The substantial “silence” of Soranus of Ephesus – a famous physician active first in Alexandria and then in Rome between the reigns of Trajan (98-117 A.D.) and Hadrian (117-138 A.D.), a leading exponent of the sect of the Methodists and author of the first treatise on gynaecology in Greek that has come down to us in four books – on the birth of “monstrous” foetuses raises some inescapable questions. According to Graumann 2013, doctors in general did not address the topic because they were unable to find concrete cures for these peculiar pathologies. According to others, on the other hand, the physicians’ silence was due to the fact that the births of “monstrous” foetuses were only of relevance from a paradoxical and/or mythological point of view, but had no scientific relevance. Now, as much as these motivations may at first glance appear to be agreeable, both the multiple references to cases of hermaphroditism, sex change, and male motherhood in an author of Mirabilia contemporary with Soranus and the sources of law concerning the prevailing sex of the hermaphrodite, his ability to act as a witness in a will and to establish posthumous heirs must however lead one to reflect on the existence of “other” conditioning – social, juridical and political –, which may have affected Soranus’ “silence” on such a delicate subject as teratology, to which instead Galen of Pergamon – an illustrious physician, much younger than his colleague from Ephesus, because born in the Hadrian age (129 A.D.) – reserved, albeit in a non-systematic, indeed rather superficial manner, even the slightest attention in some passages of his numerous works, where the “so-called” hermaphrodites seem to rather arouse the interest of sculptors, in not coincidental concomitance with the type of the “Sleeping Hermaphrodite”, well known through the famous copies preserved in Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, London and Florence.
Il sostanziale “silenzio” di Sorano di Efeso – celebre medico attivo prima ad Alessandria e poi a Roma fra i regni di Traiano (98-117 d.C.) e Adriano (117-138 d.C.), principale esponente della setta dei Metodici e autore del primo trattato di ginecologia in greco pervenutoci in 4 libri – sulla nascita di feti “mostruosi” pone alcuni ineludibili interrogativi. Secondo Graumann 2013 i medici in genere non avrebbero affrontato l’argomento perché incapaci di individuare cure concrete per queste peculiari patologie. Secondo altri, invece, il silenzio dei medici sarebbe dipeso dal fatto che le nascite di feti “mostruosi” avrebbero avuto risalto unicamente dal punto di vista paradossografico e/o mitologico, ma non avrebbero rivestito alcuna rilevanza sul piano scientifico. Ora, per quanto queste motivazioni possano di primo acchito apparire condivisibili, sia i molteplici riferimenti ai casi di ermafroditismo, di cambio di sesso, di maternità maschile in un autore di Mirabilia contemporaneo di Sorano sia le fonti del diritto concernenti il sesso prevalente dell’ermafrodito, la sua capacità di fungere da testimone in un testamento e di istituire eredi postumi devono tuttavia indurre a riflettere sull’esistenza di condizionamenti “altri” – sociali, giuridici e politici –, che potrebbero aver inciso sul “silenzio” di Sorano in merito ad un tema delicato come quello della teratologia, cui invece Galeno di Pergamo – illustre medico, ben più giovane del collega di Efeso, perché nato in età adrianea (129 d.C.) – riserverà, anche se in modo non sistematico, anzi alquanto superficiale, una sia pur minima attenzione in alcuni passi delle sue numerosissime opere, dove i “cosiddetti” ermafroditi sembrano piuttosto suscitare l’interesse degli scultori, in non casuale concomitanza con il tipo dell’“Ermafrodito dormiente”, ben noto attraverso le famose copie conservate a Parigi, Roma, San Pietroburgo, Londra, Firenze.
La teratologia in età adrianea fra omissioni e silenzi: il caso degli ermafroditi
Margherita Cassia
2024-01-01
Abstract
The substantial “silence” of Soranus of Ephesus – a famous physician active first in Alexandria and then in Rome between the reigns of Trajan (98-117 A.D.) and Hadrian (117-138 A.D.), a leading exponent of the sect of the Methodists and author of the first treatise on gynaecology in Greek that has come down to us in four books – on the birth of “monstrous” foetuses raises some inescapable questions. According to Graumann 2013, doctors in general did not address the topic because they were unable to find concrete cures for these peculiar pathologies. According to others, on the other hand, the physicians’ silence was due to the fact that the births of “monstrous” foetuses were only of relevance from a paradoxical and/or mythological point of view, but had no scientific relevance. Now, as much as these motivations may at first glance appear to be agreeable, both the multiple references to cases of hermaphroditism, sex change, and male motherhood in an author of Mirabilia contemporary with Soranus and the sources of law concerning the prevailing sex of the hermaphrodite, his ability to act as a witness in a will and to establish posthumous heirs must however lead one to reflect on the existence of “other” conditioning – social, juridical and political –, which may have affected Soranus’ “silence” on such a delicate subject as teratology, to which instead Galen of Pergamon – an illustrious physician, much younger than his colleague from Ephesus, because born in the Hadrian age (129 A.D.) – reserved, albeit in a non-systematic, indeed rather superficial manner, even the slightest attention in some passages of his numerous works, where the “so-called” hermaphrodites seem to rather arouse the interest of sculptors, in not coincidental concomitance with the type of the “Sleeping Hermaphrodite”, well known through the famous copies preserved in Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, London and Florence.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
