Medicina nei Secoli: Journal of History of Medicine and Medical Humanities

Οὖτις – Noman

Alain Touwaide — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Il pronome greco “οὔτις, neutro οὔτι ... nessuno o nessuno,

neutro niente” secondo la spiegazione lessicografica

sub verbo nel lessico greco-inglese compilato

dai due studiosi britannici George Liddell (1811-1898)

e Robert Scott (1811-1887) pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1843,

più volte rieditato, rivisto e ampliato da allora, e

ancora oggi utilizzato come riferimento principale nella lessicologia

del greco antico, potrebbe incarnare perfettamente l'

storia del dolore e del trattamento del dolore attraverso i secoli

in una lettura metaforica.

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

Marco Cilione, Lorenzo Morucci, Valentina Gazzaniga — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

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.

The Pain of Despair: the Suffering of Those who see no Future

Serena Buzzi — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Pain is a multidimensional phenomenon that deeply intertwines

physical, emotional, and psychological aspects, with

despair emerging as a critical element of the experience of

suffering. This article explores despair as a defining factor in

the perception and endurance of pain, highlighting its impact

on the patient’s relationship with illness, their sense of self,

and the role of the physician. Through an analysis of selected

passages from ancient medical texts by Hippocrates, Aretaeus,

Galen, and Oribasius, the study examines how despair

not only amplifies physical suffering but also challenges the

boundaries of medical practice. The article emphasizes the

transformative power of hope as a counterforce to despair,

serving as a therapeutic tool that can guide both patients and

physicians through the most challenging phases of illness. In

doing so, it underscores the ethical and emotional dimensions

of caregiving, advocating for a holistic approach to medicine

that addresses not only the physical symptoms of pain but also

the profound emotional suffering that accompanies despair.

Galen on faking pain

Christina Savino — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Faking pain and other symptoms is an emerging and controversial

topic in medical literature. It was already addressed

by Galen in the short writing Quomodo morbum simulantes

sint deprehendendi, the major excerpt of the Commentary on

Hippocrates’ Epidemics book II, lost in the original Greek but

surviving in Arabic translation. Using case histories, Galen

analyzes malingering and illness deception building a theory

which is still worthy of attention. This paper aims at reconsidering

Galen’s text, highlighting its most important and significant

features, in order to better understand the ancient view on

simulation and put it into a medico-historical context.

Interpreting Pain in early Stoicism

Luciana Repici — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A dilemma might have faced Stoic philosophers on pain: in

their view, properly speaking, the only evil is vice; but how

else could pain be defined, seeing that in all evidence it is the

opposite of the good, hence an evil? Proviso that in their view

this was a real dilemma, in which way did the Stoics try to

solve it without abandoning their own basic philosophical assumptions?

In any case, what they could not avoid was trying

to explain the undeniable existence of pain in humans and

suggest possible remedies for the evident detrimental effects

that it has on the individual way of life. Could pain at least be

governed, and if so, how? In what follows I shall try to reconstruct

step after step the Stoics’ answers to the difficult questions

involved in the topic and show that their treatment of the

problem is extended from ethics to physical and physiological

aspects, in the end requiring from their audience an effort

of comprehension: understanding the true nature of pain and

hence developing the rational persuasion that pain in the body

cannot, under certain conditions, be avoided but can at least be

endured, while pain in the soul is human responsibility only,

insofar as it depends on unsteady opinions, lack of knowledge

and erroneous evaluations of a state of affairs.

Conceptions et significations de la douleur dans le Lilium medicinae (1303-1305) de Bernard de GordonIn this article, we aim to contribute to the study of medieval conceptions of pain by analysing a work that is representative of university medicine at th

Laetitia Loviconi — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this article, we aim to contribute to the study of medieval conceptions of pain by analysing a work that is representative of university medicine at the end of the Middle Ages: the Lilium medicinae (1303-1305) by the physician Bernard de Gordon. We will begin by looking at how he characterises the nature of pain and the phenomena that cause it in the animate body. We will then look at the diversity of causes of pain that he discusses and that of the resulting pain. Finally, we will examine the extent to which, and the way in which, medieval physicians were able to rely on the specific characteristics of each type of pain in order to gain a better understanding of his patient’ disease and to make a diagnosis and propose a prognosis.

In pain you shall bring forth children. Humble Acceptance of the Pain of Childbirth? A Brief Overview from the Middle Ages to the Sixteenth Century

Alessandra Foscati — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

While the Bible, and later the exegesis of theologians, gave meaning to childbirth pain, the acceptance and alleviation, if not the total elimination, of such pain is still a topical issue in the current age of increasingly safe medical intervention. Some historians have stated that suffering was long taken for granted in the West as God’s will, and therefore passively accepted without any possibility of change. But is this true? Can we apply such an assumption to the past generally, or would greater historical contextualisation lead to different considerations, particularly if coupled with an evaluation of individual texts, above all in the medical field? The aim of this article is to show that the idea of abandoning women in labour to their painful fate seems at times to have been unacceptable, particularly in the Middle Ages.

Art that cures. The power of interventions based on music, painting, writing and movies to relieve physical and mental pain

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The irruption of illness into a person’s life is an overwhelming event that affects individuals and families at all levels. Therapies based on art have been used for decades, and in some cases for millennia. These powerful tools share the ability, at least, to make patients more aware of their emotions and more capable of expressing them; to facilitate communication and relationships with family members and caregivers; to alleviate distress and pain and to bolster resilience and mind-body integration. A wide range of art therapies is currently available to support psychological and pharmacological treatments. This article describes a number of interventions based on music, painting, writing and movies and some of their earliest applications, which is some cases date back to the ancient Greek world, thus highlighting the remarkably long shared history of art and medicine.

The way of the sick to the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome in the 17th-18th centuries

Marian Surdacki — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome, the largest charitable institution in Europe and the Christian world, founded in 1198 by Pope Innocent III, served two functions: it was a foundling asylum (brephotrophium) and a hospital for the sick (infirmary). The author conducted research on the healing function of this hospital, the result of which is a monograph published in Poland in 2023, entitled: The Holy Spirit Infirmary in Rome in the 17th-18th centuries (pp. 570). In the years 2022-2024, he published several articles in Italian journals focusing on the roles of hospital physicians and surgeons, male nurses’ (giovani) work in the hospital and their education and training in surgery, and the religious and sacramental life of the sick in the said hospital. This article addresses an issue not previously explored in studies on the healing function of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome. It concerns the matter of transporting patients to the hospital and the procedure for their admission. Patients arrived at the hospital both from Rome and the surrounding area. The latter were transported on horseback, while the sick residing in the city were brought to the hospital on stretchers or chairs by stretcher-bearers (barellanti). Persons involved in transporting the sick were paid by the Office of Papal Charities. (Limosineria Apostolica). It was recommended that patients be placed in the hospital nearest to their place of residence. The sick, having arrived at the hospital alone, driven or brought, were subject to a special procedure of admission and hospitalisation. They were diagnosed by one of the assistant physicians on duty, who decided whether the patients were eligible for admission and, if so, assigned them to the appropriate ward for treatment. Clothing and personal belongings of the sick were then deposited, and they were provided with hospital attire. The first duty of the newly admitted patient was confession, followed by Holy Communion.

The Enigma Christina of Sweden (1626 – 1689): Sexuality, Power and some medicalpsychological hypotheses

Fabiola Zurlini, Silvia Iorio, Vera Nigrisoli Wärnhjelm — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The controversial figure of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) has been the subject of a wide historical literature, particularly in relation to her strong choices, such as the abdication from the throne of Sweden and the conversion to Roman Catholicism. Certain historians wanted to identify the reasons for these choices in her sexual ambiguity - a presumed homosexuality - and congenital sexual anomalies, such as hermaphroditism and hyperandrogenism. The article analyses psychological and medical theories on the Queen’s sexuality in the essays, published from the nineteenth century up to now, integrating research with unpublished archival documentation - letters by court doctors, private correspondence and the Queen’s autobiography. The aim of the article is to restore the truth about the Queen’s sexual orientation. The anthropological examination, carried out on the Queen’s skeleton, confirms typical female features, just as the analysis of the recently discovered archival documentation shows a heterosexual orientation. Christina had a masculine attitude more because of the male education she received, the virile role she assumed as a sovereign, her proud nature as a lover of freedom, her adherence to libertine thought and, above all, the male language of power during the modern age rather than for presumed sexual anomalies.

Sowing Children. Interpreting the morphology of votive wombs

Lorenzo Morucci, Silvia Iorio, Valentina Gazzaniga, Marco Cilione — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The interpretation of the iconography of the body must necessarily be placed in the historical and anthropological coordinates to which the image belongs. The conceptualization of the body and its physiology changes through the centuries and from one cultural context to another. The paper therefore proposes an interpretation of the characteristics of the furrowed votive uterus consistent with the main embryogenetic theories of the Greek and Roman world.

The beginnings of Public Hygiene in Milan during the 14th century. The studies of Francesco La Cava (1877-1958)

Barbara Pezzoni, Enrica Tonina, Omar Larentis, Ilaria Gorini — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Health as a primary good is a well-established goal in the social action of our time. The process that led to the determination of the set of rules governing healthcare needs and provisions for public hygiene has its origins far back in the history of medicine, with some chapters that are partly unknown. Here, we want to remember the figure of Francesco La Cava (Careri 1877- Roma 1958), a virtuous man, physician, and scholar with numerous facets, to whom we attribute the merit of having investigated the still unexplored chapter of Lombard healthcare in the 14th century.