Freie Universität Berlin

Most dentists recommend a proper teeth cleaning every six months to prevent, among other things, the implacable buildup of calculus or tartar — hardened dental plaque. Routine calculus buildup can only be removed through the use of ultrasonic tools or dental hand instruments.

Tel Aviv University researchers, in collaboration with scholars from Spain, the UK and Australia, have uncovered evidence of food and potential respiratory irritants entrapped in the dental calculus of 400,000-year-old teeth at Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv (Israel).

The research led by Prof. Karen Hardy of ICREA at the Universitat Autònoma, Barcelona, Spain, provides direct evidence of what early Palaeolithic people ate and the quality of the air they breathed inside Qesem Cave.

Read the full article here.

Marius Hoppe

The study of ancient traditions of recipe-books and medical collections of pharmacology in Late Antiquity and beyond was the thematic focus of the 2013 Berlin pharmacology workshop. Conference organizers Lennart Lehmhaus and Matteo Martelli of the SFB 980 ‘Episteme in Motion’ project A03 are now announcing the proceedings volume. Contributions cover different periods in the history of ancient pharmacology, from Greek, Byzantine, and Syriac medicine to the Rabbinic-Talmudic medical discourses. With a clear comparative approach, this collection opens up new synchronic and diachronic perspectives in the study of the ancient traditions of recipe-books and medical collections as well as of practical applications of drugs and remedies.

More about the proceedings volume at de Gruyter publishers.

Please find the 2013 conference survey on the homepage of SFB 980 – Episteme in motion.

Igor Itkin

Dr. des Lennart Lehmhaus (SFB 980) und Tanja Hidde, M.A. (BabMed) werden im Rahmen des Arbeitskreises “Alte Medizin” an der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, der unter der Leitung von Prof. Tanja Pommerening am 20. und 21. Juni 2015 in Mainz stattfindet, einen Vortrag halten zu einem Teilgebiet der talmudischen Medizin: den „Regeln zur gesunden Lebensweise“ (gr. dieita).

Konzepte und Anweisungen zur richtigen Ernährung, Körperpflege, Bewegung und gesundem Sexualleben finden sich in unterschiedlichen Bereichen und verschiedenem Umfang in den beiden talmudischen Traditionscorpora, die zwischen dem 5.-7. Jahrhundert in Syro-Palästina (Talmud Jerushalmi) und Mesopotamien (Talmud Bavli) entstanden. Im Gegensatz zu anderen antiken Medizintraditionen wird medizinisches Wissen in den beiden Talmudtraditionen weit verstreut in religionsgesetzlich oder ethisch-normativ ausgerichteten Diskussionen weiter gegeben. In einer Detailanalyse von Beispielen soll geklärt werden, mit welchen diskursiven Strategien medizinisches Wissen in diese übergeordneten Diskussionen adaptiert und integriert wurde.

Ein Vergleich der beiden Talmudim vor dem Hintergrund ihrer jeweiligen Umgebungskulturen soll einen Einblick gewähren in die Interaktion rabbinischer Epistemologie mit benachbarten Medizintraditionen. Während die dieita einen eigenen Fachbereich der griechischen Medizintradition bildete, sind der alt-mesopotamischen Medizin Ernährungsregeln, Sport und Aderlass völlig fremd. Umso erstaunlicher mutet es daher an, wenn in der westlichen Tradition (Jerushalmi) nur wenige einschlägige Lehren zur dieita vorkommen, während der Bavli eine wahre Fülle solcher Ideen überliefert. Daher gilt es nach Erklärungsmöglichkeiten für die Überlieferung und den transregionalen wie auch transkulturellen Wissenstransfer zu suchen. Wurden diese Lehren durch palästinische Autoritäten überliefert und daher als fremdes Wissen in Babylonien rezipiert, oder gab es, trotz anderslautender Forschungsmeinungen, doch einen gewissen Grad der „Hellenisierung“ in Mesopotamien, durch die solche Traditionen bereits früher bekannt waren oder zumindest leichter Aufnahme fanden?

Das vollständige Programm zum 35. Interdiszizlinären Arbeitskreis “Alte Medizin” der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität finden sie hier.

Tanja Hidde

“Fifty Years of Diplomatic Relations between Germany and Israel” is an important milestone for Freie Universität Berlin in 2015: German-Israeli cooperation in science and research was a pioneering factor in the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the anniversary year of the German-Israeli cooperation Freie Universität Berlin hosts a number of conferences and workshops in collaboration with the Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The BabMed project team are proud to be part of this fruitful relationship. A survey of the current academic programme and projects – also featuring a portrait of BabMed principal investigator Markham J. Geller – is up at the web page of Freie Universität Berlin.

Tanja Hidde/Eric Schmidtchen

James Allen (Toronto) will give a lecture entitled “Ancient Conceptions of Artistry and Expertise, the Case of Medicine” at the BBAW in Berlin on monday, the 29th of June 2015. The object of his lecture will be to explore how ancient physicians and medical schools tackled one issue with a philosophical dimension, namely the nature of the knowledge of which participants in a practice must be the masters if it is to qualify as a genuine art or techne.

Further information can be found here.

Marius Hoppe

“We know that the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans used plant-based poisons both for hunting animals and in war. In fact, the word ‘toxic’ come from toxon, the Greek word for bow. Taxus is a genus of the yew tree with a springy timber traditionally used to make bows.” says Dr. Valentina Borgia, a specialist in Palaeolithic hunting weapons and Marie Curie Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. She believes that she is on the brink of being able to prove that our ancestors used poisons as far back as 30,000 years ago.

By using a highly specialist technique called “liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry“, invisible traces of drugs can be detected on objects.

Read the full article here.

Marius Hoppe

An international team led by the University of Leiden examined a 1500 year old male skeleton, excavated at Great Chesterford in Essex (southeast England) during the 1950s. The bones of the man, probably in his 20s, show changes consistent with leprosy, such as narrowing of the toe bones and damage to the joints, suggesting a very early British case. Modern scientific techniques applied by the researchers have now confirmed the man did suffer from the disease and that he may have come from southern Scandinavia.

Read the full article here.

Marius Hoppe

In his presentation at the Workshop “How Jews Know – Epistemologies of Jewish Knowledge” Markham J. Geller will attempt to show that a lengthy anecdote in the Babylonian Talmud actually addresses a completely different topic than what it purports to discuss, showing how a secular (and controversial) theme, probably originating in another cultural milieu, was domesticated and integrated into a Jewish halachic framework.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 12 am

Room JK 33 / 121
Habelschwerdter Allee 45 │ 14195 Berlin

For the programm of the International Workshop click here.

Tanja Hidde

Am Mittwoch den 20.5.2015 wird Heinrich von Staden (Princeton / Berlin) im Rahmen des Althistorischen Colloquiums an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin einen Vortrag mit dem Titel „Therapie und Klassifizierung der Geisteskrankheiten im ersten Jahrhundert:  Aulus Cornelius Celsus“ halten.

Ort: FRS 191-193, 4026

Zeit: Mittwoch 18.15  – 20.30 Uhr

 Eric Schmidtchen