Week 11: Etruscan & Roman Medicine

Etruscan & Roman History

• 1st millennium BCE: 2 major ethnic groups

  • Etruscans (indigenous) & Latins (Indo-European)

• Rome on Tiber River; forming the border between Etruscans & Latins (6th c BCE)

• Closeness between ethnic groups recounted in Roman histories & origin myths

• IMPORTANT: mixing of cultures & cultural exchange

More history

• 5th & 4th c BCE: Etruscans lose power to Roman aristocrats (patricians), who form the Republic (2 consuls & Senate)

• Internal strife: shared government with lower class plebeians (2 tribunes)

• IMPORTANT: conflict; elite vs lower class

• Expansion based on military successes (on peninsula, then Carthage, Greece and all the rest)

• Rise of Rome & Alexander’s conquests

• By 3rd c: control Greece & western Anatolia; 1st c: Egypt; end of Republic

AtÝtudes & Relevance for medicine

Ø Expansion bad

Ø Pliny & Cato most vocal; Romans grow lax and too fond of luxuries

Ø IMPORTANT: Greek culture permeated Italy

Ø Therefore, medical concepts shared between Greek, Etruscan & Roman medical cultures

Ø Illness comes from gods

Ø Characterizations of Greek gods adopted/ transported to Rome

Religion & Culture

Ø Public vs private worship (public gods vs household gods)

Ø Forms of worship access power over deities through ritual actions (do ut des)

Ø Healing not limited to either sphere: Roman piety = consult all deities involved

Ø Healing can occur among Capitoline deities (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva) or private gods

Cosmology

Ø Etruscans: division of sky into 16 sections (interpretation of divine messages)

Ø Etruscan gods form councils (cf. Mesopotamia)

Ø “Good to bad” spectrum: east to west

Ø Romans: division of sky into 4 sections

Ø Negative to positive: left to right

Sacrifices & Medicine

• Sacrifices = point of contact between human & divine; maintenance of relationship

• 3 basic rituals:

  • 1) burnt offering for celestial deities

  • 2) blood offering for underworld (chthonic) deities

  • 3) libation & bloodless sacrifices for ancestors

• Blood offering: relationship between living beings & earth

• Etruscan ritual sacrifices influence Roman religion & medicine

• Rationalize & accept medical theories/ teachings about blood (e.g. bloodletÝng as sacrifice

Healing deities

• EVERY GOD CAN CAUSE & CURE ILLNESS

• Aesculapius (Latin version of Asklepios)

  • Asklepieion (pl. Asklepieia) popular pilgrimage site

  • Temple on Tiber Island on healing spring (most popular with slaves)

Aplu

ØEtruscan version of Apollo

ØLate Republic: Aplu —> Apollo

ØHealing aspects of Greek Apollo transferred to Roman version

ØName Aplu no longer used

Diana

ØEtruscan healing goddess —> Artemis

ØCULTURAL EXCHANGE

ØChildbirth & general healing

ØHellenization: loss of childbirth association; general healing deity

Hercle

ØHercle —> Herakles (Greek) —> Hercules (Roman)

ØHealing linked to physical prowess

ØMilitary nature of Rome; what it means to be a “manly man”

Isis

ØLate Republican medical culture (alliance with Ptolemaic Cleopatra)

ØIncreasing popularity; longest lasting ancient cult

ØAssociations: health & safety

Tinia

ØJupiter

ØHead of parthenon; most influential for healing

ØDivine consent to cause harm (cf. Mesopotamia)

ØJupiter associated with childbirth

ØTinia births Menrva (Athena) vs Zeus (Jupiter) birthing Athen