Voiceless pain. On the trail of the suffering of children and adolescents in the Greco-Roman world.

Abstract

The most recent historical-medical studies devote some attention to the patient’s perspective in the care relationship. As far as the Greco-Roman world is concerned, the account of the disease in terms of symptoms, diagnosis and therapy emerges with some clarity from the medical literature alone. A broader investigation of the sources and an integrated approach, which makes documents of a more traditional nature dialogue with the data collected from skeletal remains, makes it possible to reconstruct the lifestyle within a specific nosological framework thanks to the interpretative tools developed by the bioarchaeology of care. However, the pain of children and adolescents continues to remain in the shadows. The texts show a certain reticence to talk about it. Ancient medical literature generally tends not to address the illness of non-adults as a specific therapeutic field. Even more difficult is it to give voice to the suffering of a phase of life traditionally neglected by historiography. Some attention has been paid to the existential distress of individuals with disabilities, especially in relation to the perception of the cultural context and the care strategies implemented. The aim of this research is to identify some traces of suffering in non-adulthood in the Greek and Roman world starting from literary and medical sources to try to make the most of their documentary possibilities.