In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the ambivalent power of medical gestures, sometimes perceived as life-saving, sometimes as intrusive, even violent. This paradox, far from being unprecedented, invites us to return to the sources of Western medicine: how did the Greeks of the archaic and classical periods practice and represent these gestures? To answer these questions, Hélène Castelli’s study focuses on manual actions aimed at healing, whether carried out by doctors or other actors, real or mythical, and restores all their dimensions to these medical gestures: technical, social and symbolic. It is based on texts, images and stories from the Greek world, dated between the viiie and the ive century BC, and thus contributes to historicizing Greek medicine in its practical dimension.
Editor:
Sorbonne Editions
Place of publication:
ParisPublication sur OpenEdition Books :
November 5, 2025Digital ISBN: 979-10-351-1099-4
DOI : 10.4000/153e6
Collection :
Ancient and medieval history
| 200
Year of publication: 2025
ISBN (Print edition): 979-10-351-0924-0
Name of pages: 456
First part. Mythical healing gestures: the imagination of care
Second part. In the Yetry of the doctor. The framework of healing gestures in the classical period
Third part. Typology of medical procedures in the classical period
Fourth part. Divine healing gestures in the context of sanctuaries in the classical period
