Discapacidad, agencia y asistencia en dos cartas de Plinio el Joven: Corelio Rufo (Ep. 1.12) y Domicio Tulo (Ep. 8.18) / Deficiência, agência e assistência em duas cartas de Plínio o Jovem: Corélio Rufo (Ep. 1.12) e Domício Tulo (Ep. 8.18) / Disability, agency, and assistance in two letters of Pliny the Younger: Corelius Rufus (Ep. 1.12) and Domitius Tullus (Ep. 8.18)

This article discusses the experience of disability in ancient Rome through the letters Ep. 1.12 and Ep. 8.18 of Pliny the Younger (1st-2nd centuries CE). The main characters of these letters, Corellius Rufus and Domitius Tullus, were two senators with reduced mobility and assisted in their daily tasks by relatives and enslaved people. Based on the methodology provided by Disability Studies, we analyse the agency of the subjects of study as disabled people, as well as the role that assistance played in their lives and how their environment conditioned their life decisions. Finally, we address Pliny the Younger's personal perspective and the bias this may entail when interpreting the meaning of the letters.(AU)

Este artículo aborda la experiencia de la discapacidad en la antigua Roma a través de las cartas Ep. 1.12 y Ep. 8.18 de Plinio el Joven (ss. I-II n.e.). Los protagonistas de estas misivas, Corelio Rufo y Domicio Tulo, fueron dos senadores con movilidad limitada y asistidos en las tareas cotidianas por familiares y personas esclavizadas. Partiendo de la metodología proporcionada por los Estudios de Discapacidad, analizamos la agencia de los sujetos de estudio en cuanto que personas discapacitadas, así como el papel que la asistencia jugó en sus vidas y cómo su entorno condicionó sus decisiones vitales. Finalmente, abordamos la perspectiva personal de Plinio el Joven y el sesgo que ésta puede suponer a la hora de interpretar el significado de las cartas.(AU)

Este artigo aborda a experiência da deficiência na Roma antiga através das cartas Ep. 1.12 e Ep. 8.18 de Plínio o Jovem (1ª-2ª c. n.e.). Os protagonistas destas cartas, Corélio Rufo e Domício Tulo, foram dois senadores com mobilidade limitada e assistidos em tarefas diárias por familiares e pessoas escravizadas. Com base na metodologia fornecida pelos Estudos sobre Deficiência, analisamos a agência dos sujeitos de estudo como pessoas com deficiência, bem como o papel que a assistência desempenhou nas suas vidas e como o seu ambiente condicionou as suas decisões de vida. Finalmente, abordamos a perspectiva pessoal de Plínio o Jovem e o preconceito que isto pode implicar ao interpretar o significado das letras.(AU)

At the origin of "Endocrinology and Art": Woman's Head (third century BCE).

In 1911, the Danish physician Hans Christian Gram (1853-1938) sustained to have found signs of hyperthyroidism in a marble head of a Roman woman that he observed in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen. It could be one of the first examples of a clinical diagnosis of an endocrine disease in an ancient statue.

Suicidal behaviour in the ancient Greek and Roman world.

OBJECTIVE: We attempt to present and analyze suicidal behaviour in the ancient Greek and Roman world. METHODS: Drawing information from ancient Greek and Latin sources (History, Philosophy, Medicine, Literature, Visual Arts) we aim to point out psychological and social aspects of suicidal behaviour in antiquity. RESULTS: The shocking exposition of suicides reveals the zeitgeist of each era and illustrates the prevailing concepts. Social and legal reactions appear ambivalent, as they can oscillate from acceptance and interpretation of the act to punishment. In the history of these attitudes, we can observe continuities and breaches, reserving a special place in cases of mental disease. The delayed emergence of a generally accepted term for the voluntary exit from life (the term suicidium established during the 17th century), is connected to reactions triggered by the act of suicide than to the frequency and the extent of the phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS: The social environment of the person, who voluntary ends his life usually dictates the behaviour and historical evidence confirms the phenomenon.

¿Hubo infectólogos en la Antigua Roma? / Were there infections diseases specialists in the Ancient Rome?

The existence of infectious diseases specialists in Ancient Rome is unlikely, but there were at least three authors able of keen observations on infectious matters, with enough merit to be considered our predecessors: Varro, Columella and Vitruvius, none of them physicians. Varro, in his first Book on Agriculture recommended, "Build the houses distant from swamps, because certain minute creatures are bred which cannot be followed with the eyes but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose, giving rise to severe diseases". Also in a text of agriculture and in the same sense, Columella says "that with heat a swamp releases a pestilential vapor and produces a very dense swarm of insects, which come flying over us armed with harmful stings Vitruvius, the great architect was worried about drinkable water: its sources and properties, how to obtain it and the methods for testing its quality. The concern on its distribution and disposal of sewage started on 614 B.C., little after the foundation of Rome, with the building of the first aqueduct, the Aqua Marcia. This aqueduct in Trajan's times (century II A.D.), reached a total of 443 km, with 49,500 meters of arcades, which were up to 32 meters high, plus 2.4 Km. of an underground net. This system released 947.200 m3 of water per day, two thirds of which were for public use and one third for private customers.

Si mal pudo haber infectólogos en la Antigua Roma, hubo al menos intelectuales capaces de agudas observaciones en materia de infecciones, con merecimientos suficientes para postularse como nuestros predecesores: Varrón, Columela y Vitruvio, ninguno de ellos médico. Varrón, en el primero de sus Libros de Agricultura, recomendaba ubicar la casa evitando los pantanos, porque allí crecen ciertos animales, tan diminutos que no se pueden seguir con los ojos y flotan en el aire y entran al cuerpo por la boca y la nariz causando graves enfermedades. También en un texto de agricultura y en el mismo sentido, Columela dice que una laguna desprende con los calores un vapor pestilencial y produce enjambres espesísimos de insectos, que vienen volando sobre nosotros armados de aguijones dañinos... Vitruvio, el gran arquitecto, se ocupó del agua potable: sus fuentes y sus cualidades, cómo obtenerla y los métodos para probar su calidad. Esta preocupación por la distribución de aguas y disposición de excretas había nacido en el 614 A.C., poco después de la fundación de Roma, con la construcción del primer acueducto, el Aqua Marcia, para alcanzar en tiempos de Trajano (siglo II D.C.) un total de 443 km, con 49.500 metros de arcadas de hasta 32 metros de altura, más 2,4 km de red subterránea. Éstos entregaban 947.200 m³ por día, de los cuales dos tercios eran para uso público y un tercio privado.