Disease Archive
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One accident too many?
Posted on March 8, 2013 | No CommentsPresentation of a skeleton discovered in the Sudan in the 1996/7 season of the Northern Dongola Reach Survey, sponsored by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society, in a small Kerma period cemetery (P37), south of Kawa. This skeleton exhibits an unusually interesting range of injuries, which are listed and discussed. -
The History of Sepsis from Ancient Egypt to the XIX Century
Posted on December 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe oldest report we have about sepsis associated with wounds goes back to Edwin Smith -
Amber in the Ancient Near East
Posted on November 21, 2012 | No CommentsIn ancient India and Egypt, it was burned as incense, believed to purify temples and palaces. From antiquity, people have believed that amber has healing properties. -
Poking into medicine in ancient Egypt
Posted on November 21, 2012 | No CommentsSome medical papyri have survived (listed below); one is still being studied by a professional team at the Louvre, but we already know it is about cancer. Cancer did exist in ancient Egypt and before humans existed, as there are dinosaur specimens with traces of a previous existence of a tumour. -
The Remains of Alexander the Great: The God, The King, The Symbol
Posted on October 11, 2012 | No CommentsAlexander, suffering for several days before his death, knew his end was imminent. This knowledge did not urge him to name an official successor, but he did request a burial site: the temple of Zeus-Ammon in the Siwah oasis in northern Africa, where he was addressed as the son of Ammon. -
Plagues in Classical Literature
Posted on September 12, 2012 | No CommentsIt is the aim of this study is to examine the role and function of descriptions of plagues (loimos in Greek and pestis in Latin) in the works of five major classical writers. An attempt will be made to determine the possible influences, impacts and motives of each author in presenting his particular theme of plague. -
Heroic Healers: Chiron and the Thessalian Doctors
Posted on August 22, 2012 | No CommentsFrom the fragmentary evidence in the Iliad, two main focal points become apparent. First, Thessaly emerges as the earliest setting for a medical tradition through the references to Thessalian warriors trained in the techne of healing. -
Plague and theatre in ancient Athens
Posted on July 29, 2012 | No CommentsUntil a recent archaeological discovery, our understanding of what happened in Athens during the plague had been almost entirely reliant on the gripping narrative of Thucydides, which seems so dramatically shaped that some have wondered whether the historian embellished his vivid, harrowing eye-witness report. -
The death of Alexander the Great
Posted on July 29, 2012 | No CommentsAlexander, King of Macedonia, conqueror of the Persian empire, died in Babylon at sunset on the 10th of June, 323 BC.1 He was not yet 33 years old, had been king for 12 years and 8 months and had shown himself to be fully deserving of the title -
Sexual attitudes, preferences and infections in Ancient Egypt
Posted on June 25, 2012 | No CommentsThis study attempts to learn whether Ancient Egypt
