Hippocrates the “Father”? Disturbing Attachment Genealogies in the History of Ancient Medicine

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Nicolette D'Angelo

Published:

2023

Publisher:

Routledge

Though ancient medicine remains an underdefined sub-field in the discipline of classical studies, it is always clear who is meant by “the Father of Medicine.” This essay employs queer critical genealogical methods to perform an attachment genealogy of the fatherhood of Hippocrates of Kos, interrogating the significance of its emergence in the early modern period. While Hippocrates may seem an unlikely recipient of a queer theoretical gaze, the staying power and canonicity of his anachronistic, non-biological fatherhood warrants affective excavation. Reacting against scholarly attempts to sidestep the unease that the patriarchal epithet generates, the essay centers its disturbing reliance on non-biological and queer forms of kinship, as showcased by contemporary Renaissance-era medical and imperial imaginaries of male-only birth. In the final stages of the attachment genealogy, it becomes possible to consider alternative queer genealogies and models for the study of ancient medicine in their full affective complexity. One such model is that of the queer chosen family, which resonates with articulations of elective affinity found in the Hippocratic Oath. While existing work on elective affinity largely originates from the anti-genealogical camp of queer unhistoricism, the essay argues for the reconciliation of this work with critical genealogical methods, particularly in conversation with the work of Kadji Amin.

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