Meditrinalia: Festival of Health (AKA Wine!)

Happy Meditrinalia! Those who are legally allowed to, raise a glass of your favorite wine in cheer- the goddess of health is smiling upon you today!

Meditrinalia is an ancient Roman festival that was celebrated on October 11 in honor of the goddess of medicine, Meditrina. According to legend, the festival marked the end of the vine harvest, and people of Latium began to taste their new wine on this day. Although it was first celebrated in honor of Jupiter, it soon gave rise to a new goddess of healing/medicine, Meditrina, on whom the festival is now named.

The Romans made an offering of wine to the gods on this occasion while reciting

"vetus novum vinum bibo, novo veteri morbo medeor." which translates to

''Wine new and old I drink, of illness new and old I'm cured."

The new wine was thought to hold healing powers. Given that we now know wine is rich in antioxidants, and it can help reduce cholesterol and heart disease, the ancient Romans sure were on to something.

Sources

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Meditrinalia.html

https://historyandarchaeologyonline.com/october-11th-raise-a-glass-to-the-meditrinalia-the-festival-of-good-health-and-wine/

Comments

Rx Symbol

Have you ever wondered why medicines are denoted with an ℞ or Rx symbol? There are actually many theories about its origin but the most common one is that the symbol for prescriptions originated from the "Eye of Horus", which was an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers. According to Egyptian mythology, Horus lost his eye in battle but his mom used her powers to restore his eye, hence it became a symbol of healing. Eye of Horus In the 2 nd century, Greek physician Galen adapted this symbol to impress his patients. Galen’s influence on medicine was so strong that even the symbol was borrowed through the centuries and it eventually evolved into the modern symbol Rx (the eye of Horus kinda looks like an Rx). Other theories place its origin in Latin and Roman times. One theory is that Rx was used as an abbreviation of the Latin word recipere , meaning “to prepare,” which physicians wrote on medical prescriptions. Yet another theory points to the similarity of...

Hippocrates: Father of Medicine

Another important person in Greek medicine is Hippocrates. Hippocrates is considered the father of modern medicine who continues to influence medicine more than 2000 years later. Although he is as revered as Asclepius, they have very different origins. While Asclepius is a mythological character, considered to be descended from God, Hippocrates is very much a historical figure, whose origin and life is recorded in history. Hippocrates lived from 460 to 375 BCE during the Classical Greece period and practiced medicine in Greece. His contribution to western medicine is rivaled by none other, and his collection of works covers almost every aspect of disease and medicine including infection, hygiene, epidemiology and the human immune system. Bust of Hippocrates Also, unlike Asclepius, Hippocrates practiced medicine as a science, not as divine magic. He was one of the first to separate religion from medicine, and sought to match treatment with symptoms. His observations in the ...

Doctors in Ancient Rome

In my previous post, I wrote about the appreciation shown towards healthcare workers during the current pandemic. Not just during this crisis, but people, in general, have a lot of respect for the medical profession. Unfortunately, it seems it wasn’t so in the Ancient Roman civilization. Medicine wasn’t a very highly regarded profession in Ancient Rome. One of the main reasons for this was because many doctors were actually freed Greek slaves, so they were not respected very much. Also, becoming a doctor required no formal training -- it was mostly from apprenticeship. As a result, there was a lot of trial and error in treating patients, which resulted in a low success rate and therefore, skepticism and even scorn towards doctors. The first Greek doctor who came to Rome was Archagathus of Sparta in 219 BC. He specialized in healing battle wounds, but Romans were skeptical of his methods of cutting and burning the flesh, which earned him the nickname, carnifex or 'butcher'....

History of Medicine

Search This Blog