Is health the absence of disease, or a more positive state of happiness and well-being? How healthy were people in ancient Greece and Rome, and how did they think about maintaining and restoring their health? Answers to these and many previously untouched questions are dealt with by renowned ancient historians, classical scholars and archaeologists. Using a multi-disciplined approach, the contributors assess the issues surrounding health in the Greco-Roman world from prehistory to Christian late antiquity . Sources range from palaeodemography to patristics and from archaeology to architecture...
Is health the absence of disease, or a more positive state of happiness and well-being? How healthy were people in ancient Greece and Rome, and how di...
When does a young girl's behaviour become a disease? In sixteenth-century Europe, the disease of virgins, or green sickness, was seen as a common disorder affecting young unmarried girls. Its symptoms included weakness, dietary disturbance, lack of menstruation and most significantly, a change in skin colour. Understanding of the condition turned puberty and virginity into medical problems, and proposed to cure them by bloodletting, diet, exercise, and marriage. Helen King examines the origins and history of the disease, from its roots in the classical tradition to its extraordinary survival...
When does a young girl's behaviour become a disease? In sixteenth-century Europe, the disease of virgins, or green sickness, was seen as a common diso...