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medicine in the ancient world

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medicine in the ancient world

At the beginning of the pandemic, someone brought up the hypothesis of divine punishment. Obviously absurd stuff, but above all with an ancient flavor. It is no coincidence that Achilles’ wrath in the Iliad also has to do with the pestilence unleashed by the god Apollo. And yet, the very son of Apollo, Asclepius or Aesculapius, if you prefer, would have become the god of healing, confirming that the first doctors were the divinities with all that unscientific would have resulted from them. The antiquist Laura Pepe, from the University of Milan, tells it in the three specials entitled Potions, spells, drugs – Medicine in the ancient world, broadcast for three Mondays (2, 9 and 16 January) on Focus (channel 35 of the digital terrestrial), which take us to Roman antiquity and not only to the discovery of medical knowledge of times gone by, when medicine was intertwined not only with religion, but also with popular beliefs and herbal practice. It is a journey which, thanks to historical sources and forensic science applied to skeletons from the Roman age, also helps to understand what were the main diseases affecting men and women of the time and which in many cases led to death. At the same time it makes it possible to obtain information on the state of health, on nutrition and on the practices with which the ancients provided for their psychophysical well-being. The theme is therefore interesting, also because it is little investigated, at least on television, but Laura Pepe’s story, which does not always appear perfectly at ease, is perhaps a little too fragmented, in the sense that her interventions, obviously following indications from authors, are very short and continuously interspersed with images. And while this guarantees rhythm, it doesn’t always help the viewer’s understanding. © reserved reproduction

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