Wednesday, 13 November 2019 at 6:00 pm – Wednesday, 13 November 2019 at 7:00 pm

Ancient History and Modern Medicine: the Death of Alexander Revisited

Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage, in conjunction with the Manchester Classical Association, presents Dr Katherine Hall

Ancient History and Modern Medicine: the Death of Alexander Revisited

Date: Wednesday 13th November 2019

Time: 6pm - 7pm

Location: GM LT3, Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University

Tickets: Free - Available on Eventbrite 

Dr Katherine Hall (Senior Lecturer, University of Otago, New Zealand), combines her expertise in medicine, ancient history and bioarchaeology to offer an alternative account of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. Dr Hall argues that Alexander experienced Gullaim-Barré Syndrome - a form of living death. As well as presenting her evidence about Alexander’s illness and death, Dr Hall discusses more generally the difficulties and benefits of retrospective diagnosis and the challenges of doing medical history. The field of Medical Humanities touches on a whole range of modern experience of disease, disability and mental health and wellbeing, as scholars aim to understanding the social experience of health. Medical histories allow us to explore ways in which history can throw light on some of areas of health, as experienced by people across a wide range of times, places and cultures.

Discussion will follow, with Dr Ros Oates, MCPHH, an expert in experiences of disability in Early Modern religious settings, and Dr April Pudsey, Mcr CA, an expert in cultural aspects of the biological life course in the ancient world.

This public lecture is hosted by the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage in conjunction with Manchester and District Branch of the Classical Association.
Dr Katherine Hall’s article on Alexander’s death may be read in the Ancient History Bulletin (2019).