Health and wellbeing in the ancient world

What did being healthy in ancient Rome or Greece look like? How can you tell what wellbeing meant in ancient times? This free course, Health and wellbeing in the ancient world, will help you investigate the health of people in ancient Greece and Rome, using both literary and archaeological evidence to uncover details of real life in ancient societies.This course is designed to challenge simplistic approaches which apply modern distinctions to the ancient world. Instead, you'll go back to the start and look at the primary evidence on which all modern assumptions are based. You'll examine different objects closely, learning what each item can tell us about life in ancient times.On the course, you'll divide the body up into organs and systems, using each as a starting point to explore ancient theories of the structure and function of the human body, and other aspects of ancient life.You'll discover ancient Greece and Rome in full, from the public to the personal, and from army and urban life to the lived experience of women and children. Using evidence on the hair and face, the eyes, the digestive system, the organs of reproduction and the feet, you'll explore topics with which society still wrestles, including the location of the 'self'; the relationship between mind and body; identity; food and drink; sanitation; sexuality, ageing and gender.There are no special requirements for this course, but an interest in the ancient world or classical studies might be useful.By enrolling on this course you can track your progress and gain a Statement of Participation for completing the whole course.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course. We welcome your feedback and suggestions to improve the experience for other learners.This course is also available to study on FutureLearn 326, where you have the opportunity to purchase a FutureLearn certificate on completion.

• Week1Week 1: What is health? Using the evidence
• Introduction
• 1 Defining health
• 1.1 How healthy are you?
• 1.2 Talking about health
• 1.3 Health and the gods
• 1.4 What is health? Ancient answers
• 1.5 Who is telling us this?
• 1.6 What is health? Modern definitions
• 1.7 Other definitions of health
• 2 Hearing ancient voices
• 2.1 Literal or not? The role of genre
• 2.2 Lead curse tablets
• 3 Keeping your finger on the pulse
• 3.1 Rich and poor?
• 3.2 Galen and Marcus Aurelius
• 3.3 The pulse of love
• 3.4 Knowing what’s normal
• 3.5 The importance of location
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Week2Week 2: Health and identity: the face and eyes
• Introduction
• 1 Vision in ancient times
• 1.1 How do you see?
• 1.2 The Evil Eye
• 1.3 Hearing in colours
• 1.4 The colours of the past
• 1.5 Gifts for the gods: votive offerings
• 1.6 Votive eyes
• 2 Healing the eyes
• 2.1 Curing eye disease
• 2.2 Making collyria
• 2.3 Cataract surgery
• 3 Modifying the body
• 3.1 A good complexion
• 3.2 Facial reconstruction
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Week3Week 3: Eating and drinking
• Introduction
• 1 A regimen for everyone
• 1.1 The role of digestion
• 1.2 Weight issues in antiquity
• 1.3 Vegetarianism and other exceptional diets
• 2 Archaeological evidence for food and health
• 2.1 Introducing Pompeii and the Vesuvian sites
• 2.2 Citrus fruits at Pompeii
• 2.3 Hippocratic apples: finding out more
• 2.4 Food and bones: further evidence of ancient diet
• 2.5 Breast milk in antiquity
• 2.6 Advertising baby feeding
• 3 Food and drugs
• 3.1 When does food become a drug?
• 3.2 Ancient herbals
• 3.3 Wine: the blood-making drink
• 3.4 Ancient tonics: antidotes
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Week4Week 4: Sanitation
• Introduction
• 1 Toilets and waste
• 1.1 Coprolites: finding out more
• 1.2 Introducing Roman toilets
• 1.3 Finding a toilet
• 1.4 Sharing a toilet
• 1.5 What did the Romans use for toilet paper?
• 2 Keeping clean: sewers and bath houses
• 2.1 The positive sides of sewage
• 2.2 Baths in the ancient world
• 2.3 Baths in literature
• 2.4 How hygienic were ancient cities?
• 3 Doctors and excrement
• 3.1 Medicine and purging
• 3.2 Help or harm?
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Week5Week 5: Conception, generation and sexuality
• Introduction
• 1 Births in ancient mythology
• 1.1 Wind eggs and the uterine mole
• 1.2 Increasing the chances of conception
• 1.3 Detecting pregnancy
• 1.4 Developing in the womb
• 1.5 The theory of maternal impression
• 2 Giving birth
• 2.1 A quick birth?
• 2.2 Men in the birthing chamber
• 3 After birth: care of the newborn
• 3.1 The role of the wet-nurse
• 3.2 Girls growing up
• 3.3 Infertility – ex votos of sexual parts
• 3.4 Being healthy but infertile
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements
• Week6Week 6: The ideal body: disability and wounding
• Introduction
• 1 Ancient ideals
• 1.1 Discovering ancient bodies
• 1.2 Healthy bodies in the ancient world
• 1.3 Bodies from Roman London
• 2 The ideal body and the disabled body
• 2.1 Shaping the body from birth
• 2.2 Disabled bodies
• 2.3 The Emperor’s feet
• 2.4 Other differences
• 3 Recruiting and treating the soldier
• 3.1 Training the Roman army
• 3.2 How healthy were classical Greek armies?
• 3.3 Treating the injured soldier
• 3.4 Battle wounds and surgery in art and literature
• 3.5 Battle wounds and surgery in medical texts and archaeology
• 3.6 The mental health of ancient soldiers
• 3.7 Caerleon
• 3.8 Using texts and objects
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• Where next?
• References
• Further reading
• Acknowledgements