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A L Thomasen

Publications and source records attributed to A L Thomasen.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1983

[Philoctetes--a theme with variations].

The legend of Philoctetes and his snake bite is found in so many versions seen from the most differing aspects, that each new attempt to throw light on this throng of literary and artistic interpretations must be based on the author's personal choice of and attitude to the almost limitless material. Since the time of Homer the legend has spread from ancient Greece across Europe, all the way to the utmost northern base of our culture; very early the tradition of the famous archer of the Trojan war was known and written down in Iceland. The author of the present essay has stressed the psychological interpretations of the legend as seen in the great Greek tragedies and in painting and sculpture, especially from the point of view of medical history. Furthermore the interplay of art and medicine in the Philoctetes legend has inspired the author to a closer examination of the role in the fate of mankind played by the snake from the beginning of time, seen in a religious as well as a secular context. For heathens as well as Christians the snake could bring fortune or calamity. Sometimes a vile demon, it brought harm; but the copper snake of Moses in the desert and the snake in the service of Asclepios protected and healed mankind. This creature so full of contrary powers and intentions almost became a mirror to the complex nature and unpredictable fate of man.

Greece, Ancient↗
PubMed1980

["Historia animalium" compared to "Gynaecia" in the literature of the Middle Ages].

In her essay the author pictures the dominating role of Aristotle's doctrines as compared with the more progressive scientific achievements of the Alexandrian school of medicine during the Middle Ages. One of the consequences of this dominance was an almost total neglect of the special health problems of women who were-in contrast with men and according to the Aristotelian tradition of the Middle Ages-considered to be defective human beings: a nearly uneradicable opinion far into later centuries. In addition it was not only in accordance with Christian doctrines but with religious and social conceptions and habits of the Arabic tradition as well. The progressive efforts of some reasonable medieval physicians to improve the deplorable position of women were incapable to break through the bulwark of cooperating misjudgments and prejudices. It took a lot of time-from Hippocrates to Galen and the Arabs-and many errors were made till the teachings of Soranos of Ephesos, the first great gynaecologist, began to gain ground since the late Middle Ages, when his treatment of women's diseases and obstetrical instructions slowly prevailed the speculative perceptions of Aristotle and his epigones.

Europe↗