Exploring Byzantine era medical methods

The Suna and ?nan K?raç Foundation Pera Museum presents the exhibition "Life Is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing in Byzantium," which takes its name from the famous aphorism by Hippocrates and examines the art and practice of healing in Byzantium from Greco-Roman times to the late Byzantine period.

Curated by Dr. Brigitte Pitarakis, the exhibition examines faith, magic and rational medicine as methods of healing. It traces the "art of healing" from the foundations laid by Apollo and Asklepios, healers of antiquity, and Hippocrates and Dioscorides, the founders of rational medicine, and also examines the roles of the physician saints. Among the other topics covered and objects on display are icons, reliquaries and amulets, marble carvings, medical equipment, plants and herbs, medical and botanical manuscripts and the centers of healing and miracles in Istanbul.

Health has always been a central concern of humankind. Examining a civilization from the perspective of its approach to the body, in sickness and in health, leads one into the depths of its identity. This process can also open the door to our own self-knowledge.

The exhibition offers a glimpse of Byzantine civilization and society through the three traditional methods of healing practiced side-by-side: faith, magic and medicine. It illustrates the influence of Byzantium's ancient cultural heritage on religious and rational thought as well as contemporary scientific developments and innovations from around the Mediterranean. The Byzantines' central role in the transmission of the art of healing to future generations is also highlighted.

The exhibition reveals the belief illnesses were primarily caused by demons co-existed alongside a rational understanding of health and...