Louise Wells The Greek language of healing from Homer to New Testament times W DE G Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche Herausgegeben von Erich Gräßer Band 83 Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 1998 Louise Wells The Greek language of healing from Homer to New Testament times Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 1998 @ Printed on acid-ftee which falk within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability. Dit Dmtscbt Bibliothek - Catalogng-in-Pubücaíion Data [Zeitschrift füf die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die lEunde der älteren Kirche / Beihefte] Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche. - Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter Früher Schriftenreihe Reihe Beihefte zu; Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissen- schaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche Bd. 83. Wells, Louise: The Greek language of healing from Ho- mer to New Testament times. - 1998 Wells, Louise: The Greek language of healing &om Homer to New Testament times / Louise WeUs. - Berlin ; New York : de Gruyter, 1998 (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die neutestamendiche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche ; Bd. 83) Zu^.: Diss., 1993 ISBN 3-11-015389-0 ISSN 0171-6441 © Copyright 1998 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., D-10785 Berlin M rights reserved, including those of translauon into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permis- sion in writing from the publisher. Printed in Germany Printing: Werner Hildebrand, Berlin Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin For my family Preface The problem of suffering has preoccupied mankind since the earliest times. From the time of Homer to the present day humans have constantly searched for a solution to their suffering and an understanding of it. This study focuses on two expressions of this search through a study of the Greek language of healing: the healing cult of Asklepios, which flourished in the Mediterranean world from the fifth century ВС to the fourth century AD, and that of Jesus of Nazareth, whose healing ministry began in the first century AD, supplanted that of Asklepios in the fourth century AD, and is still in existence today. The investigation does not consider whether physical healings actually occurred; rather it is an exploration of the meaning of the general terms used to describe the healings recorded. The study is in two parts: Part One contains the argument. Part Two the texts and translations (or analysis of texts) on which the argument is based. Usually only the primary texts in which language has been discussed are cited in the bibliography, other- wise reference to primary sources is made by the usual method in footnotes. Part One is in two sections: Section One begins with the use of healing language in the work of Homer, and traces the devel- opment of this semantic field through a study of the language surrounding the cult of Asklepios at Epidauros, Athens, Kos and Pergamon. These four centres were chosen because they illustrate the differing nature of the cult over the period of its existence. Epidauros was a major colonising sanctuary, and remained a major centre of pilgrimage throughout its existence; Athens became a state cult and so illustrates a parochial and familial quality; Kos was the centre of a major medical school; and Pergamon was both the cult focus of a major hellenistic monarchy, and the site where the great Galen practised medicine. Thus a focus on these four centres allows a study of a breadth of sources, from before the time of Hippokrates until the time of Galen. Naturally the study of sources is not exhaustive. A selection was made from as wide a field as possible to illustrate the use of general healing terms in inscriptions and literature over the longest possible timespan. Vlii Preface After a bridging survey of the Jewish use of this semantic field in the Septuagint, together with complementary material from Philo of Alexandria, and Josephus, Section Two focuses on the meaning of the same semantic field in the New Testament. A linguistic survey of Hebrew and Aramaic documents is excluded, as being outside the scope of the topic, in terms of both space and relevance. Central to this study are the human concepts of health and wholeness, and of the relationship of mind and body, spirit and soul, and the language used to express these concepts and relatior\ships. Especially significant are the forms and usage of θίραπευω, Ιαομαι, υγιαίνω, σ^ζω, and their derivatives. It will be seen that θ€ραπ€υω and Ιαομαι, while overlapping slightly in meaning, are not synonymous in a healing context, and that there is an aspectual quality implicit in each that is important for our understanding of them. As well, from its first appearance in cognate form in the work of Homer, the verb θ€ραπ€υω over time burgeons in meaning to include emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological factors (although these factors are foreshadowed in the characteristics of the Homeric θ € pati ων), until, in a teaching context, its focus is primarily spiritual. In contrast, the meaning of the other verb groups remains reasonably static. Thus these characteristics, noted in Section One, reflected in the healing language of the Septuagint, and corroborated by contemporary Jewish authors writing in Greek, are important for our under- standing of the appearance of these word groups in the New Testament. I owe acknowledgement to those who have made the research for this book possible: the Commonwealth of Australia for the award of a postgraduate scholarship; the Tasmanian Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens for a scholarship which enabled me to travel to Greece, stay at the Institute Hostel in Athens for three months and read at the libraries of the foreign schools there; the Classics Department of the University of Tasmania for the award of a Dunbabin Scholarship which enabled me to travel to the archaeological sites of asklepieia in Greece and Turkey; the staff of the museums at Athens, Bergama, Epidauros, Korinth, Kos, and Piraeus for permission to photograph exhibits; and the staff of the Epigraphical Museum at Athens for permission to work there and to photograph some of the stones. The debt I owe to Ludwig and Emma Edelstein will also become obvious. Their collection of testimonies concerning the cult of Asklepios has been an invaluable resource for this study. Preface ix I would also like to thank the staff of Walter de Gruyter & Co. for their interest and patience. I have appreciated their goodwill and assistance. There are a number of special people who in one way or another have greatly enriched my life, and my work, and whom I would like to name. Of my teachers: Professors Kussel Ward, Portia Robinson, Raoul Mortley, Max Wilcox, and Paul Weaver. Others whom I would like to mention for support of differing kinds are Barbara Chisholm, John Bishop, Mary Bagnali, Marrüe Yeates, Ted Nixon, Frank Clarke, Janice Crowley, Robert Barnes, Greg Horsley, Michael Lattke, Frank Moloney, Iain Lonie, Hermann Kienast, Martin Schäfer, George Cresswell, Rudy Quadfasel, Andy Heron, Nancy Bookidis, Stuart Godfrey, Ellen Malm, Robert Wesley- Smith, Barbara Johnson, Warwick Cuthbertson, Owen Dowling, Jermy Day, Patsy Graham, Beatrice Newton, and Jocelyn and Bill Windeyer. To them all my grateful thanks. Last and most of all I would like to thank my family, particularly my husband and children, for their continuing support and encouragement. My especial thanks to my husband Graham, who not only encouraged my postgraduate studies, but also toiled over my drawings to reproduce the maps in Appendices 1:1 and 1:2, and supervised the type-setting of the entire work for publication. All mistakes are, of course, my own. Louise Wells 17 September, 1997