Society, medicine and religion in the sacred tales of Aelius Aristides / by Ido Israelowich.

• Superior document: Mnemosyne supplements : monographs on Greek and Latin language and literature, v. 341
• Author: Israelowich, Ido, 1972-
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum. Monographs on Greek and Roman language and literature ; v. 341.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (216 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Aelius Aristides' Sacred Tales offer a unique opportunity to examine how an educated man of the Second Century CE came to terms with illness. The experiences portrayed in the Tales disclose an understanding of illness in both religious and medical terms. Aristides was a devout worshipper of Asclepius while at the same time being a patient of some of the most distinguished physicians of his day. This monograph offers a textual analysis of the Sacred Tales in the context of the so-called Second Sophistic; medicine and the medical use of dream interpretation; and religion, with particular emphasis on the cult of Asclepius and the visual means used to convey religious content.

Table of Contents

Aelius Aristides and the sacred tales -- Introduction -- The composition of the sacred tales -- Date of composition -- Method of composition -- Motives for composition -- The sacred tales as an autobiography -- The ancient readers of the sacred tales -- A narrative of redemption -- Society, disease and medicine in the sacred tales of Aristides -- Introduction -- The Graeco-Roman health-care system -- Towards a definition of a medical discourse -- Medicine in the Graeco-Roman world -- Roman medicine and its Greek influences -- Dreams -- The sick, medicine and physicians in the world of the sacred tales -- The place of the sick in society -- Medical discourse in the sacred tales -- The physicians in the sacred tales -- Towards a medical history of Aelius Aristides -- Falling ill -- Aristides and Asclepius -- Wider contexts -- Reconsidering private religions; religion and religious experience in the sacred tales of Aelius Aristides -- Introduction -- Theology -- The myth of Asclepius -- Divination, oracles and dreams -- Dreams -- Oracles -- Visual culture and social forms of cult-organisation -- Cult, festivals and games -- The power of images.