Lorenzo Perilli – författare

‘We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece’, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley once wrote. It is in Greek that the questions which shaped the destiny of Western culture were asked, and so were the first attempts at an answer, and the search for a method of investigation. This book tries to rediscover the propulsive force that for over two millennia spread, and still lives in our system of thought. By systematically quoting the very words of the leading actors and by tracing their sources, it leads the reader along a path where they will be able to observe the establishment of philosophical ideas and language, in an updated and balanced picture of archaic lore, of the thought of the classical and hellenistic ages, and of the philosophy of late antiquity. The book looks closely at the progress of scientific thought and at its increasing autonomy, while following the evolution of the fruitful yet problematic relationship between the Greek world and the Near East.

‘We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece’, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley once wrote. It is in Greek that the questions which shaped the destiny of Western culture were asked, and so were the first attempts at an answer, and the search for a method of investigation. This book tries to rediscover the propulsive force that for over two millennia spread, and still lives in our system of thought. By systematically quoting the very words of the leading actors and by tracing their sources, it leads the reader along a path where they will be able to observe the establishment of philosophical ideas and language, in an updated and balanced picture of archaic lore, of the thought of the classical and hellenistic ages, and of the philosophy of late antiquity. The book looks closely at the progress of scientific thought and at its increasing autonomy, while following the evolution of the fruitful yet problematic relationship between the Greek world and the Near East.

Medicine has accompanied human history since its very origins and, unlike any other discipline, it grapples with matters of life and death. Today, understanding the evolution of medicine and life sciences, as well as the features that make them unique, is all the more important as these disciplines are undergoing major transformations.History of Life Sciences and Medicine 1 offers a new and updated perspective on medicine in the Greco-Roman world, putting Western medical traditions and approaches into perspective and comparing them with those of other cultures: China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, as well as the legacy passed down by the Arab world. It also explores the fields most directly connected to medicine, such as the study of animals and plants.This book traces the historical journey from the origins of medicine to Hippocrates – considered the father of medicine – and further on to the fundamental contributions of Hellenistic medicine, up to Galen and Late Antiquity. It examines major discoveries in anatomy, nosology, physiology and therapeutics, as well as the organization of medical practice and associated institutions.This cross-disciplinary and contextualized approach also provides a better understanding of the complexity of the very concept of disease, the role of the physician, and the doctor-patient relationship, as well as the influence of the societal context on the practice of medicine.

Das Buch enthält in der Forschung weiterführende Beiträge einiger der besten internationalen Kenner der antiken Medizin: V. Boudon-Millot (Paris), Ch. Brockmann (Hamburg), Ph. van der Eijk (Berlin), K.-D. Fischer (Mainz), I. Garofalo (Siena), J. Jouanna (Paris), A. Lami (Pisa), V. Langholf (Hamburg), D. Manetti (Florenz), L. Perilli (Rom), A. Roselli (Neapel), A. Sideras (Göttingen), M. Witt (München).Fokussiert auf die Entwicklung der antiken Medizin von den Anfängen bis hin zur Spätantike, nehmen die Beiträge die Thematik aus philologischer, medizinhistorischer, sprachwissenschaftlicher, paläographischer, historischer Sicht in den Blick, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der wichtigsten Momente, d.h. Hippokrates und Galen, ohne jedoch die vielfältige und facettenreiche Geschichte der antiken Medizin und ihrer Rezeption insgesamt zu vernachlässigen. Das Buch ist zwei um die Erforschung der antiken Medizin hochverdienten, in Hamburg tätigen Wissenschaftlern auf dem Gebiet der philologischen Erschließung der antiken medizinischen Texte, A. Anastassiou und D. Irmer, gewidmet, die nach ihrer Pensionierung weiterhin wichtige Grundlagenarbeit leisten.