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Skidmore College
First-Year Experience

Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

Quacks, Doctors, and Magicians: The Art of Medicine in the Ancient Mediterranean

Instructor(s): Amy Oh, Classics

What does it mean to be healthy? What causes disease? If we do get sick, what kind of medicine or treatment can we access? These questions were as important to the ancient Greeks and Romans as they are to us today. In this course, students will learn about ancient medicine and its development from its earliest beginnings in Homer until the early modern period. Students will study literary and material evidence as well as read secondary scholarship. This course will introduce students to ancient medicine through the lens of history, philosophy, religion, feminist studies, and disability studies, with literary studies at its core.

Course Offered: