What happened if you fell sick in ancient Greece? What healthcare options were available to an enslaved person, for example, or a woman experiencing complications during childbirth?
The free, virtual Inaugural Vincent J. Rosivach Lecture in Ancient Mediterranean Studies on April 12 at 5 p.m., lead by Jessica Lamont, PhD, of Yale University, will explore these questions and others, illuminating the complex landscape of healing in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.
Dr. Lamont will explore health and healing in ancient Greece during the fifth and fourth centuries BC, a time of surge in the development of sanctuaries and shrines where Asklepios, the god of health, and Hygeia, one of his daughters, were worshipped. The arts as we know them played a role in the process of healing back then, a concept that is equally valid today.
An assistant professor of classics and history at Yale University, Dr. Lamont completed her doctorate in classics in 2016 at Johns Hopkins University. Her research and teaching interests revolve around Greek medicine and magic, especially healing cults and curse tablets.
This Classical Studies Endowed Lecture will serve as the inaugural lecture of a new series named for the late Professor Vincent J. Rosivach, whose career at Fairfield University was devoted to the enduring presence and importance of classical studies. The aim of this endowed lecture series is to host innovative and notable scholars across a number of fields in order to bring to life Ancient Mediterranean history and culture in its varied dimensions.
"The program in classical studies is interdisciplinary in nature," said Katherine Schwab, PhD, professor of art history in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, curator of the Plaster Cast Collection at the Fairfield University Art Museum, and director of the School of Communication, Arts and Media in the College of Arts and Sciences. "We look forward to hosting guest lectures by prominent scholars as well as organizing occasional symposia that forge a variety of connections across disciplines, thanks to the support of this new series."
Dr. Schwab described the upcoming presentation by Dr. Lamont as a unique opportunity to bring together College of Arts and Sciences students minoring in classical studies and health studies with students in the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, to discover how "Sickness and Health in Ancient Greece" might inform our healthcare experiences today.
