Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of
parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach

k 2024

Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach

KHEML, Sebastian

Základní údaje

Originální název

Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach

Autoři

KHEML, Sebastian

Vydání

3rd Annual Meeting of the ‘Marburg Dialogues on Ancient Healing Arts’ 2024

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Stát vydavatele

Německo

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

URL

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova česky

Parazité člověka, římská říše, prostorová analýza dat, starověké léčitelské kulty, archeoparazitologie

Klíčová slova anglicky

Human parasites, Roman Empire, spatial data analysis, ancient healing cults, archaeoparasitology

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Změněno: 11. 7. 2024 17:47, Mgr. Sebastian Kheml

Anotace

V originále

The ancient period experienced substantial migration and urbanization, directly impacting the general human condition and elevating the risk of pathogen and parasite transmission. Extensive archaeoparasitological research has indeed revealed the widespread prevalence of intestinal parasites in the Roman Empire throughout its existence. In response to these challenges, Greco-Roman society developed various sophisticated tools and practices, including sanitation, hygiene, waste disposal, and a specialised branch of ancient medicine. A related tool that has played a role in dealing with parasites was the worship of healing deities, particularly the cult of the god Asclepius, as evidenced by votive stelae uncovered at Epidaurus. However, the extent of cultic practices focused on mitigating dangers associated with parasites in the Greco-Roman world has not yet been thoroughly explored in the scholarship. This paper aims to investigate the potential influence and relationship between parasite burden and the prominence of religious healing centres. The quantitative analysis of archaeoparasitological data enables the identification of areas of parasitological importance, considering both species diversity and the severity of infection, which is expressed by the amount of eggs in the examined samples. These data, coupled with the epigraphic records of ancient healing deities, can serve as proxies in a comprehensive spatial analysis, shedding light on the interplay between natural and cultural factors that shaped the daily life of ancient society. While interest in archaeoparasitological findings is gradually increasing, their integration into mathematical GIS models is still in early stages.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1477/2023, interní kód MU

Název: Digitální výzkum náboženství v dlouhodobé perspektivě

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Digitální výzkum náboženství v dlouhodobé perspektivě

Citovat

KHEML, Sebastian. Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach. In 3rd Annual Meeting of the ‘Marburg Dialogues on Ancient Healing Arts’. 2024.

@proceedings{2418017,
   author = {Kheml, Sebastian},
   booktitle = {3rd Annual Meeting of the ‘Marburg Dialogues on Ancient Healing Arts’},
   keywords = {Human parasites, Roman Empire, spatial data analysis, ancient healing cults, archaeoparasitology},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach},
   url = {https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb16/igphmmr/marburg-dialogues-on-ancient-healing-arts/annual-meeting},
   year = {2024}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 2418017
AU  - Kheml, Sebastian
PY  - 2024
TI  - Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach
KW  - Human parasites, Roman Empire, spatial data analysis, ancient healing cults, archaeoparasitology
UR  - https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb16/igphmmr/marburg-dialogues-on-ancient-healing-arts/annual-meeting
N2  - The ancient period experienced substantial migration and urbanization, directly impacting the general human condition and elevating the risk of pathogen and parasite transmission. Extensive archaeoparasitological research has indeed revealed the widespread prevalence of intestinal parasites in the Roman Empire throughout its existence. In response to these challenges, Greco-Roman society developed various sophisticated tools and practices, including sanitation, hygiene, waste disposal, and a specialised branch of ancient medicine. A related tool that has played a role in dealing with parasites was the worship of healing deities, particularly the cult of the god Asclepius, as evidenced by votive stelae uncovered at Epidaurus. However, the extent of cultic practices focused on mitigating dangers associated with parasites in the Greco-Roman world has not yet been thoroughly explored in the scholarship. This paper aims to investigate the potential influence and relationship between parasite burden and the prominence of religious healing centres. The quantitative analysis of archaeoparasitological data enables the identification of areas of parasitological importance, considering both species diversity and the severity of infection, which is expressed by the amount of eggs in the examined samples. These data, coupled with the epigraphic records of ancient healing deities, can serve as proxies in a comprehensive spatial analysis, shedding light on the interplay between natural and cultural factors that shaped the daily life of ancient society. While interest in archaeoparasitological findings is gradually increasing, their integration into mathematical GIS models is still in early stages.
ER  -

KHEML, Sebastian. Cultural responses and coping with the negative influence of parasites in the Roman Empire: a spatial approach. In \textit{3rd Annual Meeting of the ‘Marburg Dialogues on Ancient Healing Arts’}. 2024.

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