The third edition of this magisterial account of medicine in the Greek and Roman worlds, written by the foremost expert on the subject, has been updated to incorporate the many new discoveries made in the field over the past decade. This revised volume includes discussions of several new or forgotten works by Galen and his contemporaries, as well as of new archaeological material. RNA analysis has expanded our understanding of disease in the ancient world; the book explores the consequences of this for sufferers, for example in creating disability. Nutton also expands upon the treatment of pre-Galenic medicine in Greece and Rome. In addition, subtitles and a chronology will make for easier student consultation, and the bibliography is substantially revised and updated, providing avenues for future student research. This third edition of Ancient Medicine will remain the definitive textbook on the subject for students of medicine in the classical world, and the history of medicine and science more broadly, with much to interest scholars in the field as well.

The Hippocratic treatise On Ancient Medicine, a key text in the history of early Greek thought, mounts a highly coherent attack on the attempt to base medical practice on principles drawn from natural philosophy. This volume presents an up-to-date Greek text of On Ancient Medicine, a new English translation, and a detailed commentary that focuses on questions of medical and scientific method; the introduction sets out a new approach to the problem of the work's relationship to its intellectual context and addresses the contentious issues of its date, authorship, and reception. The book will be of interest to scholars of ancient medicine and ancient philosophy, as well as anyone concerned with the history of science and scientific method in antiquity.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Employing the logical tools of contemporary analytic philosophy, this book places the pseudo-Hippocratic treatise On the Art of Medicine in its proper philosophical, rhetorical, and medical contexts through a new translation and commentary on the Greek text.

Describes medical techniques such as brain surgery, splints, taking a pulse, forceps, and sanitation in ancient civilizations including the Stone Age, Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Rome.

The skills of the ancient Egyptians in preserving bodies through mummification are well known, but their expertise in the everyday medical practices needed to treat the living is less familiar and often misinterpreted. John F. Nunn draws on his own experience as an eminent doctor of medicine and an Egyptologist to reassess the evidence. He has translated and reviewed the original Egyptian medical papyri and has reconsidered other sources of information, including skeletons, mummies, statues, tomb paintings and coffins. Illustrations highlight symptoms of similar conditions in patients ancient and modern, and the criteria by which the Egyptian doctors made their diagnoses - many still valid today - are evaluated in the light of current medical knowledge. In addition, an appendix listing all known named doctors contains previously unpublished additions from newly translated texts. Spells and incantations and the relationship of magic and religion to medical practice are also explored. Incorporating the most recent insights of modern medicine and Egyptology, the result is the most comprehensive and authoritative general book to be published on this fascinating subject for many years.