A. G. Leventis Foundation Inaugural Lecture - FULLY BOOKED

Dr Rebecca Flemming will be giving her inaugural alumni lecture on ‘Health, Disease and the Environment in Ancient Greek Medicine’.

Human health and disease were understood to be shaped by the environment—by the climate, winds, waters, and terrain—in ancient Greek medicine. The point has been increasingly emphasised as current environmental concerns grow. This lecture provides both an overview of the topic in antiquity and explores two case studies—the environmental impact on fertility and views about the relationship between human and animal disease—in more detail. These themes allow for an analysis of the connections and disconnections between ancient and modern ideas, and for some suggestions about how dialogue between the two might productively move forward.  

The Leventis Initiative, sponsored by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, facilitates research carried out by the University of Exeter into the impact of Greek culture in antiquity and upon the modern world.  Established in May 1979, the A.G. Leventis Foundation is the outcome of the vision of the Cypriot entrepreneur Anastasios G. Leventis (1902-1978), who laid the bases of its focus on society, education and culture.

Now in its fourth decade, the Foundation retains its adherence to these priorities, keenly supporting the dissemination of Greek and Cypriot cultural heritage, as well as extensive public benefits programs, pioneering environmental protection projects, and medical research.  The A. G. Leventis Chair in Ancient Greek Scientific and Technological Thought is generously funded through a donation from the A. G. Leventis Foundation. The start of this position in 2022 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fruitful partnership between the A. G. Leventis Foundation and the University of Exeter.