Health and wellness in antiquity through the Middle Ages / William H. York.

Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, [2012]

xiv, 251 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Factors in health and wellness: -- Health and disease in history -- Health, disease, and the body: Disease theory in the ancient Near East: Mesopotamia and Egypt ; Disease theory in the Western medical tradition: Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and Medieval Europe ; Disease theory in Indian Ayurvedic medicine ; Disease theory in traditional Chinese medicine -- Health and social well-being -- Education and training : learned and non-learned: --Medical learning in the ancient Near East: Mesopotamia ; Egypt -- Medical learning in the ancient Greek and Roman world: Hippocratic medicine ; Galen and the Hippocratic tradition -- Medical learning in India: The written tradition of Ayurvedia: The origin of the Ayurvedic medical texts ; Medical education -- Medical learning in China: Foundations of traditional Chinese medicine ; The rise of formal medical education -- Medical learning in the Islamic world: Translation and the written tradition of Islamic medicine ; Practitioners and their training -- Medical learning in Medieval Europe: Translation and the rise of universities ; The hierarchy of medical practitioners and the non-learned tradition of Medieval medicine --

Religion and medicine: Faith, magic, and healing in Mesopotamia and Egypt: Gods and the causes of disease ; Religious healing in ancient Mesopotamia ; Magical cures in Egypt -- Religious and naturalistic medicine in ancient Greece -- Medicine and religion in India and China: Magic and medicine in early Indian and Chinese civilizations ; Confucianism and Taoism in Chinese medical thought ; Buddhism to Indian medicine -- Faith healing in the Islamic and Christian traditions: Prophetic medicine in the Islamic world ; Magical and miracle cures in Medieval European medicine -- Women's health: -- Gynecology: women's bodies and women's diseases: Mesopotamia and Egypt ; Greek and Roman Gynecological literature ; Gynecology in Ayurvedic medical literature -- Gynecology in traditional Chinese medicine ; Female practitioners and women patients in the Islamic world ; The "Secrets of women" and male physicians in Medieval Europe -- Obstetrics: Managing pregnancy and childbirth: Childbirth in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt ; Childbirth and ancient Greece and Rome ; Childbirth in India ; Childbirth in China ; Childbirth in medieval Europe --

Health in infancy, childhood, and old age: Aging and the life cycle in premodern medical theories ; Pediatric medicine: Mesopotamia cures for children ; Egyptian cures for children ; Children and medicine in ancient Greece and Rome ; Pediatric care in the Ayurvedic tradition ; Pediatrics in traditional Chinese medicine ; Childcare and pediatric medicine in Medieval Europe -- Geriatric care in the premodern world -- Infectious disease in the premodern world: -- Studying disease in history -- Epidemics and theories of disease causation -- Smallpox -- Bubonic plague, or the Black Death: The origin and spread of the bubonic plague ; Medical responses to the Black Death in Europe and the Islamic world ; Religious responses to the Black Death ; Popular and civic responses to the Black Death -- Leprosy: Lebrosy in India ; Leprosy in China ; Leprosy in Medieval Europe -- Environmental and occupational hazards: -- Living and working conditions in rural communities -- Living and working conditions in urban centers: Waste and sewage removal ; Fresh water and the risk of lead poisoning ; The risk of fire ; Violence and crime -- Surgery and manual operations: Surgery in ancient Mesopotamia -- Surgery in ancient Egypt -- Surgery in ancient Greece and Rome: Hippocratic surgeons ; Roman surgeons -- Surgery in India: Surgical training and procedures ; Early methods and reconstructive surgery ; Surgery and the Vaidya -- Chinese surgery: The low status of surgery and surgeons ; Moxibustion and acupuncture -- Surgery in the Islamic: Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi -- Surgery in the Medieval west: Surgeons and physicians ; The rise of rational surgery ; Vernacular surgery texts and craft practice --

The brain and mental disorders: --The mind and illness in Mesopotamia and Egypt -- Mental health and humoral medicine in ancient Greece and Rome -- The mind and mental health in Ayurvedic medicine ; Mental illness in traditional Chinese medicine -- Mental illness in Islamic medicine -- Mental illness in Medieval Europe -- The apothecary and his pharmacopeia: -- The pharmacopeia of ancient Mesopotamia -- The Egyptian pharmacopeia -- Greek and Roman pharmacology -- Pharmacy in Ayurvedic medicine: Siddha medicine and alchemical remedies -- The traditional Chinese pharmacopeia: Early materia medica ; Alchemy and pharmaceutical chemistry ; Standardizing materia medica and regulating the drug market -- Pharmacy in the Islamic world -- Medieval European pharmacology -- War and health: -- Weapons and wounds -- Disease and hunger in war -- Siege warfare -- Institutions and health: -- Governmental and religious institutions in Mesopotamia and Egypt: Irrigation systems ; Embalming in ancient Egypt and knowledge of the body -- Institutional support for health and medicine in ancient Greece and Rome: The Museum and the Library of Alexandria, Egypt ; Roman engineering: aqueducts and sewage systems -- Institutional medicine in ancient India -- Health and the state in China -- Hospitals in the Islamic world and medieval Europe -- The Black Death and public health in medieval Europe -- Healing and the arts: -- Encounters with the doctor in art and literature -- The body in medical art.