Medicine and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt (Studies in Ancient Medicine)

Current questions on whether Hellenistic Egypt should be understood in terms of colonialism and imperialism, multicultural separatism, or integration and syncretism have never been closely studied in the context of healing. Yet illness affects and is affected by nutrition, disease and reproduction within larger questions of demography, agriculture and environment. It is crucial to every socio-economic group, all ages, and both sexes; perceptions and responses to illness are ubiquitous in all kinds of evidence, both Greek and Egyptian and from archaeology to literature. Examing all forms of healing within the specific socioeconomic and environmental constraints of the Ptolemies’ Egypt, this book explores how linguistic, cultural and ethnic affiliations and interactions were expressed in the medical domain. Contents 5 List of Illustrations 9 Preface 11 Note on Abbreviations 13 Chapter One. Greeks and Egyptians 15 1.1. Physical and Epidemiological Environments 16 1.2.1. Demography: The Numbers Game 34 1.2.2. Demography: Patterns of Immigration 37 1.3.1. Ethnicity, Ideology and Identity 40 1.3.2. Government, Foreigners, and the Eternal Struggle between Good and Evil 46 1.4.1. Ethnocultural Perceptions 51 1.4.2. Greeks and Egyptian Medicine 55 1.5. Ethnicity and Medicine 56 Chapter Two. Medicine and the Gods 59 2.1.1. Medical Oracles in Context 60 2.1.2. Dreams 63 2.1.3. Incubation 66 2.1.4. Asklepieia Contrasted with Egyptian Sanctuaries 68 2.2.1. Reformulating Isis 72 2.2.2. The Sanctuaries and Roles of Sarapis 77 2.3.1. Healing and the Sacred Animal Necropolis at Saqqara 81 2.3.2. The Sarapieon of Memphis: The Greek Dream Interpreter 83 2.3.3. The Sarapieon of Memphis: The Greek Medical Text 86 2.3.4. The Asklepieion of Memphis: The Greek Patient 89 2.3.5. Hor 92 2.3.6. Taimhotep 95 2.4.1. Imhotep (Asklepios) and Amenhotep (Amenothes): The Pre-Ptolemaic Background 97 2.4.2. Imhotep and Amenhotep at Deir el-Bahari 101 2.5. Medical Modes at Healing Sanctuaries 107 2.6. Conclusions 112 Chapter Three. Theoretical Perspectives 115 3.1.1. Nosological Concepts: Gods and the Greek Understanding of Disease 118 3.1.2. Invasion from Outside: Disease Conceptualization in Egypt 122 3.1.3. Within the Body: Physiology and Pathology 126 3.2.1. Comparing Greek and Egyptian Concepts: Whdw and Residues 129 3.2.2. The Knidos Connection 131 3.2.3. Comparing Other Disease Theories 136 3.2.4. A Difference in Approach? Rational Greeks and Irrational Egyptians 139 3.3. Egyptian and Greek Medicine: Contemporary Perceptions 142 3.4. In Greek Egypt 148 Chapter Four. Responses to Illness 155 4.1.1. Diagnosis 158 4.1.2. Prognosis 163 4.2.1. Therapies 166 4.2.2. Conceptualizing Drugs 168 4.2.2.1. An Obsession with Purgation? Egyptian Medicine in the Greek Imagination 173 4.2.2.2. Contexts of Repulsion: The Meanings of Feces for Demons, Doctors and Historians 178 4.2.3. The Ptolemaic Pharmacy 181 4.2.4. Obtaining Drugs 191 4.2.5. Quantification and Polypharmacy 195 4.3.1. Non-Material Therapies 197 4.3.2. Prevention and Protection 201 4.3.3. Horus-on-the-Crocodiles 204 4.4. Knife, Fire, and Bathing: How to Recognize Greek Medicine 206 4.5. Selecting Practitioners and Practices 215 Chapter Five. Identifying Medical Practitioners 219 5.1.1. Defining the Egyptian Physician 220 5.1.2. Obtaining Medical Assistance in Pharaonic Egypt 226 5.1.3. The Practitioner at Large in Ptolemaic Egypt 230 5.2.1. Numbers and Kinds of Healer in Ptolemaic Egypt 233 5.2.2. Inclusive and Exclusive Medicine 241 5.2.3. Evolving Perceptions and Medical Choices in the Greco-Roman Fayum 243 5.3.1. The Medical Tax 246 5.3.2. The Medical Tax: Precedents 247 5.3.3. The Medical Tax: Reputable Recipients 250 5.4. In Conclusion 252 5.5. Appendix: Ptolemaic Physicians and Official Positions 253 Chapter Six. Medicine in Alexandria 257 6.1. A Greek City in Egypt 257 6.2. Urban Pluralism 263 6.3. Only in Alexandria 268 6.4. Elite Medicine As an Exclusive System 272 Bibliography 281 Subject Index 309 Index of Proper Names 313 Index of Places 318 Index of Citations 320 Papyri (Greek; Demotic Egyptian, Hieratic, and Hieroglyphic) 327 Inscriptions (Greek and Egyptian) 331 Ostraka (Greek and Demotic Egyptian) 332 Current questions over whether Hellenistic Egypt should be understood in terms of colonialism and imperialism, multicultural separatism, or integration and syncretism have never been closely studied in the context of healing. Yet illness affects and is affected by nutrition, disease and reproduction within larger questions of demography, agriculture and environment. It is crucial to every socio-economic group, all ages, and both sexes; perceptions and responses to illness are ubiquitous in all kinds of evidence, both Greek and Egyptian and from archaeology to literature. Examing all forms of healing within the specific socioeconomic and environmental constraints of the Ptolemies' Egypt, this book explores how linguistic, cultural and ethnic affiliations and interactions were expressed in the medical domain.