The aim of this mini-conference is to test the hypothesis that Galen’s writings on pharmacology — Simple Drugs, Compound Drugs According to Kind, Compound Drugs According to Places of the Body — constitute a key moment (momentum) in the history of (theoretical) pharmacology, one which brought about an acceleration and intensification of pharmacological research and reflection and raised the subject to a new level. To do this, we bring together an international team of experts to look at the oikonomies of pharmacological knowledge before and after Galen (2nd century CE): before Galen, during the Hellenistic period after the time of Herophilus (3rd century BCE), when new directions and configurations of pharmacological concepts, practice and writing emerged as a result of the growing acceptance of the use of drugs in medicine; and in Galen’s work and beyond, when the intensification of the study of pharmacology brought about by Galen’s work was transferred to the great medical ‘encyclopaedists,’ Oribasius (4th century CE), Aetius of Amida (5th / 6th century CE) and Paul of Aegina (6th / 7th century CE). The conference, therefore, presents a case study in ‘momentum’ as a central concept in the transfer of knowledge in ancient Greek medicine. In doing so, it will encompass recent work in Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Arabic pharmacology.

Abstracts and Programme

Confirmed participants are:

Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, Edinburgh
Irene Calà, LMU München
Sean Coughlin, HU
Costanza De Martino, HU
Anne Grons, FU
Alessia Guardasole, CNRS
Maximilian Haars, Marburg
Amber Jacob, NYU
Krzysztof Jagusiak, Łódź
Maciej Kokoszko, Łódź
Andreas Lardos, Zurich
David Leith, Exeter
Caterina Manco, Paul Valéry - Montpellier
Manuela Marai, Warwick
Matteo Martelli, Bologna
Simone Mucci, Warwick
Caroline Petit, Warwick
Effie Photos-Jones, Glasgow
Lucia Raggetti, Bologna
Zosia Rzeźnicka, Łódź
Peter Singer, Chronoi
Konrad Tomasz Tadajczyk, Łódź
Laurence Totelin, Cardiff
John Wilkins, Exeter
Barbara Zipser, Royal Holloway

  

Registration

You can register at traditionsofmateriamedica@gmail.com and will then receive an access link. To register, please send us your name and affiliation and a brief message describing your interest in the conference.