Cross - Hippocratic Oratory

Hippocratic Oratory

On Ancient Medicine, On the Art, On Breaths, On the Nature of Human Beings and On the Sacred Disease are among the most well-known and sophisticated works of the Hippocratic Collection. The authors of these treatises were seeking means to express their arguments that built on authoritative models of their predecessors. By examining the range of expressive resources used in their expository prose, James R. Cross demonstrates how oral tradition and written techniques, such as sound patterning, signposting and antithetical formulae, were deployed to help the writers develop a case. The book demonstrates that there were various layers of meaning and manners of communicating ideas which can be found in Hippocratic expository prose, and offers fresh insights into the oral debating culture and experiments in persuasion which characterise the ancient Greek world of the late fifth century BCE.

James R. Cross is a Tutor in Classical Civilisation at University College London. He completed his PhD in Classics at Kings College London. His research focuses on connections between ancient medicine and literature.

Medicine and the Body in Antiquity

Series Editor: Patricia Baker, University of Kent, UK

Series Advisory Board

Lesley A. Dean-Jones, University of Texas at Austin, USA

Rebecca Gowland, University of Durham, UK

Jessica Hughes, Open University, UK

Ralph Rosen, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Kelli Rudolph, University of Kent, UK

Medicine and the Body in Antiquity is a new series which aims to foster interdisciplinary research that broadens our understanding of past beliefs about the body and its care. The intention of the series is to use evidence drawn from diverse sources (textual, archaeological, epigraphic) in an interpretative manner to gain insights into the medical practices and beliefs of the ancient Mediterranean. The series approaches medical history from a broad thematic perspective that allows for collaboration between specialists from a wide range of disciplines outside ancient history and archaeology such as art history, religious studies, medicine, the natural sciences and music. The series will also aim to bring research on ancient medicine to the attention of scholars concerned with later periods. Ultimately this series provides a forum for scholars from a wide range of disciplines to explore ideas about the body and medicine beyond the confines of current scholarship.

Hippocratic Oratory

The Poetics of Early Greek Medical Prose

James R. Cross

First published 2018

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2018 James R. Cross

The right of James R. Cross to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cross, James (James Roger), 1981- author.

Title: Hippocratic oratory : the poetics of early Greek medical prose / James Cross.

Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Medicine and the body in antiquity | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017027527| ISBN 9781472474155 (hardback : alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781315611181 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Medicine, Greek and Roman--History--Sources. | Medical literature--Greece--Criticism, Textual. | Hippocrates--Influence. Hippocrates. Works. | Greek prose literature, Hellenistic--Criticism, Textual. | Oratory, Ancient--History and criticism. | Oral tradition--Greece--History--To 1500. | Debates and debating--Greece--History--To 1500. | Poetics--History--To 1500.

Classification: LCC R138 .C76 2018 | DDC 610.938--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017027527

ISBN: 978-1-4724-7415-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-61118-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK

Contents

It is my pleasure to acknowledge those who have contributed to the writing of this book, which began as a PhD thesis at Kings College London.

I would firstly like to thank my literature, history and Latin teachers at the Midlands school and sixth form college which I attended. They first inspired in me a serious interest in the written word and the roots of things. I realise how very fortunate I was to have been offered the opportunity to study Latin at a state school.

It was a great privilege to be accepted to study English Literature as an undergraduate at University College London; the invaluable lessons I learnt about literature in this department have guided me ever since.

I would like to thank Emma Dench, who was an important source of inspiration while I was working towards an MA in Classical Civilisation at Birkbeck College, University of London, both for encouraging me to continue studying Classics and for pointing me in the direction of Antonio de Freitas who has been a friend and source of fascinating conversations ever since and Rebecca Flemming, with whom I first discussed the PhD project on ancient Greek medical writing and who became my second thesis supervisor.

I am very grateful to Michael Trapp at Kings College London, who was my first and main thesis supervisor, for taking on the project and seeing through its development to successful completion as well as for continued insightful comments on my work. As a PhD student at Kings, I received financial support from the Leverhulme Trades Charities Trust and from the University College London Study Assistance Scheme.

Rosalind Thomas and Serafina Cuomos comments during my thesis viva helped me to tighten up my arguments and challenged me to express my ideas more clearly and support them more thoroughly. More recently, Elizabeth Craik has read and offered useful comments on draft versions of this book.

I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the proposal and drafts of this book and to Patricia Baker, the Series Editor and Michael Greenwood, Editor at Routledge, for their assistance in bringing the book to publication. Christine Walsh, Maya Davies and my father helped with proofreading at various stages.

I am also grateful to the staff of the Institute of Classical Studies and the Wellcome Library in London for assistance at various points and for providing wonderful places in which to think and meet many like-minded people, including Anastasia Lazani who helped me with learning Greek.

Many thanks also to Christine Hoffmann and my colleagues as well as the students I have taught at the University College London Centre for Language and International Education for providing a congenial and intellectually engaging atmosphere in which to write this book.