E-Book Content
HEROIC MEASURES
STUDIES IN ANCIENT MEDICINE EDITED BY
JOHN SCARBOROUGH PHILIP J. VAN DER EIJK ANN HANSON NANCY SIRAISI
VOLUME 30
HEROIC MEASURES Hippocratic Medicine in the Making of Euripidean Tragedy
BY
JENNIFER CLARKE KOSAK
BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2004
Cover Illustration: Telephus holding the baby Orestes. The Nazzano Painter, Calyx-krater. Italic, Latin, Faliscan, Late Classical Period, about 380-360 B.C. Photograph © 2004 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kosak, Jennifer Clarke. Heroic measures : Hippocratic medicine in the making of Euripidean tragedy / by Jennifer Clarke Kosak. p. cm. — (Studies in ancient medicine, ISSN 0925-1421 ; v. 30) Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 90-04-13993-1 (acid-free paper) 1. Euripides—Knowledge—Medicine. 2. Literature and medicine—Greece— History—To 500. 3. Medicine, Greek and Roman. 4. Hippocrates—Influence. 5. Medicine in literature. 6. Tragedy. I. Title. II. Series. PA3978.K57 2004 882’.01—dc22 2004054524
ISSN 0925–1421 ISBN 90 04 13993 1 © Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
vii ix
Introduction: Tragedy, medicine and suffering in the fifth century B.C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
part i healers and the heroics of medical technê Chapter One: The Healing Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a. The Healer: Lively metaphor and lived reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b. Technê and Technitai in the Hippocratic Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c. Heroic measures and the healing art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19 19 30 35
Chapter Two: Healers in Greek Tragedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a. Prometheus Bound: The healer as philanthropist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b. Euripides’ Hippolytus: The charlatan in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c. Ion: Malpractice suits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d. Medea: First, do no harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e. Orestes: No heroic measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
43 43 49 65 72 84
part ii from cause to cure Chapter Three: The Story of Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
93
Chapter Four: Causes of Disease in the Hippocratic Corpus . . . . . . 101 Chapter Five: Remedy in the Hippocratic Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a. Allopathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b. Metabolê . . . . .