Dissertation committee:
Αμφιλόχιος Παπαθωμάς, Καθηγητής Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Αθηνά Μπάζου, Λέκτωρ Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Ροζαλία Χατζηλάμπρου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Νικόλαος Γεωργατζόγλου, Καθηγητής Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Ελένη Καραμαλέγκου, Καθηγήτρια Λατινικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Αικατερίνη Καρβούνη, Λέκτωρ Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Χρήστος Φάκας, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The subject of this paper is the study of the papyri and the texts written in similar writing materials (ostraca, wooden tablets and early parchment texts) of the Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine periods, which provide information on medical personnel, the practice of medical art, the treatment of the patients, the medical facilities and the equipment. At the same time, information from inscriptions, legal texts, literary and semi-literary medical papyri, and treatises of famous doctors of antiquity, such as Hippocrates, Galenus, Dioskouris, Horvousios, Soranos and Celsus, is also being exploited. The ultimate aim of this study is to highlight the relevant issues and to draw conclusions about the existence or non-existence of an organised health system in Egypt during the post-pharaohnic period.
The thesis is divided into three broad sections, each of which is divided into sub-chapters. The first section is devoted to the study of papyri and written in relevant writing materials, which are related to the medical staff. In particular, texts related to the literacy of physicians, the acquisition of medical knowledge through apprenticeship, physicians practicing the medical profession (namely the manufacture and composition of drugs) and the specialisation of some doctors in the treatment of specific diseases, are mentioned. In addition, papyrus documents, ostraca, tablets and inscriptions provide information on the activation of physicians in the Roman and Byzantine army established in Egypt and on the existence of cleric physicians in Byzantine Egypt. A separate chapter is devoted to the study of papyrus texts related to the activation of so-called public physicians in Egypt, while the section ends with the commentary of papyri in which the social and economic status of medical practitioners of Graeco-Roman Egypt (social and economic status, racial identification, women and slaves doctors, wages, property, taxation) are mentioned.
Τhe second section is about private surgeries and hospitals in Egypt. Particularly, papyrus documents, ostraca and inscriptions inform about the operation of private surgeries (ἰατρεῖα) and military hospitals (valetudinaria) in Roman Egypt, as well as church, monastery and private piae causae in Byzantine Egypt (νοσοκομεῖα, κελεφοκομεῖα, ξενῶνες, ξενοδοχεῖα, γηροκομεῖα). The unit is integrated with texts dealing with hospitality places and inns, which were used by travelers in Egypt (καπηλεῖα, ταβέρναι, στάβλα, ἀλλαγαί, μοναί, ὁσπίτια). The ultimate aim of this study is to reveal information on the administration of such institutions, the number of people in distress, the building facilities, the duties of the employees, the management of their economic affairs.
The third section is dedicated to the study of papyrus documents related to the use of medical instruments and other equipment by doctors. In particular, the relevant documents show the use of metallic surgical instruments (e.g. σμῖλαι, σπάθια, ξυράφια), tool boxes and other storage facilities (e.g. φαρμακοθῆκαι, πυργίσκοι), containers (e.g. κυάθια, σικῦαι), and therapeutic fabrics (e.g. ἐπίδεσμοι, σπληνία, ῥάκη) and sponges (σπόγγοι).
