Books by Bronwen Wickkiser
The thymele at Epidauros is one of the most enigmatic buildings of the ancient Greek world. At th... more The thymele at Epidauros is one of the most enigmatic buildings of the ancient Greek world. At the center of this book there lies a mystery. It is a mystery that has intrigued scholars for almost two centuries — a mystery that revolves around unique marks, sacred geometries, perplexing architecture, hidden passages, uncertain timelines, and lost rituals. It is a mystery that has yet to be solved.
In this important book, an international, interdisciplinary team has compiled, synthesized, and speculated on a host of new (and old) clues that bring the puzzles circling the thymele at Epidauros into clearer focus. While the ancient ideas and intentions that motivated the construction of this remarkable building remain shrouded by time, the material evidence, the epigraphical record, and the literary testimonia hold numerous potential solutions. Through reexamination of these clues and their contexts, the authors hope to spark fresh debate regarding the form, the function, and the meaning of this unique and mysterious ancient structure.
Delving deeply into ancient medical history, Bronwen L. Wickkiser explores the early development ... more Delving deeply into ancient medical history, Bronwen L. Wickkiser explores the early development and later spread of the cult of Asklepios, one of the most popular healing gods in the ancient Mediterranean. Though Asklepios had been known as a healer since the time of Homer, evidence suggests that large numbers of people began to flock to the cult during the fifth century BCE, just as practitioners of Hippocratic medicine were gaining dominance.
Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult’s ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs. Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations to empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult.
In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.
The papers in this volume illustrate the interplay between the studies of classical archaeology, ... more The papers in this volume illustrate the interplay between the studies of classical archaeology, religion, history, and musicology. The eight papers by the young scholars and their Nestor, Richard Hamilton, offer a fresh look at various aspects of ancient cult, including the use of the word cult in the academic disciplines of Archaeology and the History of Religion; the introduction of Asklepios to Athens, and a detailed study of the same god's sanctuary on the south slope of Akropolis, where it will be demonstrated that the layout of the early sanctuary on the east terrace was carefully designed after one central monument. The book also contains an innovative study of the Philippeion at Olympia, where it is argued that the tholos with its sculpture was a proto-type for the use of divine images and royal ideology by Hellenistic rulers. Other papers include a statistical approach to the illustration of baskets on Classical votive reliefs, a theoretical study of the role of music in ancient Greek cult, and analysis of the use of the chorus as one of the most important expressions of ancient cult in Sparta.
Papers by Bronwen Wickkiser
Online Review, Apr 1, 2011
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Historein, 2019
Review of Johanna Hanink, The Classical Debt: Greek Antiquity in an Era of Austerity. Cambridge: ... more Review of Johanna Hanink, The Classical Debt: Greek Antiquity in an Era of Austerity. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017. 352 pp.
Arion: A Journal of the Humanities and the Classics, 2010
The monologue on enlightenment PCG VIII 1001, describing the theater and the temple of Asclepius,... more The monologue on enlightenment PCG VIII 1001, describing the theater and the temple of Asclepius, is set in Athens and evokes the connections, spatial and ritual, that existed between the temple of Dionysus and that of Asclepius nearby.
Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 2006
Due to the increasing interest in the natural compounds from the plant kingdom the last few years... more Due to the increasing interest in the natural compounds from the plant kingdom the last few years witnessed the accumulation of a large body of data on the biochemical, pharmacological and medical properties of these plant compounds. Thereby, natural chemical products are the basic of the oldest science in medicine. History of science showed us that for a long time the herbs and plants (roots, leaves, flowers and other anatomical parts) were the only natural remedies in traditional medicine (Odeh et al., 2014). Since the ancient there are data that Nigella sativa, known as black cumin, panacea, blackcaraway, fennel-flower, nigella, nutmeg-flower or Roman-coriander, was used in experimental medicine (in vivo and in vitro), being a way of treatment and prevention (
Mnemosyne, 2016
Ovid’s narrative of Apollo and Daphne introduces elements not apparent in earlier extant versions... more Ovid’s narrative of Apollo and Daphne introduces elements not apparent in earlier extant versions of the myth, such as the involvement of Cupid and his deployment of two distinct arrows, one golden that sets Apollo’s passions aflame, and the other lead that makes Daphne averse to all male advances. The passion-averting arrow in particular is a curious addition to Cupid’s arsenal. This paper will argue that the lead arrow can be better understood when viewed alongside the practices and discourses of ancient magic and medicine, especially the widespread use of lead for erotic defixiones, antaphrodisiacs, and even contraceptives.
The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge, and Society: Annual Review, 2010
Comparative Studies on Religion and Society
A modern visitor to Corinth might notice a prominent base standing in the southeastern sector of ... more A modern visitor to Corinth might notice a prominent base standing in the southeastern sector of the lower Forum. This chapter examines Roman municipal monument-making via the commissions of the Augustales, self-identifying municipal groups found during the first three centuries CE. While Augustales are considered a 'typically Roman' feature of Corinth, the base they commissioned was anything but typical. Its idiosyncrasies emerge clearly when it is compared with the bases of other imperial statues from Corinth. The base commissioned by the Augustales encapsulated a spectrum of Roman behaviors and attitudes. Most broadly, it can be read as the product of emperor worship and as testimony of the engagement of the Augustales in the public life of their town, but details of its commissioning, siting, and design reveal a more specific and temporally complex picture. Keywords:Augustales base; Corinth; Roman forum
The Classical Quarterly, 2013
The ἰαματικά, a collection of seven short epigrams about healing grouped together and so labelled... more The ἰαματικά, a collection of seven short epigrams about healing grouped together and so labelled in the Milan papyrus attributed to Posidippus, present another useful source of information about the cult and cures of Asclepius (AB 95–101; P Mil. Vogl. VIII 309, XIV.30–XV.22). Brief though the epigrams are (all are four lines in length except the first, which is eight lines), they accord well with the picture of the cult presented by material, epigraphic and other literary evidence.
... _____ Bronwen Lara Wickkiser, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2003 ... 5 Scholarship... more ... _____ Bronwen Lara Wickkiser, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2003 ... 5 Scholarship on dreams in antiquity has appeared since, but not on incubation per se. On dreams in relation to Asklepios-cult, see Behr 1968; Oberhelman 1993; PC Miller 1994. ...
The Oxford Handbook of Heracles, 2021
A generation before the famous Trojan War, a sea-monster threatened Troy. King Laomedon, father o... more A generation before the famous Trojan War, a sea-monster threatened Troy. King Laomedon, father of Priam, exposed his daughter Hesione to the creature in order to avert destruction. Heracles, who happened to be sailing by, made a deal with the king: he’d save the daughter in return for the king’s immortal horses. Heracles valiantly fought the monster and saved Hesione, but Laomedon reneged on the agreement, so Heracles stormed and conquered Troy. This chapter examines the long tradition of the story and several key changes to it across time and media, including the literature of Homer, Ovid, medieval epic, and Shakespeare, vase and wall paintings, sculpture, and opera.
Mnemosyne, 2018
Ovid's narrative of Apollo and Daphne introduces elements not apparent in earlier extant versions... more Ovid's narrative of Apollo and Daphne introduces elements not apparent in earlier extant versions of the myth, such as the involvement of Cupid and his deployment of two distinct arrows, one golden that sets Apollo's passions aflame, and the other lead that makes Daphne averse to all male advances. The passion-averting arrow in particular is a curious addition to Cupid's arsenal. This paper will argue that the lead arrow can be better understood when viewed alongside the practices and discourses of ancient magic and medicine, especially the widespread use of lead for erotic defixiones, antaphrodisiacs, and even contraceptives.
Classical Quarterly, 2013
The ἰαματικά, a collection of seven short epigrams about healing grouped together and so labelled... more The ἰαματικά, a collection of seven short epigrams about healing grouped together and so labelled in the Milan papyrus attributed to Posidippus, present another useful source of information about the cult and cures of Asclepius (AB 95-101; P Mil. Vogl. VIII 309, XIV.30-XV.22). 1 Brief though the epigrams are (all are four lines in length except the first, which is eight lines), they accord well with the picture of the cult presented by material, epigraphic and other literary evidence. 2 Peter Bing's 2004 discussion of the iamatika remains one of the most enlightening and persuasive. 3 He argues that Posidippus drew for the content of these poems directly on the traditions of the ἰάματα, healing narratives inscribed and published in sanctuaries of Asclepius (a very fitting model, Bing observes, for a literary genrethe epigramderived from inscriptions). 4 Like the iamata, most of the iamatika relate the experiences of individuals cured by the god and include elements typical of the former such as the name, hometown and ailment of the individual treated, a dream visit with Asclepius at his sanctuary and indication of the speed with which the god cured the malady. In addition, Bing discusses the order of the individual poems within the collection and shows how the final iamatikon, a prayer for moderate wealth and health, may affect how we are meant to read the preceding poems.
Zeitschirft für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2011
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine …, 2010
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Books by Bronwen Wickkiser
In this important book, an international, interdisciplinary team has compiled, synthesized, and speculated on a host of new (and old) clues that bring the puzzles circling the thymele at Epidauros into clearer focus. While the ancient ideas and intentions that motivated the construction of this remarkable building remain shrouded by time, the material evidence, the epigraphical record, and the literary testimonia hold numerous potential solutions. Through reexamination of these clues and their contexts, the authors hope to spark fresh debate regarding the form, the function, and the meaning of this unique and mysterious ancient structure.
Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult’s ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs. Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations to empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult.
In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.
Papers by Bronwen Wickkiser
In this important book, an international, interdisciplinary team has compiled, synthesized, and speculated on a host of new (and old) clues that bring the puzzles circling the thymele at Epidauros into clearer focus. While the ancient ideas and intentions that motivated the construction of this remarkable building remain shrouded by time, the material evidence, the epigraphical record, and the literary testimonia hold numerous potential solutions. Through reexamination of these clues and their contexts, the authors hope to spark fresh debate regarding the form, the function, and the meaning of this unique and mysterious ancient structure.
Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult’s ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs. Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations to empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult.
In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.