Description
Book SynopsisThe intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.
Trade ReviewWickkiser, by focusing on a single historical event of some significance, has inserted an intriguing new angle to an old debate... In this respect, the present study provides the basis for further research into the significant questions which it raises. -- Konstantinos Kapparis, Ph.D. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 2009 Elegantly written, and with a sound command of the original Greek, it provides an excellent introduction to the rise of Asclepius' cult in Athens. It also promotes a clear and challenging thesis. -- Vivian Nutton Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science 2010 This book will be very useful to students and scholars (especially chapters four and five) of medical history, as it is a very clear introduction to the subject and somewhat renews our perspective on the origins of the cult of Asclepios in Athens. -- Caroline Petit Social History of Medicine 2010 Wickkiser freshly appraises our best evidence for the importation of the cult-namely, the Telemachus monument-in order to embed the event in both the space of the city and the local dynamics of power. -- Brooke Holmes Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2010 I have enjoyed reading this work enormously, and would recommend it to anyone seeking a short introduction to Asklepios, or to anyone teaching a course on ancient medicine or ancient 'religion'. -- Laurence Totelin Medical History 2010
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Translations and Abbreviations
Introduction
Common Perceptions of Asklepios and His Cult
The Current Project
1. From Practice to Profession: The Development of Greek Medicine from the Bronze Age to the Fifth Century BC
The Bronze Age and Homer
Between Homer and Hippocrates
Tradition and Change in Fifth-Century Medicine
Medicine as a Techne
Medicine and Its Limits
2. Searching for a Cure: The Limits of Medicine and the Development of Asklepios' Cult
Alternatives to Medicine: What Doctors Condoned
Healing Gods
The Early Development of Asklepios' Cult
The Popularity of Asklepios and His Healing
3. Asklepios and His Colleagues: Doctors and Divine Healers
Asklepios as Doctor in Myth and Cult
Other Healing Gods and Heroes
Doctors and Their Patron God
Asklepios' Specialization: Chronic Ailments
4. Documenting Asklepios' Arrival in Athens
Sources
Desccription, Text, and Translation of Telemachos Moument
Reading between the Lines
The Eleusinian Cult of Demeter and Kore
The Location of Asklepios' Sanctuary
5. Asklepios and the Topography of Athenian Cult
The Acropolis and the Greater Panathenaia
Dionysos and Demeter
Dionysos Eleuthereus and the City Dionysia
The Sanctuary of Dionysos Eleuthereus
The City Dionysia
Eleusinian Demeter and the Mysteries
6. Asklepios and Athenian Empire
Epidauros and Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars
The Peace of Nicias and Epidaurian Asklepios
Athens, Cults, and Politics in the Fifth Century
Negotiating Empire
Asklepios and the Kerykes in 418 BC
Mapping Meaning: The Epidauria Procession
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
