Une nouvelle tombe de médecin avec matériel de jeu à Colonia Emerita Augusta (Espagne)

Abstract

This article analyses the material from the cremation tomb of a medical doctor dating from the second half of the 1st century AD discovered in the necropolis of Colonia Iulia Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Spain). The tomb contained a set of medical instruments as well as tokens that could have belonged to a board game. What could be the possible links between play and medicine and what symbolic and social value was associated with them? In Mérida, several archaeological remains witness the importance of ludic culture in the city and its region, but the presence of tokens in a funerary context raises the question of their possible function in funerary rituals.

Keywords

• board game
• doctor
• instrumentum
• Lusitania
• medicine
• Mérida