Medicine suspended between two worlds: myth and religion

To the modern mind, envisioning a world where medical science intertwines with myth and religion is challenging. A striking example is the ancient practice of incubation at the temple of Asclepius, where popular belief, medicine, and religious devotion were inseparable (Edelstein 1945: 161; Murray Jones 2016: 17; Renberg 2017: 748-753). This panel presents two case studies to explore this intersection. The first examines Chiron’s panaceas, a remedy where myth and medicine converge; the second focuses on Mir. 45 of Saint Artemius, where jujube berries are employed as a healing agent, blending medical practice with religious belief.

Paper 1: ‘Chiron’s panaceas between pharmacology and mythology’ (Giulia Freni)

In antiquity some substances were considered able to heal every disease of the human body. For this reason, they were defined panaceas ('universal remedies'). Many of them were associated with mythological creatures, heroes, or gods: for example, in Nicander’s Theriaka Chiron the centaur is said to have discovered the centaury (Nic., Th., 500-508; the same results in Poet. de herb., 114-117). At the same time, Chiron was credited with the discovery of other species such as the πάνακες Χειρώνιον and the Panax Chironia, and even non-panaceas plants. Based on such evidence as Nicander’s Theriaka, Dioscorides’ De materia medica and Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, this paper will analyse the panaceas attributed to Chiron. Their medical usages and botanical properties will be discussed, as well as the problems in the identification. By unearthing the connection between pharmacology and mythology, this paper intends to reevaluate our conception of ancient panaceas and their mythological background. Indeed, already the Greek name πανάκεια / πάνακες (and the Latin panax and panacea) recalls the goddess of universal remedy Panacea. Therefore, the discourse on ancient panaceas can be better understood if examined from this double perspective, mythological and pharmacological. 

Speaker details:

Giulia Freni has just finished a PhD course in Classical Philology at the University of Basilicata (Italy) and will discuss her dissertation soon. Between October 2023 and April 2024 she was a visiting PhD student at the Laboratoire UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée - équipe Médecine grecque et littérature technique, in Paris. She's interested in ancient medicine and magic, as well as ancient folklore, the connections between botany and mythology, and more generally ancient technical literature. 

Paper 2: ‘Christening berries and testicles: The Reception of Ancient Greek Medicine in a Hagiographic Work’ (Martina Biamino)

In the Byzantine era, ancient Greek medicine—rooted in the works of Hippocrates and Galen—remained a cornerstone of medical knowledge (Temkin 1963: 64; Duffy 1984: 22; Temkin 1991: 133; Stathakopoulos 2019: 141). This medical tradition, however, extended beyond formal manuals, permeating a range of texts not explicitly scientific by modern standards. Among these is the Miracula Artemii (BHG 173), an anonymous 7th-century compilation recounting 45 miraculous healings attributed to Saint Artemius at the Church of Saint John Prodromos, where his relics were housed (Nesbitt – Crisafulli 1996: 8-19; Efthymiadis 2004: 1; Alwis 2021: 1-36). This paper contributes to the history of scholarship by examining Mir. 45, the final miracle in the collection, through the lens of Galenic and Hippocratic medical principles. Special emphasis is placed on the use of jujube berries (ζίνζιφα), as detailed in Touwaide's comprehensive study (2008: 72-100). In this narrative, Saint Febronia, appearing in a dream, administers the berries to a distressed mother seeking a cure for her child’s genital ailment. By exploring this intersection of medicine and miracle, the study sheds new light on the enduring influence of classical medical practices in Byzantine religious contexts.

Speaker details:

Martina Biamino is a third-year PhD student at the University of Genoa, supervised by Prof. Pia Carolla. Her PhD is funded by a European PNRR scholarship. She is researching the use of olive oil in Late Antique and Byzantine literature, focusing on hagiography and medicine. She was awarded a Leventis Foundation scholarship, which enabled her to study at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, where she participated in the ‘Gennadius Library Summer Session’.

Advance booking is required for this online seminar.