The Description of Tyche in Galen’s Treatise “Protrepticus”

Authors

  • Ksenia I. Koryuk St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, 2, ul. Litovskaya, St. Petersburg, 194100, Russian Federation https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5187-6704

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2023.204

Abstract

This article discusses the extract from Galen’s treatise “Protrepticus” which contains a description of the goddess Tyche. In the extract, Galen contrasts Hermes (a male master of the arts) and Tyche (a capricious and irrational woman). The fragment is considered in the context of the entire treatise (“Protrepticus” was intended as a polemical statement against the empirical school and their method) and its purpose (exhortation to the study of arts). G. Kaibel has previously shown that many details in the description of Tyche coincide with similar descriptions in the treatise “Tabula Cebetis’’. As a result, the scholar came to the conclusion that Galen and the author of “Tabula’’ relied on the same source. The fragment from the poem by Pacuvius provides additional evidence. However, in addition to the similarities in the description, it is worth considering the differences that appear in Galen’s treatise. For example, Galen replaces the term μανία (μαινομένη in “Tabula Cebetis’’) with the term ἄνοια, depriving it of medical connotations. The translators, apparently, did not attach any importance to this replacement, and therefore we have different translations of the term ἄνοια: folie, mancanza di senno, inanity. Since the replacement of the term μανία is not commented on in the editions and the existing translations demonstrate different interpretations, the author of the article provides an additional commentary, including a comparison of “Protrepticus” with other texts of Galen and the works of Plato, and also draws attention to the parallel passage from Pacuvius.

Keywords:

Galen, Protrepticus, Tabula Cebetis, Pacuvius, Tyche, mania, anoia

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

References

Barigazzi A. (ed., transl.) Galeni De optimo docendi genere, Exhortatio ad medicinam (Protrepticus). CMG V 1, 1. Berlin, 1991.

Boudon V. (ed., comm., transl.) Galien: Exhortation à l’étude de la médecine; Art médical. Paris, 2000.

Brain P. Galen on Bloodletting: A Study of the Origins, Development and Validity of his Opinions, with a Translation of the Three Works. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Brock A. J. (transl.) Galen: On the Natural Faculties. LCL 71. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1916.

De Boer Ed. W. (ed.) Galeni De propriorum animi cuiuslibet affectuum dignotione et curatione and De animi cuiuslibet peccatorum dignotione et curatione. CMG V 4, 1, 1. Leipzig, Berlin, 1937.

De Lacy Ph. (ed., comm., transl.) Galeni De Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis. CMG V 4, 1, 2. Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, 22005.

Dodds E. R. (ed.) Plato: Gorgias. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1959.

Durling R. J. A Dictionary of Medical Terms in Galen (Studies in Ancient Medicine). Leiden — New York —Cologne, Brill, 1993.

Flemming R. Women, writing, and medicine in the classical world. Classical Quarterly 2007, 57 (1), 257–79.

Gundert B. (ed., comm., transl.) Galeni De symptomatum differentiis. CMG V, 5, 1. Berlin, 2009.

Helmreich G. (ed.) Galeni De usu partium. 2 Bde., Leipzig, Teubner, 1907/1909.

Herzog-Hauser G. Tyche, in: RE 1948, VIIA, 1643–1696.

Hirsch-Luipold R. et al. Die Bildtafel des Kebes. Allegorie des Lebens. Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2005.

Jouanna J. The Typology and Aetiology of Madness in Ancient Greek Medical and Philosophical Writing, in: Harris W. (ed.) Mental Disorders in the Classical World. Leiden, Brill, 2013, 97–118.

Johnston I. (ed.) Galen: On Diseases and Symptoms. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Kaibel G. (ed., comm.) Claudii Galeni Protreptici quae supersunt. Berlin, 1894.

Koryuk K. Polemic with the empirical school in Galen’s Exhortation to the study of medicine. Hyperboreus 2022, 28 (1), 144–158.

Kühn C. G. (ed.) Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia. 22 vols. Leipzig, 1821–1833.

Lautner P. Plato’s Account of the Diseases of the Soul in Timaeus 86B1–87B9. Apeiron 2011, 44 (1), 22–39.

Mattern S. Galen and the Rhetoric of Healing. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

Matheson S. The Goddess Tyche, in: Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 1994, 18–33.

Nutton V. Galenic Madness, in: Harris W. (ed.) Mental Disorders in the Classical World. Leiden, Brill, 2013, 119–127.

Schierl P. Die Tragödien des Pacuvius: Ein Kommentar zu den Fragmenten mit Einleitung, Text und Übersetzung. Berlin — Boston, De Gruyter, 2006.

Shorey P. (transl.) Plato. Vols 5–6. Cambridge, Harvard University Press; London, W. Heinemann, 1969.

Singer P. N. (transl.) Galen: Selected Works. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997.

Singer P. N. (ed.) Galen: Psychological Writings: Avoiding Distress, Character Traits, the Diagnosis and Treatment of the Affections and Errors Peculiar to Each Person’s Soul, the Capacities of the Soul Depend on the Mixtures of the Body. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Singer P. N. Galen’s Pathological Soul: Diagnosis and Therapy in Ethical and Medical Texts and Contexts, in: Thumiger C., Singer P. (eds). Mental Illness in Ancient Medicine. Leiden, Brill, 2018, 381–420.

Villard L. Tyche. In: LIMC VIII, 1997, 115–116.

Warmington E. H. (transl.) Remains of Old Latin, Volume II: Livius Andronicus. Naevius. Pacuvius. Accius. LCL 314. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1936.

Downloads

Published

2023-12-30

How to Cite

Koryuk, K. I. (2023). The Description of Tyche in Galen’s Treatise “Protrepticus”. Philologia Classica, 18(2), 190–204. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2023.204

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Graecia antiqua

License

Articles of "Philologia Classica" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.