Health and Disease in Byzantine Crete (7th-12th Centuries AD) (Medicine in the Medieval Mediterranean)

265 Pages·2011·2.9 MB·English

by  Chryssi Bourbou

Health and Disease in Byzantine
Crete (7th–12th centuries AD)
Chryssi Bourbou
HealtH and disease in Byzantine Crete
(7tH–12tH Centuries ad)
daily life and living conditions in the Byzantine world are relatively
underexplored subjects, often neglected in comparison with more visible
aspects of Byzantine culture, such as works of art. The book is among the few
publications on Greek Byzantine populations and helps pioneer a new approach
to the subject, opening a window on health status and dietary patterns through
the lens of bioarchaeological research. drawing on a diversity of disciplines
(biology, chemistry, archaeology and history), the author focuses on the complex
interaction between physiology, culture and the environment in Byzantine
populations from Crete in the 7th to 12th centuries.
The systematic analysis and interpretation of the mortality profiles, the observed
pathological conditions, and of the chemical data, all set in the cultural
context of the era, brings new evidence to bear on the reconstruction of living
conditions in Byzantine Crete. individual chapters look at the demographic
profiles and mortality patterns of adult and non-adult populations, and study
dietary habits and breastfeeding and weaning patterns. in addition, this book
provides an indispensable body of primary data for future research in these
fields, and so furthers an interdisciplinary approach in tracing the health of the
past populations.
Medicine in the Medieval
Mediterranean
Series Editor
alain touwaide, smithsonian institution, national Museum of natural
History, and institute for the Preservation of Medical traditions, usa
Editorial Board
Vivian nutton, Wellcome trust Centre for the History of Medicine at
university College london, uK
Paul Canart, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City
Marie-Hélène Congourdeau, Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance,
Paris, France
dimitri Gutas, yale university, usa
alice-Mary talbot, dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine studies, usa
Medicine in the Medieval Mediterranean is a series devoted to all aspects of
medicine in the Mediterranean area during the Middle ages, from the 3rd/4th
centuries to the 16th. Though with a focus on Greek medicine, diffused through
the whole Mediterranean world and especially developed in Byzantium, it also
includes the contributions of the cultures that were present or emerged in the
area during the Middle ages and after, and which interacted with Byzantium:
the latin West and early vernacular languages, the syrian and arabic worlds,
armenian, Georgian and Coptic groups, Jewish and slavic cultures and turkish
peoples, particularly the Ottomans.
Medicine is understood in a broad sense: not only medical theory, but also
the health conditions of people, nosology and epidemiology, diet and therapy,
practice and teaching, doctors and hospitals, the economy of health, and the
non-conventional forms of medicine from faith to magic, that is, all the spectrum
of activities dealing with human health. The series includes texts and studies,
bringing to light previously unknown, overlooked or poorly known documents
interpreted with the most appropriate methods, and publishing the results of
important new research.
Health and disease in Byzantine
Crete (7th–12th centuries ad)
CHryssi BOurBOu
Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece
© Chryssi Bourbou 2010
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Chryssi Bourbou has asserted her right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
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union road 101 Cherry street
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bourbou, Chryssi.
Health and disease in Byzantine Crete (7th–12th centuries ad). –
(Medicine in the medieval Mediterranean) 1. Medical archaeology – Greece – Crete.
2. Human remains (archaeology) – Greece – Crete. 3. Medicine, Medieval – Greece
– Crete. 4. diseases – Greece – Crete – History – to 1500. 5. diet – Greece – Crete –
History – to 1500. 6. Byzantine empire – Civilization – 527–1081. i. title ii. series
306.4’61’094959–dc22

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bourbou, Chryssi.
Health and disease in Byzantine Crete (7th–12th centuries ad) / Chryssi Bourbou.
p. cm. — (Medicine in the medieval Mediterranean) includes bibliographical references
and index. isBn 978-0-7546-6615-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)—isBn 978-1-4094-1756-9
(ebook) 1. Human remains (archaeology)—Greece—Crete. 2. Paleopathology—Greece
—Crete. 3. nutrition—Greece—Crete--History. 4. diseases—Greece—Crete—History.
5. Cretans—Health and hygiene—History. 6. Human ecology—Greece—Crete.
7. excavations (archaeology)—Greece—Crete. 8. Crete (Greece)—antiquities. i. title.
dF221.C8B625 2010
610.939’18—dc22
2010028979
isBn 9780754666158 (hbk)
isBn 9781409417569 (ebk)II
To Dionysis and my family with love
This page has been left blank intentionally
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xv
Foreword xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
introduction 1
1 The Jigsaw Puzzle of Health in Context 11
Historical Outline 13
Christianity: The new religion 16
settlement Patterns and Byzantine Houses 17
economy and society 22
Byzantine Medicine 25
Materials and Methods 29
anthropological analysis 34
Paleopathological analysis 36
2 in search of Homo Byzantinus 39
Physical anthropology 40
Paleopathology 42
diseases of the dentition 44
degenerative Joint diseases of the appendicular skeleton 51
degenerative Joint diseases of the spine 57
intervertebral disc displacement 60
Hematopoietic disorders 64
infectious diseases 68
trauma 74
Circulatory disorders 92
Congenital abnormalities 94
tumors of Bone 97
viii Health and Disease in Byzantine Crete (7th–12th centuries AD)
3 tiny Occupants in shallow Graves: The Bioarchaeology of
non-adult individuals 99
Children in Byzantine society 101
Making it to adulthood? reconstructing non-adult
Mortality Patterns 104
non-adult Health and disease Patterns 109
Hematopoietic and Metabolic disorders 113
non-specific infections 122
4 The Byzantine World on a Plate 127
evidence from documentary sources 127
are We What We eat? 134
isotopic analysis in Greece 141
isotopic analysis of Byzantine Populations 142
Conclusions:reconstructing Health and disease Patterns in
Byzantine Crete: results and Perspectives 167
Glossary 173
References Cited 179
Index 239
list of Figures
intro. 1 a funerary urn with cremated human bones. Kerameikos
Museum, athens (photo: C. Bourbou) 8
1.1 ruins of buildings at eleutherna (photo: courtesy of Prof.
P. Themelis and the society of Messenian archaeological studies) 14
1.2 room of an early Byzantine house at eleutherna with storage
pithoi (photo: courtesy of Prof. P. Themelis and the society
of Messenian archaeological studies) 20
1.3 Map of the sites 28
1.4 Cemetery plan of the basilica at eleutherna (photo: courtesy of
Prof. P. Themelis and the society of Messenian
archaeological studies) 31
1.5 The church of Hagios ioannis Theologos at stylos
(photo: C. Bourbou) 32
1.6 The Venetian church of saint Peter in Heraklion
(photo: C. Bourbou) 33
2.1 Mortality curve of the populations 41
2.2 Mortality curve of the populations by time period 41
2.3 distribution of pathological conditions by site (individuals
affected) 43
2.4 distribution of pathological conditions by time period
(individuals affected) 43
2.5 distribution of dental pathologies by site (individuals affected) 45
2.6 distribution of dental disease by sex and age (individuals
affected) 45
2.7 distribution of dental pathologies by time period
(individuals affected) 45
2.8 Kastella: skeleton 014, carious lesion (arrow) on mandibular
tooth (photo: C. Bourbou) 46
2.9 eleutherna: skeleton 011a, ante-mortem tooth loss (arrow)
of mandibular teeth (photo: K. Painesi. Courtesy of Prof.
P. Themelis and the society of Messenian archaeological studies) 47
2.10 Kastella: skeleton 021, calculus (black arrow) and enamel
hypoplasia (white arrow) on mandibular teeth
(photo: C. Bourbou) 49