Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
One end of this instrument terminates in an oval, flat, narrow spade, while the other end terminates in an olivary probe (1). The shaft is straight and circular in section. Four ribbed collars of various widths are visible near the handle and oval spade join.
Greek and Roman medical instruments, many of which were described by ancient authors, have been found, sometimes in sets, throughout the ancient world (2). The instruments could have been used for more than one function, making precise classification difficult in some instances. A spatula is a probe with one flattened, spatula-shaped end and a probe on the other used for stirring and applying medicines, among other uses (3). Spatulae are among the most common instrument types (4).
NOTES:
1. A similar spatula with an olivary tip was found at Vindonissa; see G. Döderlein, Antike medizinische Instrumente: Funde zu Vindonissa (Tuttlingen, 1979) 15 and 17. Compare also J. W. Crowfoot, K. M. Kenyon, and E. L. Sukenik, The Objects from Samaria (London, 1957) 430, no. 25, fig. 100; and E. Künzl, Medizinische Instrumente aus Sepulkralfunden der römischen Kaiserzeit (Cologne, 1983) 47, fig. 15, no. 11.
2. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times (Oxford, 1907) 1-9; and D. Michaelides, “A Roman Surgeon’s Tomb from Nea Paphos,” Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1984: 315-32, esp. 321-23.
3. Milne 1907 (supra 2) 58-61; Michaelides 1984 (supra 2) 325-26; and R. Jackson and S. La Niece, “A Set of Roman Medical Instruments from Italy,” Britannia 17 (1986): 119-67, esp. 158.
4. L. J. Bliquez, Roman Surgical Instruments and Other Minor Objects in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Mainz, 1994) 46-47.
David Smart
