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Module Spotlight: Ancient Greek Medicine in Cultural Context
By utnvher, on 21 March 2016
UCL is a multi-disciplinary university, home to centres of teaching excellence in subjects from medicine to languages, law to engineering and history to astrophysics. We encourage interdisciplinary study and believe that all areas of study can inform and enrich each other.
The UCL International Summer School for Undergraduates reflects the unique breadth of our expertise and one of the things that sets us apart from other summer programmes is the range of modules we offer. Take for example Dr James Cross’s block 2 module, Ancient Greek Medicine in Cultural Context. What is it about? We decided to ask him…
Who is the module designed for?
JC: Ancient Greek Medicine in Cultural Context is aimed at anybody interested in any or all of the following: the history of medicine and medical humanities; the ancient world (Classics, ancient philosophy and ancient history); comparative literature. It is open to students already studying (a) Classics, comparative literature or related humanities subject(s), as well as to students of medicine or a related subject with some experience of studying a humanities subject.
Why study ancient Greek medicine?
JC: Most ancient medical ideas would be dismissed by modern biomedical science as the stuff of fantasy or myth, but that does not mean that ancient medicine has nothing to teach us. On the contrary, it is only by putting the modern world into dialogue with the past, and in this case modern western medicine into dialogue with its earliest foundations that we can gain some perspective on the achievements and limitations of modern culture, in this case of modern medical science. Anyone studying ancient Greek medicine is challenged to evaluate her or his ideas about health and disease critically and to consider ways in which culturally-specific myths have, in different ways, informed notions of illness and well-being from the earliest times until the present day.
What will the module focus on?
JC: The module will explore a selection of Hippocratic texts, such as On the Sacred Disease, a theoretical work about the causes of epilepsy and On Airs, Waters, Places, an essay about the relationship between health and environment. Students will be encouraged to consider how far examples of early Greek natural philosophy – bold, imaginative and innovative attempts to explain the nature of the universe, such as Democritus’ theory that the universe is composed entirely of atoms – served as catalysts for the development of new medical ideas in fifth century BC Greece. Students will also be encouraged to identify ways in which Hippocratic medical ideas draws upon depictions of the body and disease in archaic Greek poetry (Homeric epic) and ancient Greek tragic drama. All ancient Greek texts used on the module will be studied in English translation.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
Fragment of bas-relief in the from of a temple. A girl patient on a bed, Aesculapius stands above her. Bas-relief, plaster cast from the original in Athens. Greece
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution
What is the Hippocratic Collection?
JC: It’s a collection of around seventy essays, case studies, theoretical works, doctor’s notes and lists of sayings from ancient Greece. Many of the texts in the Collection were written towards the end of the fifth century BC, in a period of intense intellectual and cultural change in the ancient Greek world and one which saw, for example, the development of the first major philosophical schools, the invention of tragic drama and the development of the first serious history writing in an environment of radical political experimentation. The Hippocratic Collection is regarded as the foundation of Western medical tradition largely because Hippocratic authors were the first theorists of medicine who sought to explain health and disease through close observation and critical thinking, moving away from the mythic modes of explanation of earlier times. This module explores that transition from mythic accounts to the development of a scientific or pseudo-scientific mode of explanation and the relationship between these different modes of explanation.
What will students learn?
JC: Students who take the module will learn and/or improve their ability to engage in close reading of texts identifying key themes and ideas as well as to analyse the relationship between examples of ancient medical, poetic, dramatic and philosophical writing and material culture. Students will develop an understanding of theories central to Hippocratic medicine, and of the intellectual world from which they emerged and which they form part of.
What can I study once I have completed the module?
JC: The module serves as ideal preparation for anybody wishing to take further courses in the history of medicine/science or medical humanities; it also serves as an excellent complement to courses on the literature, history and philosophy of the ancient world. The module may also offer an insight for students on more traditionally-conceived humanities courses into science-based subjects and vice versa.
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