In these pandemic times, attention has justly been drawn to the critical role that hospitals and their staff have played in preventing social collapse by providing relief to millions of sufferers — those that manage to return to health, and those whose last days’ solace has been granted by weary health-care workers. We can thank the Byzantine Empire for the genesis of hospitals: beginning in the 4th c CE, these structures were built to serve the poor and the sick, starting a tradition that spread both east and west and evolving into the facilities that exist around the world today.
The images here show two examples of Byzantine hospitals, known as _xenon_ or _xenodicheia_: the Sampson Xenon in modern Istanbul, and the ruins of a xenon in Side, also in Turkey. Both are from the sixth century.
The xenon were revolutionary in several ways. As the root “xeno”/stranger indicates, these structures deliberately embraced all people — the poor and women, but also the non-(Roman) citizen. This distinguished xenon from earlier expressions of Roman welfare, which focused on the special people who belonged to the state and could thus qualify for allotments of grain distribution.
The Byzantine hospitals also gave Christian bishops higher status than earlier times, because they led the way in founding the xenon. Serving both poor and ailing, the hospitals were set in urban environs and brought attention to the value of bishops in a new way, legitimizing their expanded authority and wealth in the wake of the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity.
A foundation charter (“Tipykon”) from the Pantokrator Xenon from the 12th century illustrates how a hospital might have operated. The 60 some- odd beds had pillows and clean sheets, and different sections for those suffering from wounds or fractures, intestinal illnesses, and gynocological conditions. There were bathing facilities, overflow areas, and special mattresses for incontinent patients. Every visitor was fed with bread, vegetables dressed with olive oil, and onions. (Why onions specifically? I do not know. . . )
Additionally, trained medical staff specialized in various ailments. They might consult books in the hospital library, like the _De materia medica_ discussed in yesterday’s post. Up for debate is how much all this charity took care of the actual numbers of destitute, and also what degree of difference the hospitals made in comparison with earlier pagan expressions of state or private welfare.
In a tragic similarity with the COVID deaths that have piled so many lives lost, the Byzantine hospitals also were just as known for being the last stopping place of the sick. As Miller quipped, the 4thc Gregory Nazianzen “called the hospital a stairway to heaven, implying that it aimed only to ease death for the chronically or terminally ill rather than promote recovery.” And now your link with the Led Zeplin song can be complete. You’re welcome.
Source(s): @hekint.org, _Hektoen Internatiinal: a Journal of Medical Humanities,_, “Byzantium: Origin of the Modern Hospital,” George Dines. Timothy Miller, _The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire_ Johns Hopkons Press, 1985 and 1997 and Plinio Prioreshchi, _History of Medicine, Volume 4, Byzantine and Islamic Medicine_, 2000, Horatius Press, Omaha NE. Peregrine Horden, “The Earliest Hospitals in Byzantium, Western Europe, and Islam,” _Journal of Interdisciplinary History_ Winter 2005, vol 35, no 3, Poverty and Charity: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam_, pp. 361-389.
