APPROACHES TO HEALING IN ROMAN EGYPT

JANE LOUISE DRAYCOTT
BA (HoDs), MA, MSc.
Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

DECEMBER 2011 

http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13064/1/556119.pdf

Abstract
This thesis examines the healing strategies utilised by the inhabitants of Egypt
during the Roman period (from the late first century Be to the fourth century AD)
in order to investigate how Egyptian, Greek and Roman customs and traditions
interacted within the province. It explores the symbiotic relationship between
'professional' and 'amateur' medical practice within Egypt, and examines the
ways in which three particularly well-attested health problems - eye complaints,
febrile conditions and the injuries inflicted by wild animals - were approached,
evaluated and treated. By considering a range of literary, papyrological,
archaeological, and anthropological sources, this thesis argues that healing
strategies were developed in response to a variety of historical, cultural and social
factors, and were intimately connected to the region's climate, geography and
natural resources. This thesis, then, presents a fresh and nuanced approach to
understanding healing strategies in Roman provincial culture, identifies diagnostic
features of healing in material culture and offers an integrated reading of ancient
medical literary and documentary papyri, and archaeological evidence. By
encompassing the full spectrum of healing strategies available to the inhabitants
of the province, and by incorporating elements of medical, surgical, magical and
religious healing, it offers a comprehensive and wide-ranging perspective on
healing in Roman Egypt, and investigates new approaches to the study of
medicine in the Roman world. 

Part ONE
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 2
2. Egyptian Contexts ........................................................................................... 7
2.1. Medical Practice in Pharaonic and Hellenistic Egypt ............................... 7
2.2. The Geography of Egypt.. ....................................................................... 12
2.3. Social and Political Structures, Administration and Interaction ............. 15
2.4. Demography ............................................................................................ 16
3. Scholarly Contexts ........................................................................................ 22
3.1. Roman Egypt ........................................................................................... 23
3.2. Black Athena ........................................................................................... 28
3.3. Ancient Medicine .................................................................................... 31
4. Source Material ............................................................................................. 36
4.1. Literary Evidence .................................................................................... 37
4.2. Documentary Evidence ........................................................................... 40
4.3. Archaeological Evidence ........................................................................ 43
4.4. Evidence from Forensic Anthropology ................................................... 45
5. Research Aims and Methodology ................................................................. 46
6. Thesis Structure ............................................................................................. 48
Chapter One: Identifying Medical Practitioners in Roman Egypt
1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 53
1.1. Categorisation and Classification ............................................................ 55
1.2. Medical Practitioners in Roman Alexandria ........................................... 57
1.3. Categories of Physician and the Medical Hierarchy in Roman Egypt.. .. 60
1.3.1. Archiatroi .......................................................................................... 61
1.3.2. Demosioi Iatroi ................................................................................. 64
1.3.3. Army Physicians ............................................................................... 67
1.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 72
2. Reconstructing the iatros / medicus .............................................................. 73
2.1. Diagnostic Features ................................................................................. 73
2.1.1. Medical Premises and Surgeries ....................................................... 74
2.1.2. Medical Equipment ........................................................................... 75
2.1.3. Medical Literature ............................................................................. 87
3. Medical Practitioners in Temple Complexes ................................................. 92
3.1. Religious Medical Practitioners .............................................................. 92
3.2. Case Study A: The Temples of Sara pis and Isis at Canopus ................... 97
3.3. Case Study B: The Temple of Soknebtunis at Tebtunis ........................ 101
3.3.1. Medical Literature from Tebtunis ................................................... 102
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 108
111 
Chapter Two: Alternative Healing Strategies in Roman Egypt
1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 11 1
2. Possible Reasons for Avoiding 'Professional' Medical Practitioners ......... 117
2.1. Fear ........................................................................................................ 117
2.2. Lack of Availability .............................................................................. 122
2.3. Cost ....................................................................................................... 125
3. Domestic / Folk Medicine in Roman Egypt.. .............................................. 128
3.1. The Natural Environment of Roman Egypt .......................................... 133
3.2. Aspects of the Natural Environment: The Nile ..................................... 135
3.3. The Built and Cultivated Environment of Roman Egypt.. .................... 137
4. Domestic Medicine and Self Help in Roman Egypt.. .................................. 141
4.1. Pregnancy and Childbirth ...................................................................... 142
4.2. Case Study: Kellis, Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert ............................. 149
4.3. Case Study: Oxyrhynchus, Nile Valley ................................................. 153
4.4. Case Study: Mons Claudianus, Eastern Desert ..................................... 158
4.5. Case Study: Berenike, Eastern Desert, Red Sea Coast.. ........................ 162
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 165
Part Two
Case Studies ........................................................................................................ 170
Chapter Three: Eye Complaints
1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 173
2. Life with an Eye Complaint in Roman Egypt ............................................. 179
2.1. Tryphon from Oxyrhynchus .................................................................. 179
2.2. Gemellus Horion from Karanis ............................................................. 181
2.3. Discussion ............................................................................................. 185
3. Medical and Surgical Healing ..................................................................... 186
4. Magical Healing .......................................................................................... 193
5. Religious Healing ........................................................................................ 195
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 199
Chapter Four: Fever
1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 202
2. Malarial Fever ............................................................................................. 204
3. Fevers caused by Bacterial Infection ........................................................... 211
4. Puerperal Fever ............................................................................................ 213
5. Medical Healing .......................................................................................... 216
6. Magical Healing .......................................................................................... 218
7. Religious Healing ........................................................................................ 224
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 226
Chapter Five: Wild Animals
1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 230
2. Wild Animals in Roman Egypt ................................................................... 232
2.1. Snakes ................................................................................................... 235
2.2. Scorpions ............................................................................................... 241
2.3. Crocodiles ............................................................................................. 246
2.4. Lions ...................................................................................................... 248
3. Wild Animals in Materia Medica, Aphrodisiacs and Cosmetics ................ 251
4. Wild Animals and Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman Deities ............... 257
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 263
IV 
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 266
Bibliography ...... ................................................................................................. 280