Health in Antiquity (Hardback)
Pages: 292
Illustrations: 25 b/w figs, 13 tbs
ISBN: 9780415220651
Published: 31st December 2005
Casemate UK Academic
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Some ancients believed that disease and ill-health came from Pandora's jar, as prescribed in myth, whilst others saw man as the protagonist of his own ill-health. This collection of fourteen essays on health in antiquity takes an approach which deviates away from medicine and studies not only concepts of health in ancient times, but also how people thought it could be achieved and maintained. Through archaeological and literary evidence the contributors explore the impact of health in the ancient world and how some aspects of this continue to have an impact today, for example in hospital architecture and drama therapy. Many of the authors focus on food and diet whilst others look more specifically at disease, palaeopathology, dental evidence, the effects of ill-health on society, care practices and healing.