Full Description
This book examines how elite literary authors conceived of the relationship between health and lifestyle in the Graeco-Roman world.
Through careful analysis of a wide range of ancient literary sources, provided in both the original Greek and Latin and in English translation, the book explores what Graeco-Roman authors thought about how lifestyle could contribute to a person's healthiness or unhealthiness. It begins by looking at Graeco-Roman concepts of health and lifestyle from the Homeric poems to the Hippocratic Corpus before examining the medical regulation of lifestyle for health purposes, the nature of people's healthy daily lifestyle habits, the various moral perspectives held by people in antiquity about health and lifestyle, and the influence of circumstances in determining whether people can live a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle.
Health, Lifestyle, and Elite Culture in Greek and Roman Times is a richly documented study suitable for students and scholars of health and medicine in antiquity. It is also of interest to people studying or researching the history of health and medicine and all those interested in the classical world generally.
Contents
List of Figures vi Introduction 1 1 Contexts 19 2 Defining Health 39 3 Defining Lifestyle 63 4 The Development of Ideas About Health and Lifestyle: From Homer to the Hippocratic Corpus 88 5 The Medical Regulation of Lifestyle for Health 115 6 Personal Behaviour, Lifestyle, and Health 149 7 Moralising Perspectives on Health and Lifestyle 182 8 Personal Circumstances, Lifestyle, and Health 207 Conclusion 247 Index 253
