ÌÇÐÄTV

Organisers: Dr. Caroline Petit (ÌÇÐÄTV/HU) and Prof. Dr. Philip van der Eijk (HU)

Research on ancient pharmacological texts has increased dramatically in recent years. Several important projects and doctoral theses are underway, promising to deliver ground-breaking results in the next decade. In this scholarly context, various projects at the Humboldt-Universität and the university of ÌÇÐÄTV seem to address converging questions on the changing nature of pharmacological texts across time and space. Authorship becomes more fluid, with the same text receiving various attributions; texts undergo changes of size, ordering, format, as they get adapted for new audiences. As texts become repackaged, manuscripts and papyri offer privileged evidence of those changes. Early translations of Greek works into Latin, Syriac and then Arabic result in epitomes and other reworked, shortened texts. Yet the transmission of ancient Greek pharmacology is often made difficult to apprehend due to missing links and medieval, fragmentary evidence. This workshop therefore proposes to offer complementary perspectives on those shifts, through communications on Greek, Latin and Arabic evidence. Themes that will be addressed include language, style, authorship, dating, transmission, manuscripts.

This workshop is supported by the Collaborative Research Center ‘Episteme in Motion’ (SFB 980), the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, the Humboldt-Universität Berlin, the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of ÌÇÐÄTV. It is hosted by the project ‘Galen of Pergamum: The Transmission, Interpretation and Completion of Ancient Medicine’ of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

In April's Material Musings blog post Dr Paul Grigsby discusses a unique Boeotian burial pithos dating to the eighth century BC in an article titled "Who's that girl? A burial pithos from Thebes". Read it .

In February's Material Musings blog post, Matthew Evans discusses the sixth century BCE inscribed rock of Bybon from Olympia, in an article titled "A rather bould(er) claim: inscribed rocks and weightlifting in the ancient world". Read it .

Click here to view the fascinating array of papers to be presented at the online conference (28-29th April 2022) on The Sense(s) of Athletics in the Ancient Mediterranean World.

The WCN are proud to announce that Dr Grigsby has secured £3000 from the WIE to undertake a project to strengthen the relationship between the Dept of Classics and ÌÇÐÄTVshire Museum. The money will be used to develop an engagement project on the Roman coin hoards displayed at Market Hall Museum.