Patricia A Baker

Collyrium Stamps: An Indicator of Regional Practices in Roman Gaul

Collyrium stamps, objects used to mark eye medicines, are more commonly found in Gaul than any other Roman province. Since they appear after Roman occupation, it is believed they evince a spread of Roman medicine, but this idea is not well-supported. Through a detailed study of the collyrium stamps it is apparent that the stamps took on other functions beyond marking remedies. They were used as amulets and votive offerings, signified by the fact that most are made of steatite and schist, almost all are green – a colour associated with eye care, and a number are decorated with magical symbols, and also by their context. Ultimately, the manner in which they were used demonstrates an adaptation of Roman material culture to fit the practices and beliefs based on earlier Iron Age traditions in the region.

Medicine and space : body, surroundings and borders in antiquity and the Middle Ages

The papers in this volume question how perceptions of space influenced understandings of the body and its functions, illness and treatment, and the surrounding natural and built environments in relation to health in the classical and medieval periods.

Medieval Britain and Ireland in 2009 - Mapping Wallingford Castle

The Society is most grateful to all contributors (of specialist groups, field units, museums, universities, developers and individuals) who have provided reports on groups, finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2009. We thank contributors for conforming to the house style; we can advise on content, but are unable to abstract from interim reports. Note that in certain cases the National Grid Reference has been omitted to protect sites; please notify the compilers if this information is to be withheld. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section, and for contact details of the compilers. Note that the Specialist Groups Reports now appear in the Society’s Newsletter rather than in the journal.

Identifying the connection between Roman conceptions of ‘Pure Air’ and physical and mental health in Pompeian gardens (c.150 BC–AD 79): a multi-sensory approach to ancient medicine

ABSTRACT Different genres of Roman literature commented on the relationship between the condition of the environment and health. They often refer to clear, pure or good air as a beneficial aspect of the environment. Yet, unlike fetid air, they provide few descriptions of what constituted healthy air quality. Aside from the association between the environment and bodily condition, they also did not explain how the link between the two was made. This paper utilizes a comparative study of ancient literature and the archaeological remains of Roman gardens in Pompeii: archaeobotanical samples; fresco paintings; location; and surviving features. The following questions are addressed in this study. How did the Romans identify and define pure air? How did air connect to the body? What were the qualities of pure air and how did they benefit the body? Inhalation and sensory perception were both ways air was linked to the body. The author argues that sight, sound and olfaction were used to identify the qualities of pure air. Through this process, the beneficial properties of pure air were, in accordance to ancient perceptions of sensory function, taken into the body and affected health. Thus, sensory perception was the bridge between the environment and health.

Images of Doctors and their Implements: A Visual Dialogue between the Patient and the Doctor.

Images of physicians, patients, and medical instruments were placed on Graeco-Roman funerary monuments, altars and fresco paintings. These representations are examined here to determine whether there existed a standard convention by which physicians were depicted in order that the lay and possibly illiterate viewers could identify what the scene represented. Greek physicians were frequently shown with cupping vessels, midwives were seen with birthing stools, while Roman physicians were often shown with various surgical implements. It is argued that the correlation between the types of objects depicted with the medical practitioner was deliberately made by the artist to signify the nature of medicine the individual practiced, so that the viewer could identify the role the practitioner had in their society.

Review of K. Krötzl and K. Mustakallio, 'On Old Age: Approaching Death in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'

xix+287 pp, 446 colour and b&w figs, 2 tables. London: Museum of London Archaeology, 2012. isbn 978-1-907586-10-1. Price: £28·00 hb.

Review of Don Walker, 'Disease in London, 1st-19th Centuries. An Illustrated Guide to Diagnosis'

xix+287 pp, 446 colour and b&w figs, 2 tables. London: Museum of London Archaeology, 2012. isbn 978-1-907586-10-1. Price: £28·00 hb.

Review of 'Housesteads Roman Fort - The Grandest Station'. 'Excavation and Survey at Housesteads, 1954-95', by Charles Daniels, John Gillam, James Crow and Others; and 'Finds from the Frontier. Material Culture in the 4th-5th Centuries', by Rob Collins and Linday Allason-Jones

Housesteads Roman Fort — The Grandest Station. Excavation and Survey at Housesteads, 1954–95, by Charles Daniels, John Gillam, James Crow and Others. Volume 1. Structural Report and Discussion. Volume 2. The Material Assemblages. Edited by Alan Rushworth. 21 × 30 cm. xxx + 614 pp, 5 colour pls and figs, 304 b&w pls and figs, 61 tables. Swindon: English Heritage, 2010. isbn 978-1-84802-026-9. Price: £100.00 pb (two volume set).

Medieval Islamic Hospitals

Healing and cultural taboos of disease can be detected within the layout of buildings associated with healing and the ill. Building arrangements can also inform us of social perception towards the sick and their treatment. Aim of this chapter is to rectify this disparity in academic discourse by using medieval Islamic hospitals as a case-study to demonstrate how physical spaces of healing are shaped by social attitudes towards the ill and philosophical understandings of treatment and care. It discusses how hospital construction might reveal social rules of illness and treatment; therefore, furthering awareness of spatial concepts regarding medical practice. The chapter focuses on the Islamic hospitals, it must be made clear that the medical practices, and hence influences on architecture, were not isolated from Christian and Jewish traditions and possibly those from further afield given the interaction made through long-distance trade and the events of the time. Keywords:architecture; Healing; medical practice; medieval Islamic hospitals; philosophical; social perception; spatial concepts; structural design