied from 650 AD.
Book roll to codex.
Were not accessible.
850 AD: changes in Greek handwriting made
earlier manuscripts less accessible.
More abbreviations used.
Made it cheaper to reproduce, but people
could not understand the text.
Question:
SAVING GRACE OF MEDICAL
WORKS:
Answer:
Galenism: Galen's view on authenticity of
Hippocrates & valuable treatises.
Said what was worth studying.
People took his word as gospel.
He had a chokehold on medicine for about 15
centuries.
Printing press.
Greek medical texts
1499 (Venice): Greek medical works (Aldine
Dioscorides and works of Galen) printed.
Books printed from 1499-1540 survived.
Book role → codex → printed texts.
We did not lose anything once it was printed.
Papyri finds & new translations of previously lost
manuscripts
Syriac, Hebrew, arabic.
Opening of libraries in the middle east which
, contain translations of previously lost
manuscripts of ancient medicine.
Question:
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US?
Answer:
Generalizations.
Have to take everything with a grain of salt.
Use of other sources to supplement the picture:
legal, historical, poetic, plays, inscriptions,
papyri and material remains.
View the patient & societal context of medicine.
Look at nonmedical sources to supplement our
understanding.
Allows us to look at things from a more local
POV.
Texts assume a level of knowledge.
Expect readers to know certain things about
medicine → omit things that they think will be
obvious.
Question:
PROBLEMS:
Answer:
Isolationist view
Many studies on ancient medicine treat each
area in isolation, rather than showing how a
given area represents a wider ancient medical
culture.
Cultural view of Hippocrates as "founder / father
of medicine" centres histories of the discipline
around him.
Many medical texts are based on Hippocrates
Verified Answers
Question:
BCE (before the Common Era)
Answer:
4th c. BCE: 399-300 BCE.
Counting backwards.
Question:
CE (Common Era)
Answer:
2nd c CE: 100-199 CE.
Counting upwards.
Question:
Problems we face when studying
ancient medicine:
Answer:
Only a fraction is extant.
Need to draw from a variety of passages.
Means we need to make a lot of educated
guesses.
Complication: structure of Greek society
affected by literacy roles.
Many things were not written down, and were
only passed down through word of mouth.
Passage of time.
Enemy of written works.
Many medical things have been destroyed over
time, and have not survived the passage of time.
Experimental medicine & oral traditions.
Many ancient doctors learn by watching others
Biases of scribes → copying and recopying.
,Particular interests of others.
What could be afforded financially (certain
tools, and what could be preserved).
Highly specialized work is often lost.
General public had no interest.
Question:
Types of Sources:
Answer:
WRITTEN TEXTS:
Treatises
Letters
Inscriptions
Poetry
Papyri
ART:
Vase paintings
Statues, reliefs, etc.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:
Artifacts & tools
Archaeological sites and buildings.
Human remains.
Question:
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE
TRANSMISSION OF SOURCES:
Answer:
Natural disasters, fires and warfare.
Monasteries picking what is transcribed,
empirical work is lost.
Latin medical texts from before 350 AD lost
Exception → Pliny's Natural History & Celsus' on
Medicine; amateur writers.
,These are not medical writers.
Dates from the 1st century AD.
Greek East: scarcity of medical and science
books copied from 650 AD.
Book roll to codex.
Were not accessible.
850 AD: changes in Greek handwriting made
earlier manuscripts less accessible.
More abbreviations used.
Made it cheaper to reproduce, but people
could not understand the text.
Question:
SAVING GRACE OF MEDICAL
WORKS:
Answer:
Galenism: Galen's view on authenticity of
Hippocrates & valuable treatises.
Said what was worth studying.
People took his word as gospel.
He had a chokehold on medicine for about 15
centuries.
Printing press.
Greek medical texts
1499 (Venice): Greek medical works (Aldine
Dioscorides and works of Galen) printed.
Books printed from 1499-1540 survived.
Book role → codex → printed texts.
We did not lose anything once it was printed.
Papyri finds & new translations of previously lost
manuscripts
Syriac, Hebrew, arabic.
Opening of libraries in the middle east which
, contain translations of previously lost
manuscripts of ancient medicine.
Question:
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US?
Answer:
Generalizations.
Have to take everything with a grain of salt.
Use of other sources to supplement the picture:
legal, historical, poetic, plays, inscriptions,
papyri and material remains.
View the patient & societal context of medicine.
Look at nonmedical sources to supplement our
understanding.
Allows us to look at things from a more local
POV.
Texts assume a level of knowledge.
Expect readers to know certain things about
medicine → omit things that they think will be
obvious.
Question:
PROBLEMS:
Answer:
Isolationist view
Many studies on ancient medicine treat each
area in isolation, rather than showing how a
given area represents a wider ancient medical
culture.
Cultural view of Hippocrates as "founder / father
of medicine" centres histories of the discipline
around him.
Many medical texts are based on Hippocrates
