Reset of vertebrae with the use of a bench from illuminated manuscript
Place where the object is located
Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy
Story of the object
This is an image from the illuminated manuscript Codex Laurentianae Med. Graec. Plut. 74.7, folio 203v of the 9th or 10th century AD.
This codex is the earliest illustrated surgical codex; it was copied and illuminated in Constantinople on behalf of the physician Niketas or Nicetas; this is why we often refer to the codex as “codex Nicetas”. It contains 16 texts (Hippocratic De officina medici, De fracturis, De articulis, De capitis vulneribus, Galenic De methodo medendi, De ossibus ad tirones, De fasciis, In Hippocratis librum de articulis et Galeni in eum commentarii IV, Oribasius’ Collectiones medicae, Apollonius Citiensis’ In Hippocratic de articulis commentarius, Soranus’ De signis fracturarum, De fasciis, Paulus Aeginetae Epitome medica, Rufus Ephesius’ Nomenclatura rerum ad hominem pertinentium, De ossibus, Palladius’ Scholia in Hippocratis de fracturis), with 30 images in the commentary of Apollonius and 63 images in Soranus’ treatise on bandages. The images in Apollonius’ treatise represent manipulations and apparatus used in dislocations. According to Garrison, these images were “transmitted directly from antiquity, and, therefore, represent genuine Hippocratic traditions of surgical practice as transmitted through later Greek channels to Byzantium”. According to Nutton, the Nicetas codex “was included in the library of the Orphanage of Alexius Comnenus and later in that of the Hospital of the Forty Martyrs”. Janus Laskaris bought the Codex in Crete for Lorenzo de’ Medici in the 1490s. At some point, by 1530, Guilio de’ Medici, Pope Clement VII, owned it and loaned it back to Laskaris who copied it (this copy is now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). The Nicetas Codex was later acquired by Cardinal Nicolas Rudolfi and is currently preserved in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence.
The image is part of the text of Apollonius of Citium De articulis (On joints). It represents the proposed method for reset of vertebrae using the feet of the doctor, with the body stretched on a bench with belts and crowbars. Apollonius was a physician of the 1st century AD and in this treatise, he studies the Hippocratic beliefs on the subject. This specific image refers to the parts of the Hippocratic On joints, sect. 47, where the author discusses about methods of resetting curvatures of the spine: “…and there is nothing to prevent a person from placing a foot on the hump, and supporting his weight on it, and making gentle pressure; one of the men who is practiced in the palestra would be a proper person for doing this in a suitable manner”.
The technique which was recommended was simultaneous traction of the spine and the manual application of focal pressure over the kyphotic area
In general, we may say that those Hippocratic treatises treating subjects of orthopedics and trauma (On wounds of the head, In the surgery, On fractures, On joints, Mochlicon etc) are among the accurate treatise of the Hippocratic collections, taking into consideration that these issues were considered as everyday practice for ancient doctors.
- Garrison F. 1917, Introduction to the History of Medicine 2d ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Co; 108
- Grafton A, Most G, Settis S, Nutton V eds. (2010) The classical tradition. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 638.
- Vasiliadis ES, Grivas TB, Kaspiris A. Historical overview of spinal deformities in ancient Greece. Scoliosis 2009;4:6
- Bovine, G. (2018). The Nicetas Codex Manuscript: Hippocratic 10th century Writings in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. Journal Chiropractic History 38:2(14).
- M. Marganne, « Le codex de Niketas et la médecine byzantine », In M. Bernabò (éd), La collezione di testi chirurgici di Niceta. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 74.7. Tradizione medica classica a Bisanzio, Folia picta 2, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2010, p. 47-53.
This codex is the earliest illustrated surgical codex; it was copied and illuminated in Constantinople on behalf of the physician Niketas or Nicetas; this is why we often refer to the codex as “codex Nicetas”. It contains 16 texts (Hippocratic De officina medici, De fracturis, De articulis, De capitis vulneribus, Galenic De methodo medendi, De ossibus ad tirones, De fasciis, In Hippocratis librum de articulis et Galeni in eum commentarii IV, Oribasius’ Collectiones medicae, Apollonius Citiensis’ In Hippocratic de articulis commentarius, Soranus’ De signis fracturarum, De fasciis, Paulus Aeginetae Epitome medica, Rufus Ephesius’ Nomenclatura rerum ad hominem pertinentium, De ossibus, Palladius’ Scholia in Hippocratis de fracturis), with 30 images in the commentary of Apollonius and 63 images in Soranus’ treatise on bandages. The images in Apollonius’ treatise represent manipulations and apparatus used in dislocations. According to Garrison, these images were “transmitted directly from antiquity, and, therefore, represent genuine Hippocratic traditions of surgical practice as transmitted through later Greek channels to Byzantium”. According to Nutton, the Nicetas codex “was included in the library of the Orphanage of Alexius Comnenus and later in that of the Hospital of the Forty Martyrs”. Janus Laskaris bought the Codex in Crete for Lorenzo de’ Medici in the 1490s. At some point, by 1530, Guilio de’ Medici, Pope Clement VII, owned it and loaned it back to Laskaris who copied it (this copy is now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). The Nicetas Codex was later acquired by Cardinal Nicolas Rudolfi and is currently preserved in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence.
The image is part of the text of Apollonius of Citium De articulis (On joints). It represents the proposed method for reset of vertebrae using the feet of the doctor, with the body stretched on a bench with belts and crowbars. Apollonius was a physician of the 1st century AD and in this treatise, he studies the Hippocratic beliefs on the subject. This specific image refers to the parts of the Hippocratic On joints, sect. 47, where the author discusses about methods of resetting curvatures of the spine: “…and there is nothing to prevent a person from placing a foot on the hump, and supporting his weight on it, and making gentle pressure; one of the men who is practiced in the palestra would be a proper person for doing this in a suitable manner”.
The technique which was recommended was simultaneous traction of the spine and the manual application of focal pressure over the kyphotic area
In general, we may say that those Hippocratic treatises treating subjects of orthopedics and trauma (On wounds of the head, In the surgery, On fractures, On joints, Mochlicon etc) are among the accurate treatise of the Hippocratic collections, taking into consideration that these issues were considered as everyday practice for ancient doctors.
- Garrison F. 1917, Introduction to the History of Medicine 2d ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Co; 108
- Grafton A, Most G, Settis S, Nutton V eds. (2010) The classical tradition. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 638.
- Vasiliadis ES, Grivas TB, Kaspiris A. Historical overview of spinal deformities in ancient Greece. Scoliosis 2009;4:6
- Bovine, G. (2018). The Nicetas Codex Manuscript: Hippocratic 10th century Writings in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. Journal Chiropractic History 38:2(14).
- M. Marganne, « Le codex de Niketas et la médecine byzantine », In M. Bernabò (éd), La collezione di testi chirurgici di Niceta. Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 74.7. Tradizione medica classica a Bisanzio, Folia picta 2, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2010, p. 47-53.
Unit of the Educational Material connected (2 - 1)
Label
Codex Laurentianae Med. Graec. Plut. 74.7, folio 203v
9th – 10th century AD
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, in Florence Italy.
9th – 10th century AD
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, in Florence Italy.
