Roman North Africa
Title
Roman North Africa
Subtitle
Environment, Society and Medical Contribution
Price
€ 124,00 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789462989900
Format
Hardback
Number of pages
256
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Also available as
eBook PDF - € 123,99
Table of Contents
Show Table of ContentsHide Table of Contents
Preface Chapter 1: History, environment, population and cultural life Chapter 2: Health facilities in the cities of Roman North Africa Chapter 3: Greek, Roman and Christian views on the causes of infectious epidemic diseases Chapter 4: The knowledge and competence of physicians in the 4th/5th centuries Chapter 5: Vindicianus: physician, proconsul, mentor Chapter 6: Theodorus Priscianus on drugs and therapies Chapter 7: More Latinizers: Cassius Felix, Caelius Aurelianus and Muscio Chapter 8: Augustine on the medical scene in Roman North Africa in the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE Chapter 9: Reciprocal influences: Greco-Roman and Christian views of healing Chapter 10: The role of Roman North Africa in the preservation and transmission of medical knowledge

Reviews and Features

"This volume offers a wealth of material about medical practice in the late antique world. The focus is on four authors of the fourth and fifth centuries who translated Greek medical texts into Latin: Helvius Vindicianus, Theodorus Priscianus, Caelius Aurelianus, and Cassius Felix. These are not names familiar even to North African specialists and so this book is a welcome contribution to the expansion of knowledge of this important region of the Roman empire in late antiquity. Particularly fascinating for me was the discovery of so many women who not only practised medicine but also wrote about it."
- Geoffrey D. Dunn, Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 16, 2020

Louise Cilliers

Roman North Africa

Environment, Society and Medical Contribution

This book examines the environment and society of North Africa during the late Roman period (fourth and fifth centuries CE) through the writings of Helvius Vindicianus, Theodorus Priscianus, Caelius Aurelianus, and Cassius Felix. These four medical writers, whose translation into Latin of precious Greek texts has been hailed as ‘the achievement of the millennium’ by one modern scholar, provide a unique opportunity to understand North Africa, the most prosperous region of the Roman World during Late Antiquity. Although focusing on medical knowledge and hygiene, their writings provide fresh insights on the environment, economy, population, language, and health facilities of the region. Roman North Africa: Environment, Society and Medical Contribution includes the first full discussion of the exceptional career of the physician Helvius Vindicianus, as well as a valuable reassessment of other writers whose works were read throughout the Middle Ages. It will therefore prove invaluable not only for scholars of Late Antiquity and North Africa, but also for those working on later periods.
Author

Louise Cilliers

Louise Cilliers is currently Honorary Research Fellow (and formerly Professor of Classical Languages) at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. For many years she served as the editor of the international journal Acta Classica. She has published numerous articles on ancient medicine, Late Antique North Africa, and related subjects.