The argument of the book is part of a vast research field, that of medicine in the Imperial Age, a topical issue in the historiographical debate on Antiquity, given also its close connections with parallel and fundamental topics such as, for example, the relationship between social dynamics and economic pressures or between cultural dimension and political power: in this delicate and elusive interstitial space between medicine and power we find the figure and work of Andromachus, from the island of Crete and chief physician of the emperor Nero.The volume is divided into four chapters. The first three are devoted respectively to Andromachean poem about making a polyvalent antivenom (theriake) of extraordinary efficacy (chapter I), to drug components, often rare and expensive, necessary for the realization of the “miraculous” antidote (chapter II), to the dense and complex web of interests – political, social, economic and cultural – which lied behind the Andromachus’ text and connoted the conduct of Nero, both inside the court and in respect of the Roman province of Creta et Cyrenaica, not surprisingly the archiater’s homeland (chapter III). Then follows a fourth chapter, certainly prosopographic, aiming to highlight how deep-rooted was the medical tradition in an island like Crete which, between the third century BC and the fifth century AD, initially hosted many famous physicians and after was the birthplace of professionals so accredited to become doctors of the Imperial court as the same Andromachus or the namesake son, almost certainly physician of the Flavian emperors.
L’argomento del libro rientra in un vasto filone di ricerca, quello della medicina in età imperiale, una tematica attuale nel dibattito storiografico antichistico, date anche le sue strette connessioni con parallele e fondamentali piste d’indagine quali, ad esempio, le relazioni fra dinamiche sociali e spinte economiche o fra dimensione culturale e potere politico: ed è proprio qui, in questo delicato, e a tratti sfuggente, spazio interstiziale fra medicina e potere, che si pongono la figura e l’opera di Andromaco, originario dell’isola di Creta e archiatra dell’imperatore Nerone. Il volume si articola in quattro capitoli. I primi tre sono dedicati rispettivamente al poema andromacheo sulla preparazione di un antiveleno polivalente di straordinaria efficacia, alle componenti farmacologiche, spesso rare e costose, necessarie per la realizzazione del “miracoloso” antidoto, alla fitta e complessa trama di interessi – politici, sociali, economici e culturali – che sottesero il testo di Andromaco ed allo stesso tempo connotarono la condotta di Nerone, sia all’interno della corte sia nei riguardi della provincia di "Creta et Cyrenaica", non a caso patria dell’archiatra. Segue poi un capitolo, di taglio decisamente prosopografico, mirante invece ad evidenziare quanto profonda e radicata fosse la tradizione medica in un’isola che fra III secolo a.C. e V secolo d.C. dapprima ospitò numerosi medici illustri ed in seguito diede i natali a professionisti tanto accreditati da divenire medici di corte come lo stesso Andromaco o l’omonimo figlio, quasi certamente archiatra degli imperatori "Flavii".
Andromaco di Creta. Medicina e potere nella Roma neroniana
CASSIA, Margherita Guglielmina
2012-01-01
Abstract
The argument of the book is part of a vast research field, that of medicine in the Imperial Age, a topical issue in the historiographical debate on Antiquity, given also its close connections with parallel and fundamental topics such as, for example, the relationship between social dynamics and economic pressures or between cultural dimension and political power: in this delicate and elusive interstitial space between medicine and power we find the figure and work of Andromachus, from the island of Crete and chief physician of the emperor Nero.The volume is divided into four chapters. The first three are devoted respectively to Andromachean poem about making a polyvalent antivenom (theriake) of extraordinary efficacy (chapter I), to drug components, often rare and expensive, necessary for the realization of the “miraculous” antidote (chapter II), to the dense and complex web of interests – political, social, economic and cultural – which lied behind the Andromachus’ text and connoted the conduct of Nero, both inside the court and in respect of the Roman province of Creta et Cyrenaica, not surprisingly the archiater’s homeland (chapter III). Then follows a fourth chapter, certainly prosopographic, aiming to highlight how deep-rooted was the medical tradition in an island like Crete which, between the third century BC and the fifth century AD, initially hosted many famous physicians and after was the birthplace of professionals so accredited to become doctors of the Imperial court as the same Andromachus or the namesake son, almost certainly physician of the Flavian emperors.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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