The journal AUC Historia Universitatis Carolinae Pragensis, subtitled “Příspěvky k dějinám Univerzity Karlovy” (Papers on the History of Charles University), is a periodical devoted not only to the history of the Prague university but also to the history of education and student movement in the Czech lands. The journal, published since 1960 as part of the Acta Universitatis Carolinae series, also publishes essays presenting original historical sources (all texts are accompanied by summaries in foreign languages, mainly in English and German). It regularly publishes reviews and annotations of works on the history of education and annals of research activities.
The journal is archived in Portico.
AUC HISTORIA UNIVERSITATIS CAROLINAE PRAGENSIS, Vol 65 No 2 (2025), 61–74
ArticleAncient Wisdom and Modern Medicine
Nick Summerton
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23365730.2025.20
published online: 09. 01. 2026
abstract
This paper focuses on four health-related topics derived from Greco-Roman literature or archaeology: keeping healthy, Stoicism, healing sanctuaries and identifying new medicines. Based on an analysis of the available information it is suggested that developing a better understanding of Greco-Roman healthcare and health-related activities within the Greco-Roman world has the potential to impact on modern-day healthcare, population wellbeing and scientific knowledge.
keywords: Greco-Roman; Healthcare; Wellbeing; Healing; Medicine; Stoicism; Health
references (64)
1. ANGELETTI Luciana Rita - AGRIMI Umberto - FRENCH Deborah et al., Healing rituals and sacred serpents, Lancet 340, 1992, pp. 223-225 CrossRef
2. ASKITOPOULOU Helen - KONSOLAKI Eleni - RAMOUTSAKI Ioanna A.- ANASTASSAKI Maria, Surgical cures under sleep induction in the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, International Congress Series 1242, 2002, pp. 11-17 CrossRef
3. BABBIT Frank Cole, Plutarch Moralia, IV, Roman Questions, Harvard 1936
4. BAKER Patricia Anne, Viewing Health: Asclepia in their Natural Settings, Religion in the Roman Empire 3, 2017, pp. 143-163 CrossRef
5. BAREFOOT Peter, Buildings for Health: Then and Now, in: Helen King (ed.), Health in Antiquity, Abingdon 2005, pp. 205-215 CrossRef
6. BECK Lily Y., De materia medica by Pedanius Dioscorides, Hildesheim 2005
7. BERNHOLD Johann Michael, Scribonii Largi. Compositiones Medicamentorum, Milton Keynes: Lightening Source 1786
8. BOON George C., Potters, oculists and eye-troubles, Britannia 14, 1983, pp. 1-12 CrossRef
9. BOYER Raymond, Découverte de la tombe d'un oculiste à Lyon, Gallia 47, 1990, pp. 215-249 CrossRef
10. BUSFIELD Joan, 'A pill for every ill': Explaining the expansion in medicine use, Social Science & Medicine 70, 2010 pp. 934-941 CrossRef
11. CHRISTOPOULOU-ALETRA Helen - TOGIA Aspasia - VARLAMI Christina, The "smart" Asclepieion: A total healing environment, Archives of Hellenic Medicine 27, 2010, pp. 259-263
12. CILLIERS Louise - RETIEF François Pieter, Dream Healing in Asclepieia in the Mediterranean, in: Steven M. Oberhelman (ed.), Dreams, Healing and Medicine in Greece, Farnham 2013, pp. 69-92
13. COHEN Marc M. - ELLIOTT Fiona - OATES Liza et al., Do Wellness Tourists Get Well? An Observational Study of Multiple Dimensions of Health and Well-Being After a Week-Long Retreat, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 23, 2017, pp. 140-148 CrossRef
14. CONNELLY Erin - DEL GENIO Charo I. - HARRISON Freya, Data Mining a Medieval Medical Text Reveals Patterns in Ingredient Choice That Reflect Biological Activity against Infectious Agents, mBio 11, 2020 CrossRef
15. CRIMMINS Eileen M., Lifespan and Healthspan: Past, Present, and Promise, The Gerontologist 55, 2015, pp. 901-911 CrossRef
16. CUNLIFFE Barry, Roman Bath Discovered, Stroud 2000
17. DOERRIES Bryan, The Theater of War, New York 2015
18. DUFFIN Jacalyn, History of Medicine, Toronto 2010
19. EDELSTEIN Emma J. - EDELSTEIN Ludwig, Asclepius. Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Baltimore 1998 CrossRef
20. EMCH-DÉRIAZ Antoinette, The non-naturals made easy, in: Roy Porter (ed.), The Popularization of Medicine 1650-1850, London - New York 1992, pp. 134-159
21. ETERAF-OSKOUEI Tahereh - NAJAFI Moslem, Traditional and modern uses of natural honey in human diseases: a review, Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences 16, 2013, pp.731-742
22. FANCOURT Daisy - FINN Saoirse, What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. Health Evidence Network (HEN) synthesis report, Copenhagen 2019
23. FINA Enus - KIERNAN Michele. - WHATMOUGH Bonnie et al., Physicochemical and metagenomic analysis of samples from the Roman Baths (Bath, UK) reveals high bacterial and archaeal diversity and a potential for antimicrobial discovery, The Microbe 3, 2023 CrossRef
24. FURNER-PARDOE Jessica - ANONYE Blessing O. - CAIN Ricky et al., Anti-biofilm efficacy of a medieval treatment for bacterial infection requires the combination of multiple ingredients, Scientific Reports 10/1, 2020, 12687 CrossRef
25. GESLER Wilbert M., Healing Places, Rowan - Littlefield 2003, pp. 1-19
26. GILL Christopher, Marcus Aurelius Meditations, books 1-6. Translated with an Introduction and Commentary, Oxford 2013
27. HARRISON Freya - ROBERTS Aled Edward Lloyd - GABRILSKA Rebecca et al., A 1000-Year-Old Antimicrobial Remedy with Antistaphylococcal Activity, mBio 6, 2015 CrossRef
28. HART Gerald David, Asclepius the God of Medicine, London 2000
29. HARTIGAN Karelisa, Drama and Healing: Ancient and Modern, in: Helen King (ed.), Health in Antiquity, London 2005, pp. 162-179 CrossRef
30. IRVINE William Braxton, A Guide to the Good Life. The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, Oxford 2009 CrossRef
31. JOHNSTON Ian, Galen: Hygiene (A Translation), Cambridge (MA) 2018
32. JOHNSTON Ian, Galen: On the Constitution of the Art of Medicine; The Art of Medicine; A Method of Medicine to Glaucon (A Translation), Cambridge (MA) 2016
33. JOHNSTON Ian, Galen: Thrasybulus (A Translation), Cambridge (MA) 2018
34. JONES William Henry Samuel, Pausanias: Description of Greece (A Translation), Cambridge (MA) 1918
35. KORHONEN M. - PENTTI J. - HARTIKAINEN J. et al., Lifestyle Changes in Relation to Initiation of Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Medication: A Cohort Study, Journal of the American Heart Association 9, 2020: e014168. 10.1161/JAHA.119.014168 CrossRef
36. LI QING, Into the Forest: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness, London 2019
37. LITTMAN Robert J. - LITTMAN Michael L., Galen and the Antonine Plague, The American Journal of Philology 94, 1973, pp. 243-255 CrossRef
38. LIU Wenxiu - LIU Yue, Youyou Tu: significance of winning the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy 6, 2016, pp.1-2
39. LONG Anthony A., How to be Free. An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life, Princeton 2018
40. LOWENTHAL David, The Past is a Foreign Country, Cambridge 1985
41. MANDAL Manisha Deb - MANDAL Shyamapada, Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 1, 2011, pp.154-160 CrossRef
42. MARSDEN Debbie - WILKINS John - GILL Christopher - DIEPPE Paul, Galen and wellbeing: whole person care, International Journal of Whole Person Care 1, 2014, pp.76-78. CrossRef
43. MOOVENTHAN Aruchunan - NIVETHITHA Loganathan, Scientific evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems of the body, North American Journal of Medicine and Science 6, 2014, pp. 199-209 CrossRef
44. NIELSEN Harald, Ancient ophthalmological agents: a pharmaco-historical study of the collyria and seals for collyria used during Roman antiquity, as well as of the most frequent components of the collyria, Odense 1974
45. OKAY Ece Sayram, Healing in Motion: The Influence of Locotherapy on the Architecture of the Pergamene Asklepieion in the second century, Los Angeles 2016. <https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sp373gm>
46. PANAGIOTIDOU Olympia, Religious Healing and the Asclepius Cult: A Case of Placebo Effects, Open Theology 2, 2016, pp. 79 - 91 CrossRef
47. PAPAGEORGIOU Charalobos - KONSTANTINOU Gerasimos - LAMBRINOUDAKIS Vassilis - PAPAGEORGIOU Christos - YIANNOPOULOU Konstantina G., Asclepion of Epidaurus: the application of a historical perspective in medical education, Philos Ethics Humanit Med. 17/7, 2022 CrossRef
48. PELLEGRINO Edmund D., Toward a reconstruction of medical morality, The American Journal of Bioethics 6, 2006, pp. 65-71 CrossRef
49. PETRIDOU Georgia, Healing Shrines, in: Georgia L. Irby (ed.), A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, Chichester 2016, pp. 434-449 CrossRef
50. PHOTOS-JONES Effie - HALL Alan J.., Lemnian Earth, Alum and Astringency: a Field-based Approach, in: Demetrios Michaelides (ed.), Medicine and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Oxford 2014, pp. 183-189 CrossRef
51. PHOTOS-JONES Effie, From mine to apothecary: an archaeo-biomedical approach to the study of the Greco-Roman lithotherapeutics industry, World archaeology 50, 2018, pp. 418-433 CrossRef
52. ROBERTSON Donald, How to think like a Roman Emperor. The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, New York 2019
53. ROBERTSON Donald, The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), London 2010
54. SELLARS John, Lessons in Stoicism, London 2020, p. 3 CrossRef
55. SINGER Peter. N. (ed.), Galen. Psychological Writings, Cambridge 2013
56. SPENCER Walter George, Celsus: De Medicina (A Translation), Cambridge (MA) 1971
57. STANIFORTH Maxwell, Marcus Aurelius: Meditations, London 1964
58. STURM Virginia E. - DATTA Samir - ROY Ashlin R. et al., Big smile, small self: Awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults, Emotion 2020
59. SUMMERTON Nick, Better Value Health Checks: A Practical Guide, Abingdon 2018 CrossRef
60. SUMMERTON Nick, Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today, Barnsley 2021
61. SUMMERTON Nick, Reconstructing ancient medical remedies, ARA News 30, 2013, pp. 28-30 CrossRef
62. TICK Edward, The Practice of Dream Healing. Bringing Ancient Greek Mysteries into Modern Medicine, Wheaton 2001
63. VORA Neil M. - NARAYAN Shweta - ALUSO Aggrey et al., Nature-based solutions are essential for climate and health action, Lancet 2024: S0140-6736(24)01599-X
64. WALLACE-HADRILL Andrew, Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire (AD 354-378), London 1986

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Medicine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
157 x 230 mm
periodicity: 2 x per year
print price: 150 czk
ISSN: 0323-0562
E-ISSN: 2336-5730