Classical Studies : Medicine :
a guide to Library Resources

STARTING POINTS

When you need to define your topic and/or get some background reading try consulting a relevant dictionary or encyclopedia such as the following:

Science in the ancient world: an encyclopedia [electronic] - an A-Z listing of the achievements in the physical, chemical, life, medical, and social sciences of the classical world

Dictionary of medical terms in Galen [print] - a Greek-English dictionary of medical terms as culled from Galen's works

Oxford classical dictionary [print] - unrivalled one-volume reference work on all aspects of the Graeco-Roman world

The library also has a wide selection of modern medical dictionaries/encyclopedias - mostly in print format

The following is a selection of overviews on ancient medicine topics:

Ancient medicine (2004) [print] - explores the place of medicine in ancient society

Diseases in the ancient Greek world (1989) [print] - examines the diseases once endemic in Europe

Greek and Roman medicine (2001) [print] - summarises the medical systems in Greek and Roman society with an emphasis on the place of medicine in society

Health in antiquity (2005) [print] - covers health and the perception of health in ancient Mediterranean societies

Medical ethics in the ancient world (2001) [print] - charts the ancient Greek and Roman foundations of Western medical ethics

Roman medicine (2004) [print] - introduction to many different aspects of medicine and health in the Roman Empire

Roman medicine to Galen [print] - located in volume 2.37.1 of Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt

Science, folklore, and ideology : studies in the life sciences in ancient Greece (1983) [print] - presents a picture of ancient views of animals, man, and medicine at the interface of popular belief and philosophy, of folklore and science, of ideology and criticism

Text and tradition: studies in ancient medicine and its transmission (1998) [print] - an anthology of thirteen papers on ancient medicine

Western medical thought from antiquity to the Middle Ages (1998) [print] - provides a substantial contribution to medical historiography

Another starting point is the book series Studies in ancient medicine which consists of scholarly monographs on historical texts and their authors, materia medica, and related topics in ancient medicine.

FINDING BOOKS USING THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE

Books can be found by searching the library catalogue. The following are terms which can be browsed using the Subject Heading option:

Medicine, Greek and Roman

Medicine, Ancient

Diseases, Greece History

Diseases, Rome History

Or construct your own keyword searches. Here are some examples:

magic and medicine and roman
ancient and (surgery or surgical)
hellenistic and (health or medic?)

Click here if you need help with constructing searches using techniques such as truncation and Boolean operators

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES USING DATABASES & BIBLIOGRAPHIES

The following sources are primarily for locating journal articles on a topic, but many of them also include references to books as well.

Journal articles can be found using databases listed in the Databases for Classics guide. In addition, the major medical database PubMed covers ancient medical/health topics. Given the immensity of this database it may be necessary to restrict the search to classical times by incorporating the medical subject heading [ie. MESH] "history, ancient" into a search - see the following examples:

"history, ancient"[MESH] AND plague AND athens

"history, ancient"[MESH] AND galen

Remember that no one electronic database covers Classics comprehensively, so if you need to conduct a thorough literature search consult the printed bibliography entitled L'Annee philologique - see Section VIII: E.c Sciences medicales in each annual printed volume for medical topics. If you're unfamiliar with L'Annee philologique, read this description before attempting to use it.

The following bibliographies may also assist with literature searching:

Bulletin de Medecine Ancienne / Ancient Medicine Newsletter [web access] - a bibliographical publication browsable by Authors & Themes

Diotima bibliographies [web access] - includes several relevant bibliographies such as Ancient Medicine and Gynecology; Contraception and Abortion

Greek and Roman Medicine An Introductory Bibliography [web access] - prepared for graduate students in classics

There are also printed bibliographies of books & journal articles in the library which are probably most useful for identifying earlier material

SOURCEBOOKS

The following provides translations of primary sources

Greek medicine from the Heroic to the Hellenistic age : a source book [print] - a collection of material translated into English which covers the most important aspects of ancient Greek medicine

Other sourcebooks which may include medical references are linked here

WEB RESOURCES

The following are starting points for locating resources on the Web

The Asclepion - includes an introduction to the study of ancient medicine and a collection of articles on medicine in ancient cultures

History of Biomedicine - a list of links to material on the history of biomedicine. Coverage includes ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia & the Greco-Roman world

MedHist - a searchable catalogue of Internet sites and resources covering the history of medicine

Medicina Antiqua / Ancient Medicine - a resource for the study of Greco-Roman medicine and medical thought from Mycenaean times until the fall of the Roman Empire

This page is maintained by Jennifer Osborn

Last update: 7 June 2007