Disability in Antiquity

507 Pages·2017·4.81 MB·English

by  Christian Laes

Disability in antiquity
This volume is a major contribution to the field of disability history in the ancient world.
Contributions from leading international scholars examine deformity and disability from a
variety of historical, sociological and theoretical perspectives, as represented in various media.
The volume is not confined to a narrow view of ‘antiquity’ but includes a large number of
pieces on ancient western Asia that provide a broad and comparative view of the topic and
enable scholars to see this important topic in the round.
Disability in Antiquity is the first multidisciplinary volume to truly map out and explore the
topic of disability in the ancient world and create new avenues of thought and research.
Christian Laes is Associate Professor of Latin and Ancient History at the University of
Antwerp (Belgium), and Adjunct Professor of Ancient History at the University of Tampere
(Finland). From 2014–16, he has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced
Social Research, University of Tampere. He has published five monographs, four edited volumes
and over seventy international contributions on the human life course in Roman and late
Antiquity. Childhood, youth, old age, family, marriage and sexuality as well as disabilities are
the main focuses of his scholarly work.
Rewriting Antiquity
Rewriting Antiquity provides a platform to examine major themes of the ancient world in a
broad, holistic and inclusive fashion. Coverage is broad both in time and space, allowing a
full appreciation of the selected topic rather than an exclusive view bound by a relatively short
timescale and place. Each volume examines a key theme from the ancient Near East to late
Antiquity, and often beyond, to break down the boundaries habitually created by focusing on
one region or time period.
Volumes within the series highlight the latest research, current developments and innovative
approaches, situating this with existing scholarship. Individual case studies and analysis held
within sections build to form a comprehensive and comparative overview of the subject,
enabling readers to view matters in the round and establish interconnections and resonance
across a wide spectrum. In this way the volumes allow new directions of study to be defined
and provide differing perspectives to stimulate fresh approaches to the theme examined.
Available:
Sex in Antiquity
Mark Masterson, Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, James Robson
Women in Antiquity
Stephanie Lynn Budin and Jean Macintosh Turfa
Disability in Antiquity
Christian Laes
Forthcoming:
Childhood in Antiquity
Lesley Beaumont, Matthew Dillon, Nicola Harrington
Globalisation in Antiquity
Konstantin Vlassopoulos
ii
Disabilit y in
antiquit y
Edited by Christian Laes
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Christian Laes
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted 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: Laes, Christian, editor.Title: Disability in antiquity / edited by
Christian Laes.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2016. |
Series: Rewriting antiquity
Identifiers: LCCN 2016013479| ISBN 9781138814851 (hardback : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781315625287 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: People with disabilities--History--To 1500. | People with
mental disabilities--History--To 1500. | Civilization, Classical. | Disability
studies.
Classification: LCC HV1552 .D576 2016 | DDC 305.9/08093--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016013479
ISBN: 978-1-138-81485-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62528-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
Contents
List of figures viii
Notes on contributors x
Preface and acknowledgments xvi
1 Introduction: disabilities in the ancient world – past, present and future 1
Christian Laes
2 Disability and infirmitas in the ancient world: demographic and biological
facts in the longue durée 22
April Pudsey
PART I
The Ancient (Near) East 35
3 Disabilities from head to foot in Hittite civilization 37
Richard H. Beal
4 Mesopotamia and Israel 47
Edgar Kellenberger
5 Ancient Persia and silent disability 61
Omar Coloru
6 Egyptian medicine and disabilities: from pharaonic to Greco-Roman Egypt 75
Rosalie David
7 India: demystifying disability in Antiquity 90
M. Miles
8 Disability in ancient China 106
Olivia Milburn
v
Contents
PART II
The Greek world 119
9 The Greek vocabulary of disabilities 121
Evelyne Samama
10 Ability and disability in classical Athenian oratory 139
Martha Lynn Rose
11 Disabilities in tragedy and comedy 154
Robert Garland
12 Legal (and customary?) approaches to the disabled in ancient Greece 167
Matthew Dillon
13 The Hellenistic turn in bodily representations: venting anxiety in
terracotta figurines 182
Alexandre Mitchell
14 Plutarch’s ‘philosophy’ of disability: human after all 197
Michiel Meeusen
PART III
The Roman world 211
15 Perfect Roman bodies: the Stoic view 213
Bert Gevaert
16 Foul and fair bodies, minds, and poetry in Roman satire 222
Sarah E. Bond and T. H. M. Gellar-Goad
17 The ‘other’ Romans: deformed bodies in the visual arts of Rome 233
Lisa Trentin
18 Mobility impairment in the sanctuaries of early Roman Italy 248
Emma-Jayne Graham
19 Mental disability? Galen on mental health 267
Chiara Thumiger
20 Madness and mad patients according to Caelius Aurelianus 283
Danielle Gourevitch
21 Disability in the Roman Digest 298
Peter Toohey
vi
Contents
PART IV
The late ancient world 313
22 Hysterical women? Gender and disability in early Christian narrative 315
Anna Rebecca Solevåg
23 Augustine’s sermons and disability 328
Martin Claes and Anthony Dupont
24 Infirmitas in monastic rules 342
Jenni Kuuliala
25 The Coptic and Ethiopic traditions 357
Carol Downer
26 The disability within: sexual desire as disability in Syriac Christianity 376
John W. Martens
27 The disabled in the Byzantine Empire 388
Stephanos Efthymiadis
28 What difference did Islam make? Disease and disability in early
medieval North Africa 403
Matthew Alan Gaumer
29 Impotent husbands, eunuchs and flawed women in early Islamic law 421
Hocine Benkheira
30 Disability in rabbinic Judaism 434
Julia Watts Belser and Lennart Lehmhaus
PART V
The endurance of tradition 453
31 Then and now: canon law on disabilities 455
Irina Metzler
32 The imperfect body in Nazi Germany: ancient concepts, modern
technologies 468
Toon Van Houdt
Index 480
vii
Figures
6.1 When the mummy of King Siptah (1206–1198 bce) was unwrapped in
1905, the deformity evident in the left leg and foot was identified as a
case of congenital club foot (talipes equino-varus) 77
6.2 Members of the Manchester Mummy Team use endoscopic equipment
to investigate the mummy of a priest (the Leeds Mummy) 79
6.3 Amulet of the dwarf-god Bes, Late Period (c.900 bce) 83
10.1 Chart of physical, intellectual, mental and other disorders 147
10.2 Chart of permanent physical disability showing number of weeks
of compensation payable for scheduled and non-scheduled
permanent partial disabilities 150
13.1 The Diadumenos.Terracotta figurine, Paris, Musée du Louvre 183
13.2 Caricatured bystander. Attic red-askos, Paris, Musée du Louvre 184
13.3 Hunchback suffering from acromegaly 186
13.4 Dwarf with Pott’s disease 187
13.5 Facial acromegaly 188
13.6 Leper (?) 189
13.7 Leontiasis (‘lion face’) 190
13.8 Human skull with leontiasis 190
13.9 Leontiasis (‘lion face’) 191
13.10 Comparison of ape and human skulls 191
17.1 Mosaic pavement depicting an ithyphallic dwarf and the evil eye,
c.2nd century ce 236
17.2 Mosaic pavement depicting an ithyphallic hunchback 237
17.3 Mosaic pavement depicting baby Herakles strangling snakes 238
17.4 Engraving of an ithyphallic hunchback 239
17.5 Wall painting depicting three pygmies in a boat 241
17.6 Bronze mirror depicting a lame hunchback, seated, and surrounded
by birds 243
18.1 Votive feet of unknown provenance 253
18.2 Terracotta model of a leg of unknown provenance 254
viii
List of figures
18.3 Terracotta votive foot of unknown provenance 257
18.4 Sketch plan of the site at Ponte di Nona 258
25.1 The Virgin anoints the eyes of the blind girl from Badramân with
milk from her breast and restores her sight 360
25.2 The ascetic Apa Mena is shown standing in perfect joy and serenity
with Christ the Saviour 362
25.3 St John Kolobos (the Little) stands on a wavy line which represents a
hill to make him level with his taller companions on either side 363
28.1 The Roman Empire 405
28.2 Methods of medical treatment of disease and disability in antiquity 411
28.3 The centres of Islamic medicine 412
28.4 Components of fiqh and maraḍ (Islamic medical science) 415
ix