What do you think?
Rate this book
Curiozități medicale
Povești stranii despre artele tămăduitoare din Grecia și Roma Antică
Un renumit expert în istoria Antichității scoate la iveală, cu rigurozitate și umor, începuturile ciudate și fascinante ale medicinei occidentale.
Aceasta nu este o carte de medicină, ci o nouă colecție de aspecte surprinzătoare ale vieții din Antichitate semnată de J.C. McKeown, autorul Curiozităților romane și al celor grecești. Textele antice, unele dintre ele traduse acum în premieră în limbile moderne, reprezintă o sursă de informații savuroase despre teoria și practica chirurgiei, ginecologiei, pediatriei, farmacologiei, dietei și nutriției, dar și despre o serie de alte sfere medicale.
Cititorul descoperă o lume în care medicina, religia și magia se împleteau într-un conglomerat de credințe, prejudecăți și superstiții. În Grecia și în Roma Antică, se considera că bolile erau trimise de zei, iar multe dintre tratamentele și procedurile medicale aveau mai degrabă soarta unor jocuri de noroc. În schimb, viziunea privind etica medicală și rolul medicului în societate a setat standardele la care ne raportăm și noi astăzi.
Știai că, în lumea antică...
...migrenele se tratau prin legarea unui sutien sau a unui bandaj cu excremente de șoarece în jurul capului pacientului?
...se considera că atât durerile de cap, cât și calviția puteau fi prevenite prin tunderea părului doar în ziua a șaptesprezecea sau a douăzeci și noua după luna nouă?
...se captura un cuc și se ținea într-un săculeț din piele de iepure pentru a obține un efect de somnifer?
...se credea că medicamentele își pierdeau efectul dacă erau puse pe orice fel de masă înainte să fie administrate?
...se ungeau sânii tinerelor și testiculele tinerilor cu sânge de liliac pentru întârzierea pubertății?
...conform lui Pitagora, oamenii cu nume care conțin un număr impar de vocale au un risc crescut de a fi invalizi sau orbi sau de a suferi de astfel de afecțiuni pe partea dreaptă a corpului, iar cei cu numele cu un număr par de vocale le vor suferi pe partea stângă?
...în camera bolnavului se ținea câte o măgăriță ca sursă de lapte proaspăt?
...se considera că un șarpe strangulat pe post de amuletă ține departe amigdalita?
...anestezia era provocată prin strangularea pacientului până la leșin?
Un renumit expert în istoria Antichității scoate la iveală, cu rigurozitate și umor, începuturile ciudate și fascinante ale medicinei occidentale.
Aceasta nu este o carte de medicină, ci o nouă colecție de aspecte surprinzătoare ale vieții din Antichitate semnată de J.C. McKeown, autorul Curiozităților romane și al celor grecești. Textele antice, unele dintre ele traduse acum în premieră în limbile moderne, reprezintă o sursă de informații savuroase despre teoria și practica chirurgiei, ginecologiei, pediatriei, farmacologiei, dietei și nutriției, dar și despre o serie de alte sfere medicale.
Cititorul descoperă o lume în care medicina, religia și magia se împleteau într-un conglomerat de credințe, prejudecăți și superstiții. În Grecia și în Roma Antică, se considera că bolile erau trimise de zei, iar multe dintre tratamentele și procedurile medicale aveau mai degrabă soarta unor jocuri de noroc. În schimb, viziunea privind etica medicală și rolul medicului în societate a setat standardele la care ne raportăm și noi astăzi.
Știai că, în lumea antică...
...migrenele se tratau prin legarea unui sutien sau a unui bandaj cu excremente de șoarece în jurul capului pacientului?
...se considera că atât durerile de cap, cât și calviția puteau fi prevenite prin tunderea părului doar în ziua a șaptesprezecea sau a douăzeci și noua după luna nouă?
...se captura un cuc și se ținea într-un săculeț din piele de iepure pentru a obține un efect de somnifer?
...se credea că medicamentele își pierdeau efectul dacă erau puse pe orice fel de masă înainte să fie administrate?
...se ungeau sânii tinerelor și testiculele tinerilor cu sânge de liliac pentru întârzierea pubertății?
...conform lui Pitagora, oamenii cu nume care conțin un număr impar de vocale au un risc crescut de a fi invalizi sau orbi sau de a suferi de astfel de afecțiuni pe partea dreaptă a corpului, iar cei cu numele cu un număr par de vocale le vor suferi pe partea stângă?
...în camera bolnavului se ținea câte o măgăriță ca sursă de lapte proaspăt?
...se considera că un șarpe strangulat pe post de amuletă ține departe amigdalita?
...anestezia era provocată prin strangularea pacientului până la leșin?
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
11 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
J.C. McKeown
12 books3 followersJ. C. McKeown is Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of Ovid's Amores.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 30, 2017
DNF at 61%
This isn't a bad book per say, it just wasn't what I expected. If I had known that this book insist entirely of passages from various ancient texts with the author making very little comment I probably would have finished it.
The passages in themselves were interesting but like I said, I expected the author to voice his opinion at least a few times rather than only provide a little context for some of the passages.
This isn't a bad book per say, it just wasn't what I expected. If I had known that this book insist entirely of passages from various ancient texts with the author making very little comment I probably would have finished it.
The passages in themselves were interesting but like I said, I expected the author to voice his opinion at least a few times rather than only provide a little context for some of the passages.
July 2, 2023
Științele medicale au existat, se pare, într-o formă sau alta încă din preistorie. Dar, volumul de față se concentrează doar asupra medicinei aplicate în zona bazinului mediteranean de către învățații greco-romani în perioada antică clasică și maxim până la căderea Imperiului Roman în apus.
Precum și celelalte opere ale aceluiași autor, eminentul profesor american, și aceasta se înscrie cu brio într-un calapod clar și bine determinat: este o înșiruire de maxime, citate, zicale sau știați-că-uri din diverse opere grecești sau romane din perioada mai sus menționată care subliniază, în general, trei idei principale; că strămoșii noștri practicau medicina, că aveau cunoștințe foarte greșite față de ce știm în prezent, că în mare parte din cazuri medicina lor funcționa și salva destule vieți (evident în puține cazuri, niciun tratament va fi mai bun decât orice tratament). O carte ușurică, aproape umoristică prin natura sa (la modul hai să râdem de doctorii care credeau că uterul se plimbă prin corpul femeilor și le cauzează tot felul de stări emoționale), la care (din nou) munca practică a autorului a constat în indexare, catalogare și editare. A se servi, după indicațiile sale, în doze mici, zilnice sau nu, în orice caz regulate, fără a face însă exces - ca orice bun medicament.
Precum și celelalte opere ale aceluiași autor, eminentul profesor american, și aceasta se înscrie cu brio într-un calapod clar și bine determinat: este o înșiruire de maxime, citate, zicale sau știați-că-uri din diverse opere grecești sau romane din perioada mai sus menționată care subliniază, în general, trei idei principale; că strămoșii noștri practicau medicina, că aveau cunoștințe foarte greșite față de ce știm în prezent, că în mare parte din cazuri medicina lor funcționa și salva destule vieți (evident în puține cazuri, niciun tratament va fi mai bun decât orice tratament). O carte ușurică, aproape umoristică prin natura sa (la modul hai să râdem de doctorii care credeau că uterul se plimbă prin corpul femeilor și le cauzează tot felul de stări emoționale), la care (din nou) munca practică a autorului a constat în indexare, catalogare și editare. A se servi, după indicațiile sale, în doze mici, zilnice sau nu, în orice caz regulate, fără a face însă exces - ca orice bun medicament.
July 20, 2017
This book is hilarious!
July 30, 2017
Galen, one of the ancient world's most revered physicians, once said, "The only difference between doctors in Rome and highwaymen is that the doctors do their work in the city, not in the mountains."
What a cynical viewpoint from one of the best of his profession! Obviously, attitudes toward health care were as controversial in the ancient world as they are now, judging from all of the anguish expressed lately by members of the U.S. Congress. It is with these controversies in mind that J.C. McKeown, Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison collected quotes from the ancient sources to produce A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the Healing Arts of Greece and Rome.
McKeown groups his quotes by category, including medicine, religion and magic, the doctor in society, attitudes towards doctors (that included the quote above), anatomy, sex matters, women and children, preventative medicine, treatment and diagnosis, and cures (many dubious if not outrageous.)
Much of the "wisdom" of the ancients he includes in his text leaves you scratching your head or, in some cases, outright appalled. Individuals whose teachings have been the foundation of medical ethics for centuries have expressed sentiments towards the healing arts that I certainly did not expect.
For example, Hippocrates himself once said "I shall begin with a definition of what I consider medicine to be, it consists of freeing patients from their disease, dulling the intensity of diseases, and not taking on hopeless cases, since medicine can do nothing for them."
He goes on to explain, "Some people criticize the medical art because of doctors who refuse to take on hopeless cases. They claim that those they do take on would recover by themselves, while they do not touch those who do need help. If medicine really is an art, they assert, it should cure all alike...But, whenever someone suffers from a disease that is too strong for the resources available to medicine, there should be no expectation that such an affliction can be overcome through medicine."
Hippocrates, the so-called "father of medicine" sounds like an ancient insurance company executive!
Other quotes, though, elicited a smile. Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia opines, "It is better to have sexual intercourse infrequently, though it revitalizes sluggish athletes, restores a husky voice, and cures back pain, dull vision, mental problems, and depression."
Some even cloaked a hint of truth within their admonitions. In his On Medicine, Aulus Cornelius Celsus warns, "People with weak constitutions —most city dwellers and practically everyone who is keen on literature belong in this category — need to monitor their health more carefully than other people, so that by taking precautions they may compensate for the deficiencies in their physical well-being or in their environment or in their activities."
Apparently, Celsus believed anyone who read much must obviously be the Roman version of a couch potato!
One reviewer pointed out that McKeown's little book is best consumed in small bites and I would tend to agree. It is not written as a page turner and McKeown has not made any effort to interpret the remarks or even provide some degree of context to them. But, it certainly raised my awareness of such issues as eugenics in the classical world (see my resulting blog post, Ancient Eugenics: Much More Than Just Selective Infanticide), the ancient practice of talk therapy (I thought it was a modern construct), and that the ancients, though famous for their culinary binges, even dealt with anorexia. In other words, it made me think!
What a cynical viewpoint from one of the best of his profession! Obviously, attitudes toward health care were as controversial in the ancient world as they are now, judging from all of the anguish expressed lately by members of the U.S. Congress. It is with these controversies in mind that J.C. McKeown, Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison collected quotes from the ancient sources to produce A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the Healing Arts of Greece and Rome.
McKeown groups his quotes by category, including medicine, religion and magic, the doctor in society, attitudes towards doctors (that included the quote above), anatomy, sex matters, women and children, preventative medicine, treatment and diagnosis, and cures (many dubious if not outrageous.)
Much of the "wisdom" of the ancients he includes in his text leaves you scratching your head or, in some cases, outright appalled. Individuals whose teachings have been the foundation of medical ethics for centuries have expressed sentiments towards the healing arts that I certainly did not expect.
For example, Hippocrates himself once said "I shall begin with a definition of what I consider medicine to be, it consists of freeing patients from their disease, dulling the intensity of diseases, and not taking on hopeless cases, since medicine can do nothing for them."
He goes on to explain, "Some people criticize the medical art because of doctors who refuse to take on hopeless cases. They claim that those they do take on would recover by themselves, while they do not touch those who do need help. If medicine really is an art, they assert, it should cure all alike...But, whenever someone suffers from a disease that is too strong for the resources available to medicine, there should be no expectation that such an affliction can be overcome through medicine."
Hippocrates, the so-called "father of medicine" sounds like an ancient insurance company executive!
Other quotes, though, elicited a smile. Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia opines, "It is better to have sexual intercourse infrequently, though it revitalizes sluggish athletes, restores a husky voice, and cures back pain, dull vision, mental problems, and depression."
Some even cloaked a hint of truth within their admonitions. In his On Medicine, Aulus Cornelius Celsus warns, "People with weak constitutions —most city dwellers and practically everyone who is keen on literature belong in this category — need to monitor their health more carefully than other people, so that by taking precautions they may compensate for the deficiencies in their physical well-being or in their environment or in their activities."
Apparently, Celsus believed anyone who read much must obviously be the Roman version of a couch potato!
One reviewer pointed out that McKeown's little book is best consumed in small bites and I would tend to agree. It is not written as a page turner and McKeown has not made any effort to interpret the remarks or even provide some degree of context to them. But, it certainly raised my awareness of such issues as eugenics in the classical world (see my resulting blog post, Ancient Eugenics: Much More Than Just Selective Infanticide), the ancient practice of talk therapy (I thought it was a modern construct), and that the ancients, though famous for their culinary binges, even dealt with anorexia. In other words, it made me think!
July 1, 2017
There’s a saying that we are where we are because we are standing on the shoulders of giants. In some cases that is true, but McKeown’s book makes it clear that we are where we are from a medical perspective because we are standing on the toes of hobbits. I don’t mean that disparagingly. For one thing, I love hobbits. For another, we learn in a series of small steps, each step integral to the previous and the next.
Granted some of the approaches described in this book seem hilariously outlandish. There was the cure for a snakebite - grind up a set of hippopotamus testicles. And opening the book right now to a random location I read, “Uninhibited fornication cures dysentery.” Hippocrates said that; if a doctor today espoused that belief he or she would be known as a “Hippocratic oaf.”
After apologizing for the poor pun of the previous sentence, let me add that my sentence does remind me of another observation I had while reading the book. Whenever there was a bifurcation based on gender - for example in the section on how ancients thought the sex of a child was determined - it was disheartening to see how the conventionally regarded less palatable option always pertained to the female. If robust vs. thin were the options, robust lead to male while thin lead to female. Right vs. left, left lead to female. I was dismayed at how many times this demented dichotomy held sway.
I thought the book could have benefited with a bit more context for the various “cures” presented, but even so, A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities was a fun read. It shows how far we have come, and how far we can still go.
Gotta go - can’t have elevenses roll around with me having missed second breakfast.
Granted some of the approaches described in this book seem hilariously outlandish. There was the cure for a snakebite - grind up a set of hippopotamus testicles. And opening the book right now to a random location I read, “Uninhibited fornication cures dysentery.” Hippocrates said that; if a doctor today espoused that belief he or she would be known as a “Hippocratic oaf.”
After apologizing for the poor pun of the previous sentence, let me add that my sentence does remind me of another observation I had while reading the book. Whenever there was a bifurcation based on gender - for example in the section on how ancients thought the sex of a child was determined - it was disheartening to see how the conventionally regarded less palatable option always pertained to the female. If robust vs. thin were the options, robust lead to male while thin lead to female. Right vs. left, left lead to female. I was dismayed at how many times this demented dichotomy held sway.
I thought the book could have benefited with a bit more context for the various “cures” presented, but even so, A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities was a fun read. It shows how far we have come, and how far we can still go.
Gotta go - can’t have elevenses roll around with me having missed second breakfast.
September 17, 2023
This book was quite entertaining.
I learned a lot from this book about the ancient medical profession. It was basically on thin ice, the foundations were made from nonsensical observations - from using cow dung to using bats to giving yourself an erection. 😭
Mostly interested in how animal and human milk is used to treat diseases here. Quite enlightening.
I learned a lot from this book about the ancient medical profession. It was basically on thin ice, the foundations were made from nonsensical observations - from using cow dung to using bats to giving yourself an erection. 😭
Mostly interested in how animal and human milk is used to treat diseases here. Quite enlightening.
February 16, 2018
Not as interesting as his other Cabinets.
March 8, 2017
Fascinating and a bit funny. Better read in dribs and drabs than in one sitting.
September 5, 2020
A book of lists, essentially, interesting anecdotes in paragraph form. Bathroom reading for history majors.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews