Innovation in Byzantine Medicine

This paper examines the newly introduced concept of “innovation” in Byzantine medicine, offering a critical analysis of its application across various medical works from different periods. By focusing on key examples from the field of uroscopy, it highlights significant developments in Byzantine medical practice. The talk scrutinises the work of Theophilos (7th or 9th c.), an author of diagnostic treatises on urines and excrements. Theophilos advanced groundbreaking theories on identifying specific urinary characteristics and linking them to particular health conditions and diseases. The study then turns to the late Byzantine physician John Zacharias Aktouarios (ca. 1275–ca. 1330), who introduced the graduated urine vial, a tool that was widely adopted in Byzantium and subsequently spread to 15th- and 16th-century Western Europe through the Latin translation of his treatise. This innovation reshaped medical theories on urines, influencing both university scholars and a broader medical audience, including those with less formal education.