3.4 Battle wounds and surgery in art and literature

Information about field treatments comes down through the ages in poetry, images and medical literature. You will now begin to explore these types of evidence to learn about battle wounds and surgery.

Figure 18 Iapyx operates on Aeneas’s leg

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Image of a fresco depicting Iapyx removing an spearhead from Aeneas’s leg. Aeneas is standing with his arm leaning on his young son, who is crying. In the background on the left is a woman with flowing hair and drapery; on the right are armed soldiers.

Figure 18 Iapyx operates on Aeneas’s leg

Figure 18 shows a fresco found on a wall of a house in Pompeii, depicting the Roman hero Aeneas having a spear head removed from his thigh by the doctor, Iapyx. Aeneas is leaning on his son, Ascanius, and his mother, the goddess Venus, is helping from behind. Aeneas was ultimately healed through the divine intervention of Venus.