VETERINARY MEDICINE APPLIED TO CATTLE IN ROMAN TIMES ACCORDING TO THE WORK OF LUCIO JUNIO MODERATO COLUMELA (1st CENTURY AD)
Abstract
Lucio Junio Moderato Columela was an agronomist writer from ancient Rome. He was born in Gades (present-day Cádiz) in the year 4 A.D. and died in Taras (present-day Tarento, a southern italian city) around the year 70 A.D. His work, De Re Rustica, written in latin, is one of the most complete works on agriculture, livestock and animal medicine from Roman times and it was translated into Spanish for the first time in 1824 by Juan María Álvarez de Sotomayor y Rubio under the title of “The twelve books of agriculture”.
The main goal of this final degree project has been examining and understanding what Columela shares about diseases, ailments and treatments that affected cattle in the 1st century A.D. For this, we have read the preface and the 26 chapters (I to XXVI) of the sixth book dedicated to cattle. These chapters describe the most frequent diseases of the time and different remedies for their cure. Among the diseases described, we find indigestion, stomach and intestine pain, ranulas and lack of appetite for food, fever, cough, abscess, lameness, scabies, rabid dog or wolf bites and coriazo, lung ulcers and palate tumors, hoof or leg injuries, bites of poisonous animals and infection by leeches. The medical treatments recommended by Columela are mainly natural and they are based in the use of preparations, ointments or concoctions with medicinal plants, food, minerals or even animals. Surgical procedures are also described, highlighting castration or bleeding. In addition to these remedies, Columela mentions some related to superstitious medicine. Columela’s work allows us to get an idea of the ailments suffered by cattle in Roman times, as well as the treatments used to cure them.
Downloads
References
Álvarez de Sotomayor y Rubio, J. M. (1824). Los doce libros de agricultura. E.D. Edición Facsímil, Sociedad Nestlé, A.E.P.A., Santander.
Camps i Rabadá, J. (2005). Lo que el hispano-romano Lucio J.M. Columela describió sobre perros, en su obra “De Re Rustica”. Visto por un veterinario. Libro de actas del XI Congreso Nacional de Historia de la Veterinaria, pp. 319-326.
Chiodi, V. (1981). Storia della Veterinaria. E.D. Edagricole, Bolonia.
Cordero del Campillo, M., Márquez, M. Á., & Madariaga de la Campa, B. (1996). Albeytería, Mariscalía y Veterinaria: Orígenes y perspectiva literaria. E.D. Secretariado de publicaciones, Universidad de León.
Darder, J., & Redactores de la Veterinaria Española. (1860). Cirugía Veterinaria. Imprenta de J. Viñas, Madrid.
Dunlop, R. H., & Williams, D. J. (1996). Veterinary Medicine: An Ilustrated History. E.D. Mosby-Year Book, Inc., St Louis, Missouri.
Llorente, R. (1856). Compendio de la Bibliografía de la Veterinaria Española. Edición Facsímil Extramuros Edición (2007), Sevilla.
Mañé Seró, M. C. (2010). Historia de la veterinaria grecorromana discurso leído el 8 de febrero de 2010, en el acto de recepción pública como académica correspondiente por la Prof. Dra. Da María Cinta Mañé Seró, y discurso de contestación a cargo del académico de número Excmo. Sr. General Veterinario Dr. D. Luis Ángel Moreno Fernández-Caparrós. Real Academia de Ciencias Veterinarias. https://www.racve.es/publicaciones/historia-de-la-veterinaria-grecorromana/
Maroto, J. V. (2009). Tratadistas romanos (I): Columela. https://www.phytoma.com/la-revista/phytohemeroteca/210-junio-julio-2009/tratadistas-romanos-i-columela
Olivares, J. C. (s. f.). Columela | Diccionario Bibliográfico Español versión digital. https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/4684/columela
Real Academia Española. (s. f.). Real Academia Española. https://www.rae.es/inicio
Rodero Serrano, E. & Rodero Franganillo, A. (2022): Aportaciones a las obras pioneras de ganadería y albeitería. La ganadería en los doce libros de agricultura del gaditano. Libro de actas del XXVII Congreso Nacional y XVIIII Iberoamericano de Historia de la Veterinaria, pp: 56-63.
Sanz Egaña, C. (1941). Historia de la veterinaria Española. Espasa Calpe, Madrid.
Terrón, E. (1981). Edición crítica de la Agricultura general de Alonso de Herrera. Ministerio de Agricultura, Madrid.
Valentí, J. I. (1893). Lucio Junio Moderato Columela: Estudio biográfico y crítico. [s.n.]. http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000153060
Vives, M. A., Mañé, M. C., & Leuza, A. M. (1990). El saber clínico veterinario en los doce libros de agricultura de columela a través de su primera traducción al castellano: Acta Veterinaria 4: 97-101.
Vives Vallés, M. Á., & Mañé Seró, M. C. (2016). La Veterinaria Grecorromana. E.D. Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Extremadura.
Walker, R. E. (1974). Ars Veterinaria: El arte veterinario desde la Antigüedad hasta el siglo XIX: Ensayo histórico. E.D. Essex, División de Veterinaria, Madrid.
Copyright (c) 2023 Servicio de Publicaciones, University of Murcia (Spain)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
The works published in this journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) retains the property rights (copyright) of published works, and encourages and enables the reuse of the same under the license specified in paragraph 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2019
2. The works are published in the online edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 (legal text). You can copy, use, distribute, transmit and publicly display, provided that: i) you cite the author and the original source of publication (journal, editorial and URL of the work), ii) are not used for commercial purposes, iii ) mentions the existence and specifications of this license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. Is allowed and encouraged the authors to disseminate electronically pre-print versions (version before being evaluated and sent to the journal) and / or post-print (version reviewed and accepted for publication) of their works before publication, as it encourages its earliest circulation and diffusion and thus a possible increase in its citation and scope between the academic community. RoMEO Color: Green.
