Ancient Healing Practices and Theories in Medicine

 
385 EXAM 2 REVIEW
 
 
TEMPLE MEDICINE
 
 
Incubation
 
• purification (bathing, change of clothes, sprinkling of water)
before entry into sacred precinct
• sacrifice of inexpensive offerings: honeycakes, cheesecakes,
figs
• evening entry into 
abaton
• segregation of male and female patients
• sleep in 
abaton
         
immediate
• repeat until dream (
oneiros
) provides cure
             
mediated
• upon recovery, thanks-offering (
eukharistêrion
) made
• animal sacrifice to Asklepios and Hygieia
• on certain occasions, testimonial engraved and displayed
 
What Explains Asklepiadic Testimonia?
 
 
What Explains Asklepiadic Testimonia?
 
• Deceitful claim?
• Placebo effect?
• Natural cure?
• Seriousness of condition?
• Nature of “cure”?
• Genuine miracle?
 
 
 
 
MAGIC & SCIENCE
 
 
 
MAGIC MEDICINE
 
 
Aims in 
PGM
 
 
       
plant, herb
       
drug, potion
 
       
medicine
 
pharmakon
       
poison
 
       
magic charm
 
       
scapegoat
 
Doctrine of Signatures
"Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative
benefit"
 
 
Doctrine of Signatures
"Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative
benefit"
 
 
• appearance of natural material : body part :: sign : signified
• sign indicates therapeutic benefit relative to corresponding
part
• appearance of natural material : innate property :: sign :
signified
 
BINDING-SPELLS & LOVE CHARMS
 
 
Curse (
katadesmos
)
 
•preparation / consecration of 
lamella
 
• invocation (agents / messengers)
  
* chthonic deity (Hades, Persephone, Hekate, Hermes)
  
* 
kakodaimon
  
* 
nekydaimon
 
• designation of victim
  
*identification of name and family
  
*enumeration of parts
 
• list of desired results
 
• promise / threat
 
• self-identification as god or 
daimon
• deposition of 
lamella
 
• graveyard; grave of recently deceased child
 
• underground watercourse
 
 
Performatives
 
• What does uttering a performative do?
 
• Can performatives be negative?
• How are performatives verified?
 
Performatives
 
• Uttering a performative is, or is part of, the doing of a kind of
action rather than the description of a thing, an action, or a state.
 
• Uttering a performative changes the reality to which it applies. This
can include the speaker, the addressee, both, or some general
situation.
• Performative utterances can be positive or negative: they can
instate or cancel a state of affairs.
• Since performative utterances are not deictic or referential, they
are not subject to verifiability: they cannot be true or false, and so
are not evaluable on those terms.
 
• Performative utterances are instead evaluable in terms of
appropriateness of context and (sometimes) effectiveness.
 
 
 
      
ERÔS (
philtrokatadesmos, agôgê
)
 
LOVE CHARMS
 
      
PHILIA (
philtron, kharis
)
 
 
 
 
LOVE CHARMS
 
 
 
 
      
 
philtrokatadesmos
  
ERÔS
      
agôgê
 
 
 
      
 
philtrokatadesmos 
(binding spell)
  
ERÔS
      
agôgê 
(fetching spell)
 
Eros Charm
 
• attraction (
agôgê
) and binding (
katadesmos
)
• restriction of sexual attention to NN alone
• restlessness, mental disturbance
• loss of physical and emotional self-control
• physical torture (binding, inflaming, whipping, piercing)
• rejection of husband and family
• compulsory movement (
agôgê
) from natal/conjugal house to
house of NN
• culmination in intercourse
 
Philia Charm
 
 
      
philtron
 
PHILIA
      
kharis
 
Philia Charm
 
 
      
philtron 
(love charm)
 
PHILIA
      
kharis 
(beauty/favor/sex appeal)
 
 
 
EVIL EYE
 
 
Evil Eye
 
• What effects does evil eye have?
• How is evil eye believed to work?
• What relation to envy?
• What safeguards against evil eye?
• What social function?
 
 
 
    
• carrier both human and animal
    
• effects both voluntary and involuntary
    
• dessication of both inanimate objects and living beings
    
• emanationist mechanism
    
• association with envy (
invidia
)
    
• protection against evil eye
     
• silence/rejection of praise
     
• counter-eye
     
• objects that deflect
     
• assertion of sexual potency
    
• association with liquids
    
• social functions
     
• explanation of misfortune
     
• redirection of guilt
     
• curb on ostentatious display
     
• redistribution of goods
 
PRINCIPLES OF MAGIC
 
 
actio in distans
 
What ancient theories explain 
actio in distans
?
 
actio in distans
 
• emission theory
• correspondence (sympathy/antipathy) theory
• doctrine of signatures
 
Sir James Frazer
(1854-1941)
Sympathy / Contagion
 
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Omnipotence of Thought
 
 
 
 
Some Features of Language
 
• Language as intersubjective, hence immanently social
 
• Language and the constitution of the experienced world
   
• ordering and understanding
   
• naming and ordering
   
• ordering (however arbitrary) experienced as
natural
 
• Language and techniques for reorganizing / reconstituting
the 
 
   
 
   experienced world
   
• translation
   
• linguistic tropes (metaphor, synecdoche)
 
DIRT
 
 
Structuralist Assumptions
 
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
 
Structuralist Assumptions
 
1. There is a human need to classify in order to understand.
2. Classification tends to be binary: BELOW / ABOVE
3. Whatever resists classification causes anxiety: FEMALE ?
MALE
4. Transition between categories is potentially dangerous.
5. Whatever resists classification or fails to transition
successfully from one category to another is “dirt.”
6. All “dirt” is taboo.
7. Whatever is taboo is powerful.
 
 
 
 
“Dirt” : Matter out of Place
 
MUMBOJUMBO
 
 
Uses of Language
 
Uses of Language
 
Mumbojumbo
 
 
 
 
thing 
 image 
 word 
 thing
 
“garlic” spoken = garlic eaten
 
Names & Things
 
• the naturalness of one’s own language
• the essential character of one’s own name
 
•naming rituals
 
•private vs. public names
 
•names and curses
 
•names and invocations (
יהוה
)
• naming and creation
 
Linguistic Sign
 
Referent
 
Sign
 
Linguistic Sign
 
Sign
 
Referent
 
 
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
 
 
 
 
 
 
      
rose
 
Estrangement in Mumbojumbo
 
• conventional link between Sign and Signified broken by
tropes (rhyme, repetition, etc.)
 
• attention focuses on Sign rather than Signified
 
• transparent Sign becomes thicker and more opaque
 
• Sign becomes thinglike
 
• speech becomes creative
 
DEMONOLOGY
 
 
 
 
 
daimôn
 (pl. 
daimones
)
 
 
 
         
(unspecified) god
 
daimôn
 (pl. 
daimones
)
         
divine power : nymph,
ancestor,
         
divinized hero, spirit of the
dead...
 
 
 
        
agathodaimôn
 
  
daimôn
 
        
kakodaimôn
        
nekydaimôn
 
 
 
        
agathodaimôn 
(good daimon)
 
  
daimôn
 
        
kakodaimôn 
(evil daimon)
        
nekydaimôn 
(death daimon)
 
Effects of Alexander’s Conquest
 
 
Effects of Alexander’s Conquest
 
• expansion due to conquests by Alexander the Great (356-
323 BCE)
• sustained contact with cultures of Egypt, Near East, India
• cultural and religious syncretism
• importation of Babylonian astronomy/astrology in Greek
world
• importation of exotic 
daimones
 
Aristotelian Motion
 
• Two kinds of observable motion: (a) ________ and (b)
________.
 
• Terrestrial motion is _____________________.
 
• Celestial motion is _______________; therefore celestial
bodies must be composed of a unique element (_________).
 
• Earth lies at the center of the 
kosmos
, surrounded (ideally)
by concentric spheres of _____________________ — moving
upwards from most dense to most refined.
 
Aristotelian Physics/Theology
 
• Forced displacement 
 terrestrial movement.
• Something unmoved 
 
celestial movement.
• Source of all movement = Unmoved Mover = God.
• God perfect, complete, autonomous, self-absorbed and self-
sufficient.
• God embodies goal towards which all natural things aim:
perfect self-actualization.
• Desire to become God 
 all movement
.
 
 
 
 
 
Aristotelian Physics/Theology
 
• Forced displacement 
 terrestrial movement.
• Something unmoved 
 
celestial movement.
• Source of all movement = _____________________.
• _______________ embodies goal towards which all natural
things aim: perfect self-actualization.
• _______________
 all movement
.
 
 
 
 
 
Results of Aristotelian Theology
 
 
Results of Aristotelian Theology
 
 
• increasing gap between mortal and divine worlds
 
• need for mediation between mortal and divine worlds
 
• monotheistic trend 
 proliferation of 
daimones
 
• sublunary world as alienated, corrupt, fallen
 
• rise in popularity of foreign cults, supernatural
phenomena
 
theurgy
 
•Universe is hierarchy of serial emanations from the One.
 
•Each order of emanations is subdivided further.
 
•Each subdivision mediated by gods, 
daimones
, souls, guardian
spirits, ghosts...
 
•Goal of theurgy: ascent (
anagôgê
) to and communion/merger with
the One.
 
•Means of theurgy:
 
•magic rituals to induce 
empsychosis
 
•use of symbols to attract 
daimones
 and higher souls
  
+gold : cinnamon : heliotrope : rooster : Sun
 
•interrogation of emplaced souls about access to higher levels
  
+discovery of passwords to allow for ascent through gates
 
MANTEIA
DIVINATION
 
 
Types of Divination
 
 
 
 
manteia
 
 
Types of Divination
 
 
 
     
inspired (possession)
 
manteia
 
     
inductive (technological)
 
Divination
 
• intersection of emanationism,
 sympathia
, Doctrine of
Signatures
• universe rationally ordered and expressible as signs
(
sêmata
)
• natural world (weather, animals) as privileged bearer of
signs
• development of technologies of semiology
• universe deterministic : illusion of “coincidence” in
kledonomancy
 
 
 
teratomancy 
 _____________
augury 
 _______________
haruspicy 
 _________________
oneiromancy - __________________
klêdonomancy 
 _____________
 
 
 
teratomancy 
 abnormal events
augury 
 birdflight and behavior
haruspicy 
 liver of sacrificial victims
oneiromancy - dreams
klêdonomancy 
 “chance” events
 
Types of Dreams
 
Types of Dreams
 
Private Dream 
 Public Meaning
 
• immediate (private) dream experience
• recollection of dream upon and after waking : secondary
elaboration
• later discussion of dream with others : tertiary elaboration
• influence of cultural (narrative) templates on both secondary
and tertiary elaboration
• cultural templates embody interpretive frameworks
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Explore the ancient practices and theories in medicine, including the fascinating rituals of Asklepiadic incubation and the blending of magic and science in ancient healing. Delve into the application of observable events explained in terms of non-observables, effects produced through manipulation, and the varied approaches to understanding illness and cure.

  • Ancient Medicine
  • Healing Practices
  • Medical Theories
  • Magic and Science
  • Historical Healing

Uploaded on Apr 05, 2024 | 4 Views


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  1. 385 EXAM 2 REVIEW

  2. TEMPLE MEDICINE

  3. Incubation purification (bathing, change of clothes, sprinkling of water) before entry into sacred precinct sacrifice of inexpensive offerings: honeycakes, cheesecakes, figs evening entry into abaton segregation of male and female patients sleep in abaton repeat until dream (oneiros) provides cure upon recovery, thanks-offering (eukharist rion) made animal sacrifice to Asklepios and Hygieia on certain occasions, testimonial engraved and displayed immediate mediated

  4. What Explains Asklepiadic Testimonia?

  5. What Explains Asklepiadic Testimonia? Deceitful claim? Placebo effect? Natural cure? Seriousness of condition? Nature of cure ? Genuine miracle?

  6. MAGIC & SCIENCE

  7. ANCIENT SCIENCE ANCIENT MAGIC theory over application observable events explained in terms of non-observables (kryptomena) observable events explained in terms of non-observables (kryptomena) effects produced by manipulating kryptomena deterministic causal network impersonal idiom (dynameis) effects produced by manipulating kryptomena deterministic causal network language active, efficacious, creative techniques performed by neutral agent public knowledge, openness to criticism failure results from (1) faulty theory, (2) flawed implementation or experimentation private (often banned ) knowledge failure results from (1) flawed implementation, (2) counter-magic, (3) character of agent, (4) chance acknowledged (if poorly understood) by society at large

  8. ANCIENT SCIENCE ANCIENT MAGIC theory over application practice over theory observable events explained in terms of non-observables (kryptomena) observable events explained in terms of non-observables (kryptomena) effects produced by manipulating kryptomena deterministic causal network impersonal idiom (dynameis) effects produced by manipulating kryptomena deterministic causal network mixed idiom: personal (daimonia) and impersonal (dynameis) language active, efficacious, creative language neutral, descriptive techniques performed by neutral agent techniques performed by involved agent public knowledge, openness to criticism failure results from (1) faulty theory, (2) flawed implementation or experimentation private (often banned ) knowledge failure results from (1) flawed implementation, (2) counter-magic, (3) character of agent, (4) chance acknowledged (if poorly understood) by society at large acknowledged (if poorly understood) by society at large

  9. MAGIC MEDICINE

  10. Aims in PGM AIM Healing Knowledge Love Injury Miscellaneous Success Safety Invocation Service Horoscopes and General Astrology NUMBER/PERCENT 109/21% 102/20% 98/19% 61/12% 44/8.5% 42/8.2% 22/4.3% 22/4.3% 7/1.4% 6/1.2%

  11. plant, herb drug, potion pharmakon medicine poison magic charm scapegoat

  12. Doctrine of Signatures "Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative benefit"

  13. Doctrine of Signatures "Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative benefit" appearance of natural material : body part :: sign : signified sign indicates therapeutic benefit relative to corresponding part appearance of natural material : innate property :: sign : signified

  14. BINDING-SPELLS & LOVE CHARMS

  15. Curse (katadesmos) preparation / consecration of lamella invocation (agents / messengers) * chthonic deity (Hades, Persephone, Hekate, Hermes) * kakodaimon * nekydaimon designation of victim *identification of name and family *enumeration of parts list of desired results promise / threat self-identification as god or daimon deposition of lamella graveyard; grave of recently deceased child underground watercourse

  16. Performatives What does uttering a performative do? Can performatives be negative? How are performatives verified?

  17. Performatives Uttering a performative is, or is part of, the doing of a kind of action rather than the description of a thing, an action, or a state. Uttering a performative changes the reality to which it applies. This can include the speaker, the addressee, both, or some general situation. Performative utterances can be positive or negative: they can instate or cancel a state of affairs. Since performative utterances are not deictic or referential, they are not subject to verifiability: they cannot be true or false, and so are not evaluable on those terms. Performative utterances are instead evaluable in terms of appropriateness of context and (sometimes) effectiveness.

  18. ERS (philtrokatadesmos, agg) LOVE CHARMS PHILIA (philtron, kharis)

  19. LOVE CHARMS

  20. ERS philtrokatadesmos ag g

  21. ERS philtrokatadesmos (binding spell) ag g (fetching spell)

  22. Eros Charm attraction (ag g ) and binding (katadesmos) restriction of sexual attention to NN alone restlessness, mental disturbance loss of physical and emotional self-control physical torture (binding, inflaming, whipping, piercing) rejection of husband and family compulsory movement (ag g ) from natal/conjugal house to house of NN culmination in intercourse

  23. Philia Charm PHILIA philtron kharis

  24. Philia Charm PHILIA philtron (love charm) kharis (beauty/favor/sex appeal)

  25. EROS CHARM agog , philtrokatadesmos PHILIA CHARM philtron, kharis Terms incantation over amulets, knotted cords, rings, potions, ointments Description burns, tortures, maddens, impels victim to leave home and come to practitioner lust (eros) courtship outsider to destroy loyalty to natal family or spouse man, prostitute Action Effect affection (philia) Social context User Victim wife, social inferior husband, king, other authoritative male

  26. EROS CHARM agog , philtrokatadesmos incantation over bound images, tortured animals, burning materials burns, tortures, maddens, impels victim to leave home and come to practitioner lust (eros) courtship outsider to destroy loyalty to natal family or spouse man, prostitute young women and men, usually in natal home PHILIA CHARM philtron, kharis Terms incantation over amulets, knotted cords, rings, potions, ointments Description binds and mollifies, reduces anger, increases esteem for practitioner; increases sex appeal (kharis) of practitioner Action Effect affection (philia) insider within existing relationship in need of repair Social context User Victim wife, social inferior husband, king, other authoritative male

  27. EVIL EYE

  28. Evil Eye What effects does evil eye have? How is evil eye believed to work? What relation to envy? What safeguards against evil eye? What social function?

  29. carrier both human and animal effects both voluntary and involuntary dessication of both inanimate objects and living beings emanationist mechanism association with envy (invidia) protection against evil eye silence/rejection of praise counter-eye objects that deflect assertion of sexual potency association with liquids social functions explanation of misfortune redirection of guilt curb on ostentatious display redistribution of goods

  30. PRINCIPLES OF MAGIC

  31. actio in distans What ancient theories explain actio in distans?

  32. actio in distans emission theory correspondence (sympathy/antipathy) theory doctrine of signatures

  33. Sir James Frazer (1854-1941) Sympathy / Contagion

  34. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Omnipotence of Thought

  35. SIMILARITY Sympathetic, Mimetic, Homeopathic CONTAGION Contact

  36. SIMILARITY Sympathetic, Mimetic, Homeopathic A X Y (likeness) = X (original) A Y A Y = A X CONTAGION Contact A X Y (part) = X (whole) A Y A Y = A X

  37. SIMILARITY Sympathetic, Mimetic, Homeopathic A X Y (likeness) = X (original) A Y A Y = A X Metaphor CONTACT Contagious A X Y (part) = X (whole) A Y A Y = A X Synecdoche

  38. Some Features of Language Language as intersubjective, hence immanently social Language and the constitution of the experienced world ordering and understanding naming and ordering ordering (however arbitrary) experienced as natural Language and techniques for reorganizing / reconstituting the experienced world translation linguistic tropes (metaphor, synecdoche)

  39. DIRT

  40. Structuralist Assumptions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

  41. Structuralist Assumptions 1. There is a human need to classify in order to understand. 2. Classification tends to be binary: BELOW / ABOVE 3. Whatever resists classification causes anxiety: FEMALE ? MALE 4. Transition between categories is potentially dangerous. 5. Whatever resists classification or fails to transition successfully from one category to another is dirt. 6. All dirt is taboo. 7. Whatever is taboo is powerful.

  42. Dirt : Matter out of Place GARDEN HOUSE PLATE soil dirt filth

  43. MUMBOJUMBO

  44. Uses of Language Referential/Deictic This frog is bleeding. Performative I curse you, frog! Expressive/Emoti ve Analogical Just as this frog bleeds Metaphorical The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit. Performative Emotive Analogical Metaphorical Mumbojumbo Bleed, frog! Magical

  45. Uses of Language This frog is bleeding. I curse you, frog! Bleed, frog! Performative Expressive/Emoti ve Analogical The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit. Magical

  46. Mumbojumbo TROPE transposition EXAMPLE sabaoth / asbotha psin ther n psither thern psi kuk bakuk bakakuk bakaxikuk abracadabra mumbojumbo (3x), (9x) ablanathanalba akramakariramamariramakarka a e i o u u i e a recombination rhyme repetition palindrome tonic vowel palindrome numerological cypher khabrakh thnesk r phikhr phur ph kh b kh pterygma, word square, concrete poetry shape

  47. thing image word thing garlic spoken = garlic eaten

  48. Names & Things the naturalness of one s own language the essential character of one s own name naming rituals private vs. public names names and curses names and invocations ( ) naming and creation

  49. Linguistic Sign Referent Sign

  50. Linguistic Sign Referent Sign

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