ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a sudden death mainly as a social and political issue, analysing how physicians repositioned themselves in society and reformulated their authority by confronting an unprecedented emergency in a novel way. It considers sudden death from the viewpoint of medical knowledge and practice, looking specifically at Lancisis De subitaneis mortibus. The main concern with sudden death in the Hippocratic corpus is precisely the identification of atrisk individuals such as the obese, athletes and the elderly. In the vast body of writings by Galen, the most influential physician of the Roman imperial age, sudden death is treated both as an issue of physiology and as a practical medical topic. It is important to bear in mind that De subitaneis mortibus is intended to serve practical purposes and is largely devoted to clinical issues. Hence, the mechanistic approach of De subitaneis mortibus, corroborated by the anatomo-pathological method, offered a naturalistic interpretation of the strange, disturbing phenomena that had terrorised Rome.
