Medical Prognosis in Late Antiquity. (360G-Wellcome-100412_Z_12_A)

This project will offer the first comprehensive study of ancient medical prognostic tools and predictive strategies in late antiquity. Taking Galen's oeuvre as a pivotal moment in the development of such tools and strategies, it will focus on post-Galenic medicine with the aim of reviewing and explaining the deep transformations, as well as the threads of continuity, that characterize the field of medical prognosis between Galen's legacy and the end of antiquity. Specifically this project will f ocus on this transitional period for three crucial areas of ancient medical prognostication, namely uroscopy, sphygmology and, to a lesser extent, astrology. Analysis of these methods will allow a realistic assessment of Galen's input in this crucial area of ancient medicine. The project will examine the overused notion of Galenism (Temkin 1973) in the context of late-antique prognosis in order to propose hypotheses about (1) the transformation of prognostic strategies, (2) the paths of knowledg e that allowed their transfer to the West in late antiquity, and (3) the exact role of Galen in late antique medical theory and practise. To this end, a number of works ascribed to Galen, of disputed date and authorship, will form the textual basis of the enquiry.