Ιατρικά εργαλεία και εξοπλισμός στην αρχαιότητα. Η συμβολή των παπυρικών εγγράφων της ελληνορωμαϊκής Αιγύπτου

Abstract

Medical tools and equipment in antiquity.The contribution of the documentary papyri of Greco-Roman Egypt

Subject of this paper is the documentary papyri which refer to the existence and use of medical tools and parts of medical equipment in Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt. This intertemporal and interregional study is entirely based on the information provided by already published papyrus documents and pottery sherds, and relates to medical instruments, toolboxes, storage cases, containers, medical textiles, and sponges. Aim of the paper is to contribute to our knowledge concerning the existence or the absence of an organized system of manufacture, trade and supply of medical equipment in Egypt, and examines the possibility of obtaining and using the medical instruments by doctors in the Nile country. This study stresses also the relationship between Archaeology and Papyrology, since the information of papyrological sources confirms and amplifies the archaeological evidence.