The Treatment of War Wounds in Graeco-Roman Antiquity.

Brill, Leiden (...), 2000. XVII,299p. ills.(B&W photographs). Original red gilt titled cloth with dust wrps. Dust wrps slightly jammed to upper edge front cover. Initials stamp, date and personal library mark on free endpaper. Else fine. (Rare). ?There is a fair amount of ancient evidence for war wounds, and Christine Salazar?s study, which aims to shed light both on the treatment of wounds in medical practice and on the 'treatment' of the wounded in literature, gathers and discusses much of it (?). She begins by setting out systematically, in two chapters, the evidence from medical writers on the kinds of wounds and possible complications a physician might encounter, and the range of surgical and pharmacological procedures open to him. (?) The evidence sited is predominantly of Roman Imperial date; Hippocratic treatises are included (?). Two particularly interesting chapters proceed to investigate the development of medical services in ancient armies (?), the considerable spread of at least some basic medical knowledge among payment, and the nature of ancient medical terminology. The rôle of wounds in literature is the subject of the next four chapters, which between them discuss `wounding`as a code. (?) A chapter bridging the chronological gap between Homer and Alexander provides a good survey of the well-known debate what constitutes a 'beautiful death', but fails to link this at all closely with attitude to the wounded. (?) 'The Treatment of War Wounds' (?) manages to make so many of its parts surprisingly interesting.? (HANS VAN WEES in The Classical Review (New Series), 2001, pp.308-310).