Plautus and Medicine

By Andrea Salayová

Plautus and Medicine:

Portrayal of illnesses in comedies of Plautus

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Andrea Salayová, Mirón Jurík

Masaryk University, Brno​

Research questions

• How often does the sick character appear in Plautus´ plays?

• Which illnesses and symptoms are mentioned the most often?

• Is it more common to portray some character archetypes as being sick than the others and of so, why?​

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Methodology

• 20 plays of Plautus

• only instances when the character is suffering from a disease or showing symptoms (or when other characters think so)

• quantitative + qualitative analysis

• disease classification issue​

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​Results - Mentions

• 64 mentions of disease or symptoms among 14 plays

• 6 plays without any mentions​ - Aulularia, Bacchides, Cistellaria, Poenulus, Stichus, Trinummus

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Conclusion

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​Selected Bibliography

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• Fontaine, M. (2018). A Cute Illness in Epidaurus: Eight sick jokes in Plautus’ Gorgylio (Curculio). Quasi Labor Intus: Ambiguity in Latin Literature.

• Goold, G.P. (1980). Plautus IV. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

• Nixon, P. (1917). Plautus II. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

• Plautus (1895).  Plauti Comoediae. F. Leo. Berlin. Weidmann.

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