Pain Narratives in Greco-Roman Writings

Studies in the Representation of Physical and Mental Suffering
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-90-04-54948-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 58, 314 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 669 g

Reihe: Studies in Ancient Medicine

Why is it so difficult to talk about pain? As we do today, the Greeks and Romans struggled to communicate their pain: this required a rich and subtle vocabulary which had to be developed over time. Pain Narratives traces the development of this language in literary, philosophical, and medical texts from across antiquity: poets, physicians, and philosophers contributed to an ever-growing lexicon to articulate their own and others’ feelings. The essays within this volume uncover the expanding Greco-Roman vocabulary of pain, analyse the medical discussions on pain symptoms, and explore the religious reinterpretations of pain concepts in late antiquity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Clarke, Jacqueline

King, Daniel

Baltussen, Han

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

List of Figures and Tables

Abbreviations

Notes on Contributors

1 Introduction: A New Approach to Pain in Antiquity

Jacqueline Clarke, Daniel King and Han Baltussen

2 Labelling Pain: Early Greek Concepts from Homer to the Hellenistic Era

Han Baltussen

3 Painful Drinks: Poison and Pain Experience in Nicander’s Alexipharmaca

Daniel King

4 Emotional Persuasion: Communicating Pain in Seneca the Elder’s Controversiae

Sarah Lawrence

5 Is Pain Natural? A Study of Stoic Philosophy

Jean-Christophe Courtil

6 Pain with a PR Problem: Narrating Gout-Induced Pain in the Second Sophistic

Georgia Petridou

7 Perceiving and Diagnosing Pain according to Archigenes of Apamea

Orly Lewis

8 Between Aristotle and Stoicism: Alexander of Aphrodisias on the Varieties of Pain

Wei Cheng

9 Traumatic Pain and the Transformation of Identity: Prudentius and Ovid Compared

Jacqueline Clarke

10 Ignatius of Antioch’s Anticipation of Torture: An Alternative Reading of Romans 4–5

Fiona McMeekin

11 The Bishop’s Case Book: Augustine on Pain

Gillian Clark

12 Affective Lexica between Hellenistic Philosophy and Christian Theology

Jonathan Zecher

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Jacqueline Clarke, Ph.D. (1999), University of Adelaide, is Senior Lecturer in Classics at that university. She has published a monograph and many articles on Roman poetry, including ‘Female Pain in Prudentius’ Peristephanon’ Classical Quarterly 71 (2021) 386-401.

Daniel King, D.Phil. (2011), Oxford University, is Senior Leventis Lecturer in the Impact of Greek Culture at Exeter University. He has published widely on the body in antiquity, including Pain Experience in Imperial Greek Literature (OUP, 2018).

Han Baltussen, Ph.D. (1993), Utrecht University, is W.W. Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide (South Australia). He has published many articles, translations and books on the ancient philosophical traditions, including The Peripatetics. Aristotle’s Heirs (Routledge, 2016).

Contributors are: Han Baltussen, Daniel King, Sarah Lawrence, Jean-Christophe Courtil, Georgia Petridou, Orly Lewis, Wei Cheng, Jacqueline Clarke, Fiona McMeekin, Gillian Clark, Jonathan Zecher.