Tijdens haar uitwisseling met onze afdeling in het voorjaar van 2024 zal doctoranda Micaela Brembilla van de Universiteit van Uppsala op 18 april een lezing geven voor de Ghent Centre of Late Antiquity (GCLA). Ze zal er spreken over de historische achtergrond en de manuscripttraditie van Mustio’s Laatlatijnse vertaling van een Grieks werk over vrouwengeneeskunde (Gynaecia).
Abstract
We do not have much information about Mustio, besides that he is the author of a Latin text of gynaecology called Gynaecia, an adaptation of the Γυναικεῖα of Soranus of Ephesus. Even about the text itself we have many questions, since we are not certain about either its structure, its language, or its relationship with the Greek model. What we do know, however, is that the Gynaecia, particularly some chapters, was read and used for centuries after its production, as a channel for past gynaecological knowledge through the Middle Ages to the present day.
In this talk, I will introduce Mustio and the Gynaecia, and present what we think was their context of production, from an historical, geographical and theoretical point of view. We will then take a look at the fortunes of the text in the centuries that followed, trying to understand the reasons behind its popularity and transmission.