Abstract
Amid the corpus of Greek papyri discovered in the sands of Egypt, some fifty letters dated from the end of the 3rd century CE to the 7th century refer to a disease which afflicts an animal or a private individual – either the sender or the recipient of the letter, or to a third party. Seventeen of these also provide details on care and healing. How do these seventeen letters, which ostensibly do not derive from the medical world, describe the evolution of a disease, and especially its outcome when it is fortunate for the sick person? What are the healing strategies implemented by these individuals? These are the questions that I try to answer, while emphasising the contribution of these documents to the history of health and disease in Byzantine Egypt.
Unless otherwise specified, all dates mentioned herein are understood as “CE” The abbreviations used in this contribution to designate papyrological editions are those of the Checklist of Greek, Latin, Demotic and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets (http://papyri.info/docs/checklist).
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Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Introduction: Using Placebo Research to Explore Belief and Healing in Late Antiquity
- Placebo is Magic or Magic is Placebo? The Greco-Roman Iatromagical Texts
- Healing Traditions in Coptic Magical Texts
- Placebo factors at healing sanctuaries in pagan and early Christian times
- The Question of the Effectiveness of Coptic Pharmacological Prescriptions
- Healing in Christian Liturgy in Late Antique Egypt: Sources and Perspectives
- The Placebo Drama of the Asclepius Cult
- The vocabulary of care and healing in the Greek private letters of Byzantine Egypt
- Hope for Cure and the Placebo Effect: The Case of the Greco-Egyptian Iatromagical Formularies
- List of Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Introduction: Using Placebo Research to Explore Belief and Healing in Late Antiquity
- Placebo is Magic or Magic is Placebo? The Greco-Roman Iatromagical Texts
- Healing Traditions in Coptic Magical Texts
- Placebo factors at healing sanctuaries in pagan and early Christian times
- The Question of the Effectiveness of Coptic Pharmacological Prescriptions
- Healing in Christian Liturgy in Late Antique Egypt: Sources and Perspectives
- The Placebo Drama of the Asclepius Cult
- The vocabulary of care and healing in the Greek private letters of Byzantine Egypt
- Hope for Cure and the Placebo Effect: The Case of the Greco-Egyptian Iatromagical Formularies
- List of Contributors