Galen’s Recipe for Untypical Sitz Bath (ἐγκάθισμα)

Abstract

The article discusses an unusual prescription for a sitz bath (ἐγκάθισμα) derived from Galen’s treatise De compositione medicamentorum per genera. The term ἐγκάθισμα is not used in any other known fragment of the writings of the famous Pergamonian. The prescription given in discussed passage differs from most of the known prescriptions for sitz baths preserved in other medical authors of antiquity, because it consists mainly of metals and their minerals.

Keywords

• ancient medicine
• byzantine medicine
• galen
• hydrotherapy
• metals in medicine
• sitz baths – bagni da seduti
• galeno
• idroterapia
• medicina antica
• medicina bizantina
• metalli in medicina.