Aretaios
Aretaios (Aretäus) (* 80 or 81 in Cappadocia in Asia Minor , † between 130 and 138 in Alexandria in Egypt ) was a Greek doctor .
Live and act
Aretaios of Cappadocia lived in Alexandria towards the end of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138). Closely related to the teachings of the Greek doctor Hippocrates (460–370 BC), he wrote a two-volume compendium of medicine with exemplary descriptions of diseases, including pharyngeal diphtheria , leprosy , pulmonary consumption , celiac disease and tetanus .
As an eclectic doctor, Aretaios is counted among the pneumatics . These were supporters of a medical direction of antiquity who saw in pneuma (Greek for “breath, breath”) a vital force (in the humoral-pathological sense) between “fire” and “air” and an all-pervasive life principle. Aretaios imitates his great role model Hippocrates by using the Ionic dialect of the Corpus Hippocraticum in an anachronistic way in his medical writings, which were therefore difficult to access for his contemporaries at the time, as they are for today's scientists.
While a number of works (including surgery ) have been lost, eight books on acute and chronic diseases with detailed discussion of etiology , i.e. the entirety of the factors that led to an existing disease, its characteristics and therapy, and epilepsy , Mania and diabetes mellitus remained. In them a sympathy for the sick person, unusual for this time, becomes evident.
His portrayal of the clinical pictures was still considered exemplary in the early 19th century.
Editions and translations
- Aretaeus edidit Carolus Hude . Leipzig / Berlin 1923 (= Corpus medicorum Graecorum. Volume 2).
- A. Mann ( transl .): The writings of the Cappadocier Aretaeus , Halle 1858
- Jutta Kollesch , Diethard Nickel : Ancient healing art - selected texts , 1994 Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-15-009305-4 .
literature
- Max Wellmann : Aretaios . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 669 f.
- Excerpts: AH and sources on the history of epilepsy, Bern 1975
- Fridolf Kudlien : Unters, to A. v. K., Wiesbaden 1964
- Karl Deichgräber , A. v. K. as med. Writer , Deputy Saxon. Akad. D. Wiss., Phil.-hist. Class 63, 3, Berlin 1971
- H. Leitner: Bibliography to the ancient medical authors, Bern u. a. 1973.
- Ferdinand Peter Moog: Aretaios of Cappadocia. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 97.
- SM Oberhelman: On the Chronology and Pneumatism of Aretaios of Cappadocia. In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World. Part II: Principate. Volume 37/2, Berlin / New York 1994, pp. 941-966.
Web links
- Literature by and about Aretaios in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aretaios |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aretajos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | ancient Greek physician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | at 80 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cappadocia , Asia Minor |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 130 |
| Place of death | Alexandria , Egypt |