This volume explores the technical vocabulary of Graeco-Roman medicine through an in-depth and inclusive analysis of its sources, both textual and material. Attention is paid to the importance of the concrete reality of medicine as expressed in the words of ancient medical texts, looking for the realia of medicine behind the medical verba. To this end, the contributions contained in the volume approach the topic of medical terminology from different perspectives and through different types of written material: sources include Greek medical authors, as well as non-medical texts, papyri of medical content, Greco-Latin prose and poetry.

The volume has an interdisciplinary approach, as it involves not only classical philology and the history of medicine, but also the history of textual transmission, papyrology, and material culture. The book brings together a collection of essays that cover different periods in the history of Greco-Roman medicine and different geographical areas – Greece, Rome and Greco-Roman Egypt. Moreover, the contributions rely on a variety of literary genres, both in Greek and Latin, and on several types of sources, among which the papyri yielded by the sands of Egypt play an essential role.