Mandragora, aus: Dioscurides, De Materia Medica (Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, Cod. Gr. 1, f. 90, late 6th c.)

Mandragora, aus: Dioscurides, De Materia Medica (Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, Cod. Gr. 1, f. 90, late 6th c.)

Ancient physicians were well aware that material substances could and did cause observable effects in the functioning of human psyche and they followed different paths in observing and conceptualizing the relationships between ‘soul’ (psychē) and pharmaka, with its broad spectrum of meanings: ‘medicines,’ ‘drugs’ and ‘poisons’. On the one hand, they described and classified the effects that active substances could bring about in the ‘psychic’ sphere of human beings, including their impact on emotions, perceptions, and ‘mental’ activities. In some cases, they were even aware that such an impact could depend on the beliefs of the patients, rather than on the real properties of drugs. On the other hand, the concepts of ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ were often used to explain and conceptualize the properties of substances in medicine and in contiguous areas of expertise, such as alchemy. These interrelated and complex aspects of the soul-pharmakon relationship will represent the main focus of the workshop, which will explore this topic within a broad chronological time frame, from Homer up to the Islamic medicine.

Aus organisatorischen Gründen ist die Teilnahme nur nach Anmeldung unter wittwer@bbaw.de möglich.

Program

29.9.2017
09:15 - 09:45
Introduction
Roland Wittwer
09:45 - 10:30
Des ἤπια φάρμακα (Homère) aux ἀνώδυνα φάρμακα (Galien) : la thérapie de la douleur dans la pharmacologie antique
Alessia Guardasole
10:30 - 11:15
Insanity ‘from without’: mental disorder and intoxicants in Greek Medicine
Chiara Thumiger
11:15 - 11:30
coffee break
11:30 - 12:15
Theophrastus on plants that affect the soul
Sean Coughlin
12:15 - 13:00
Antidepressants and stimulants in 7th/13th century Ayyubid society
Robert Sieben-Tait
13:00 - 14:30
lunch break
14:30 - 15:15
Medicines for the soul and the soul of medicines
Matteo Martelli
15:15 - 16:00
Living stone, I presume? The conception of spirit and soul of minerals in Arabic and early Latin alchemy
Sébastien Moureau
16:00 - 16:15
coffee break
16:15 - 17:00
Al-Ǧawbarī: Placebo and Deception in the Mamluk Street
Lucia Raggetti