Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou

Child sexual abuse: historical cases in the Byzantine Empire (324–1453 A.D.)

OBJECTIVE The aim of this article is the presentation and brief analysis of some historical cases, unknown in the broader medical bibliography, of child sexual abuse in Byzantine Society (324-1453 A.D.). METHOD The original texts of the Byzantine historians, chroniclers and ecclesiastical authors, written in the Greek language, were studied in order to locate instances of child sexual abuse. RESULTS Although the punishment provided by the laws and the church for cases of child sexual abuse were very strict, a number of instances of rapes under cover of premature marriages, even in the imperial families, are revealed in these texts. Furthermore, cases of child prostitution, pederasty, and incest are included in the historical texts and some contemporary authors confirmed the presence of many such cases in all classes of Byzantine society. CONCLUSION The research of original Byzantine literature disclosed many instances of child sexual abuse in all social classes even in the mediaeval Byzantine society which was characterized by strict legal and religious prohibitions.

Milestones in the history of diabetes mellitus: The main contributors

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases involving carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism. It is characterized by persistent hyperglycemia which results from defects in insulin secretion, or action or both. Diabetes mellitus has been known since antiquity. Descriptions have been found in the Egyptian papyri, in ancient Indian and Chinese medical literature, as well as, in the work of ancient Greek and Arab physicians. In the 2(nd) century AD Aretaeus of Cappadocia provided the first accurate description of diabetes, coining the term diabetes, while in 17(th) century Thomas Willis added the term mellitus to the disease, in an attempt to describe the extremely sweet taste of the urine. The important work of the 19(th) century French physiologist Claude Bernard, on the glycogenic action of the liver, paved the way for further progress in the study of the disease. In 1889, Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering performed their famous experiment of removing the pancreas from a dog and producing severe and fatal diabetes. In 1921, Frederick Banting and Charles Best extended Minkowskis and Merings experiment. They isolated insulin from pancreatic islets and administrated to patients suffering from type 1 diabetes, saving thus the lives of millions and inaugurating a new era in diabetes treatment.

The Plague of Thebes, a Historical Epidemic in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

Brucella abortus may have been the etiologic agent.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723): Father of micromorphology and discoverer of spermatozoa

The Dutch merchant and naturalist Anton van Leeuwenhoek is considered to be the father of optic microscopy and the precursor of bacteriology. Among others, he discovered and studied the spermatozoon.

Lycanthropy in Byzantine times (AD 330-1453).

In this paper, the original Greek language texts of the Byzantine medical literature about lycanthropy are reviewed. The transformation of a human being into a wolf and the adoption of animal-like behaviour, which were already known from mythology and had been presented in the scientific works of ancient Greek and Roman physicians, were examined by six Byzantine physicians and explained as a type of melancholic depression or mania. In spite of the influence of Byzantine medicine, its rationality in the interpretation of lycanthropy was forgotten in medieval and Renaissance times when it was replaced by explanations based on demonic possession and witchcraft. More recently psychiatry has treated the phenomenon as a subject of medical inquiry and has again explained the condition in terms of mental disorder.

Did Justinian the Great (527–565 CE) suffer from syphilis?

Justinian the Great (527–565 CE, Fig. 1) was one of the The silence of the sources concerning the cause of the most cultured and learned emperors of his era, with a wide Emperor’s death gave rise to Körbler’s theory which mainrange of political aims. The restoration of a universal tained that he died from syphilis.5 The writer inclines to Roman Empire, a constant dream of Byzantium, was the opinion of those who believed that syphilis was a realized during his reign. After successful battles, Justinian disease which had first appeared in antiquity as an endemic occupied the kingdoms of the Vandals and Ostrogoths in entity, continuing into the medieval period. In the case Africa and Italy respectively, and the lands of the Visigoths of Justinian, Körbler5 believes that the Emperor’s wife in Spain. After his campaigns, the Mediterranean was once Theodora contracted syphilis from her activities over many more a Roman lake, because the greater part of north years in brothels (lupinaria) in different cities of the east, Africa, part of Spain, Italy, and the Mediterranean islands before she had met Justinian. It is known that Theodora’s were brought under the scepter of the Roman Emperor of father, Acacius, was a tamer of wild beasts at the circus Constantinople. In the east, a peace treaty was signed with and forced two of his daughters, Comito and Theodora, the Persian king, Chosroes I. Despite his occupation with into begging and prostitution. Theodora, especially, carried war, Justinian devoted time to matters of internal adminisout theatrical presentations similar to tableaux vivants. tration, to ensure domestic peace, crushing the fearsome The historian Procopius,6 in his ‘‘Secret History,’’ gives ‘‘revolt of Nika’’ which broke out against him in scandalous details about Theodora’s life before she married Constantinople in 532. At the same time he expanded Justinian, revealing that frequent feasts comprising alltrade, especially in silk, with the far eastern states of China night orgies with ten or more young men were held to and India and introduced and developed the silk industry satisfy her lust, the result being that she was constantly in his empire. Concurrently, he codified the Roman law, pregnant and endeavored to terminate these pregnancies the most notable achievement of his reign. From his epoch by various means. The same historian6 discloses that, when dated the famous Codex Justinianus, the Pantects, and the she could not terminate one pregnancy with abortion, she Institutes, collections of laws comprising the famous Corpus was obliged to give birth to a boy, named John, whose Juris Civilis Justinianis which, until very recently, was one whereabouts became unknown after she became Empress of the main elements in the codes of all European countries. (the historian suggests that she was behind his disappearOn his death (14 November 565), after a reign of 39 years, ance). Körbler,5 in the light of these accounts, maintains he left his successors a great empire with expanded frontiers, that Justinian, a short time after his acquaintance with but economically and financially exhausted, due to conTheodora, whom he had met in a brothel, contracted tinuous wars.1 a venereal disease from his future wife, most probably The cause of his death is not known and different gonorrhea and/or syphilis, from which both later died. Byzantinologists simply refer to the fact that he died at a This theory is based upon the symptoms which were great age, 83 years old,2–4 which obviously is most unusual for that epoch. presented in a hagiographic text (which is not indexed in

Dromokaition Psychiatric Hospital of Athens: from its establishment in 1887 to the era of deinstitutionalization

Dromokaition Psychiatric Hospital opened its doors in 1887, following the donation made by Zorzis Dromokaitis from the island of Chios. Private donations and all forms of charities had contributed to a large extent in the establishment of hospitals across Greece, during the late 19th and the early 20th century. Dromokaition was one of them but it was also unique, as it was the first psychiatric hospital in Athens, admitting patients from every part of the country. This paper aimed at highlighting the long service of the institution through the different historical periods the country went through. We present the chronicle of its foundation, the development of its inner structure, and the medical and organizational influences which it received, along the way. The therapeutic methods used during the first decades of its operation reflected the corresponding European standards of the time. As a model institution from its foundation, it followed closely the prevailing European guidelines, throughout its historical path, either as an independent institution or as an integrated one within the National Health Service.

Biological Warfare Plan in the 17th Century—the Siege of Candia, 1648-1669

This incident illustrates how, within a framework of religious fanaticism, the use of biological weapons could appear to be acceptable.

Holy Fools: A Religious Phenomenon of Extreme Behaviour

Monks in Byzantine times (330–1453 AD) often expressed their faith with extreme manifestations of behaviour, such as living on a high column (stylites), on a tree (dendrites) or in crowded urban centres of the empire pretending to be fools for Christ’s sake. These Holy Fools exposed themselves to the ridicule and the mistreatment of the citizens, being protected, however, by their state of insanity to mock and violate moral codes and social conventions. The official Church barely tolerated these religious attitudes as promoting deviations from standard orthodoxy, and the Quinisext Ecumenical Council (592 AD) judged them as dangerous and formally denounced the phenomenon. The two most famous of them in Byzantium were Symeon of Emesa and Andrew of Constantinople, whose lives constitute unique testimonies to insanity and the simulation thereof. The survival and transplantation of the Holy Fools in Russia, called “yurodivye”, where they met widespread acceptance, confirm their appeal in specific geographic areas and their endurance over time. We attempt to approach the symbolism of holy lunacy and to analyse the personality trends of these “eccentric” saints.

Queen Cleopatra and the other ‘Cleopatras’: their medical legacy

Cleopatra is a female figure widespread in Greece (especially in Macedonian territory), Egypt and Syria during the Hellenistic era. Ancient women doctors bearing the name Cleopatra have been identified by a systematic search through the ancient Greek, Latin and Egyptian bibliography, including original resources from the first century BC. Fictional and non-fictional figures have been distinguished and their works identified. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, Galen’s physician assistant, the outcast Metrodora, Cleopatra the Alchemist and Cleopatra the Gynaecologist deliver a story of medicine and name-giving that confuses researchers of the past and intrigues those of the present.