-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Georgia Petridou, Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis, Truly Beyond Wonders: Aelius Aristides and the Cult of Asklepios, Social History of Medicine, Volume 25, Issue 2, May 2012, Pages 569–570, https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hks016
- Share Icon Share
Extract
Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis's book on Aelius Aristides and the cult of Askepios is learned and multifaceted. Petsalis-Diomidis makes no apology for taking seriously Aelius Aristides, one of the most prolific and well-respected pepaideumenoi (intellectual elite) of the second century ce. In this she follows in the footsteps of scholars like Helen King, William Harris and Brooke Holmes, who treated the works of the Mysian orator as opportunities to gain an insight into the problematics and the dynamics of the literary and cultural production of the second sophistic in general and the role of religion and medicine in the second sophistic in particular.
The book's main body consists of five chapters: ‘Pilgrimage Polemics: “Neos Asklepios Glykon” in Image and Text’; ‘Discourses of the Body and Travel: The Cultural Context of Healing Pilgrimage’; ‘The Hieroi Logoi of Aelius Aristides: Aristides before his God in Body and Logos’; ‘Collecting and Displaying Marvels: Paradoxography and the Asklepieion of Pergamon’; and ‘Choreography and Commemoration: the Asklepieion of Pergamon’. These chapters are preceded by an informative and succinct introduction, which sets out all the issues Petsalis-Diomidis considers of cardinal importance for her innovative reading of Aristides' hieroi logoi (sacred tales). She sees these not as an ‘oddity’ but as a multi-layered and valuable expression of genuine religious fervour and experience, which can only be fully appreciated if adequately contextualised within its socio-political and cultural context. In order to do so, Petsalis-Diomidis expertly brings together textual sources and material evidence. The brief conclusion at the end of the book pulls the threads together and is followed by two helpful indexes (a general one and an index locorum). Overall, this is a nicely produced book accompanied by 83 black and white illustrations and four coloured plates.