Bodies of Evidence: Ancient Anatomical Votives Past, Present and Future ed. by Jane Draycott and Emma-Jayne Graham

Abstract

Reviewed by: Bodies of Evidence: Ancient Anatomical Votives Past, Present and Future ed. by Jane Draycott and Emma-Jayne Graham Rebecca Miller Ammerman Jane Draycott and Emma-Jayne Graham, eds. Bodies of Evidence: Ancient Anatomical Votives Past, Present and Future. Medicine and the Body in Antiquity. Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2017. xvi + 271 pp. Ill. $149.95 (978-1-4724-5080-7). Models or images of human anatomy dedicated in a sacred place in order to communicate with the divine are the subject of this volume. The ritual offering of a gift may represent an individual's request to a deity for assistance or an expression of thanks for services already received. In ancient (as well as contemporary) sanctuaries the redundant accumulation of such votive objects represents the collective faith of a community. This volume is similarly a collection: seven essays were first presented at a conference at the British School in Rome in 2012, and two additional essays and an introduction were added by the editors; two more essays and an afterword were specifically petitioned. This assemblage of scholarly studies presents a varied range of votive objects that refer to different parts of the human body and furnish a broad geographical and chronological panorama of the phenomenon. The goal of both the conference and volume is to move beyond typological analysis of anatomical votives to propose new perspectives that are often influenced by theoretical approaches focused on reception, the body, personhood, and so on. Such perspectives aim, in turn, to enhance the debate regarding what meanings the maker, dedicator, or subsequent observer of the votive gift may attach to the ritual offering of an object in metal, stone, terracotta, wood, or wax that is a physical analogue of the human body or body part. Certainly, these essays, which examine material culture that reflects the intersection of ancient concepts of the body, health, healing, ritual practice, religious belief, and social order, are of interest for the history of medicine. The introductory chapter by Jane Draycott and Emma-Jayne Graham provides a valuable survey of the study of anatomical votives, thoughtfully divided into sections dealing with definitions of terms, contexts of votive practice, history of scholarship, extent of the use of anatomical votives in time and space, new [End Page 374] approaches, and future developments. (The punning headings that introduce each section enliven the discussion and cheerfully encourage readers to put their best foot forward and read on.) Only a handful of ancient votive anatomical models preserve an inscription that gives voice to an otherwise verbally silent artifact. For this reason, the case study by Justine Potts on the "confession" stelai from Phrygia and Lydia of the second and third centuries CE is of particular importance because the inscriptions on these stelai verbalize the intent and motivation of the dedicator. The inscription acknowledges a wrongdoing for which the health of the dedicator was divinely punished. Some inscriptions indicate that dedication of the stele aims to expiate this offence and propitiate the deity who is believed to be responsible for the punishment; others announce that the stele serves as a thankful commemoration of a cure. Comparison with the imagery and inscriptions of votive stelai that do not specifically designate a transgression reveals shared visual and textual languages and thus calls into question the validity of boundaries set by scholars to distinguish between the "confession" stelai and other votive objects. By comparing assemblages from Republican Italy with those of Roman Imperial Gaul, Olivier de Cazanove illustrates the vast spatial and chronological dimensions of the Roman practice of dedicating anatomical ex votos. Dating of anatomical votives in Italy is rarely exact and de Cazanove outlines evidence at a number of sites for revising the dates downward. The precise dates provided by dendrochronology for wooden offerings from several locations in France to Augustan, Tiberian, and early Flavian periods are thus intriguing and have important implications for the process of "Romanization." Many essays concentrate on representations of a specific part of the human body: hair (Jane Draycott), eyes (Georgia Petridou), feet (Sara Chiarini), genitalia (Jen Grove), wombs (Rebecca Fleming), internal organs (Laurent Haumesser), and images of swaddled infants that are closely associated with anatomical models (Fay...