An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world
Zootherapy is the use of living or dead animals and their parts and products for medical or healing purposes. Although practised across the world and throughout time, a post-Enlightenment, Western aversion to ‘unscientific’ and ‘irrational’ medical methods has hindered our understanding of zootherap...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/72429/ |
| _version_ | 1848800740293738496 |
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| author | Rolph, Rachel |
| author_facet | Rolph, Rachel |
| author_sort | Rolph, Rachel |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Zootherapy is the use of living or dead animals and their parts and products for medical or healing purposes. Although practised across the world and throughout time, a post-Enlightenment, Western aversion to ‘unscientific’ and ‘irrational’ medical methods has hindered our understanding of zootherapy both past and present. This has caused archaeologists to be unaware of, or less receptive to, the possibilities of identifying the evidence of zootherapy in the Roman archaeological record. To counter this, this dissertation will promote zootherapy as a valid interpretation of zooarchaeological material, and will outline methods that could be used to identify the archaeological evidence of zootherapy from the Roman world. It will begin with an exploration of current zootherapy that will highlight the commonalities between the processes used in different countries. The Roman conception of medicine will then be discussed, with special attention paid to the ways in which food, religion and magic overlap with healing practices. Recognising this overlap is important for understanding the roles of animals in different aspects of Roman medicine, as they can be found in temples, diets, and amulets. Finally, the ways in which it might be possible to identify Roman zootherapy in the archaeological record will be discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:56:22Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-72429 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:56:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-724292025-07-20T04:30:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/72429/ An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world Rolph, Rachel Zootherapy is the use of living or dead animals and their parts and products for medical or healing purposes. Although practised across the world and throughout time, a post-Enlightenment, Western aversion to ‘unscientific’ and ‘irrational’ medical methods has hindered our understanding of zootherapy both past and present. This has caused archaeologists to be unaware of, or less receptive to, the possibilities of identifying the evidence of zootherapy in the Roman archaeological record. To counter this, this dissertation will promote zootherapy as a valid interpretation of zooarchaeological material, and will outline methods that could be used to identify the archaeological evidence of zootherapy from the Roman world. It will begin with an exploration of current zootherapy that will highlight the commonalities between the processes used in different countries. The Roman conception of medicine will then be discussed, with special attention paid to the ways in which food, religion and magic overlap with healing practices. Recognising this overlap is important for understanding the roles of animals in different aspects of Roman medicine, as they can be found in temples, diets, and amulets. Finally, the ways in which it might be possible to identify Roman zootherapy in the archaeological record will be discussed. 2023-07-20 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/72429/1/An%20investigation%20of%20zootherapy%20in%20the%20Roman%20world%20%28final%20submission%29%20%28NONE4006%20Dissertation%2C%2014306136%2C%202022%29.pdf application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/72429/7/An%20investigation%20of%20zootherapy%20in%20the%20Roman%20world%20%28redacted%20final%20submission%29%20%28NONE4006%20Dissertation%2C%2014306136%2C%202022%29.pdf Rolph, Rachel (2023) An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world. MRes thesis, University of Nottingham. zootherapy Roman medicine archaeology |
| spellingShingle | zootherapy Roman medicine archaeology Rolph, Rachel An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title | An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title_full | An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title_fullStr | An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title_full_unstemmed | An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title_short | An investigation of zootherapy in the Roman world |
| title_sort | investigation of zootherapy in the roman world |
| topic | zootherapy Roman medicine archaeology |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/72429/ |