‘Wondrous Healings in Greek Epigrams (and Their Parodic Counterparts)’

In this paper I explore the connections between temple medicine, inscriptions commemorating – or actually “advertising” – wondrous healings, epigrams, and paradoxa. I start with a survey of the (often highlighted) connections between Posidippus’ iamatika and temple iamata, and also indicate the points of contact between healing literature and the work of paradoxographers. I then examine a few epigrams on miraculous healings preserved via the Greek Anthology in order to show that they belong to the same subgenre of iamatika. I end with examples of parodic distortion of the themes of healing literature in scoptic epigrams dealing with murderous doctors.