ABSTRACT
Debates related to infant care, breastfeeding, and milk production and consumption recur in ancient and Byzantine medical treatises (1st–7th c. AD), especially in the works of Soranos, Galen, Oribasios, and Aetios. This chapter focuses on an exploration of the literary articulation of those milk debates. The analysis of the spread, thematic distribution, and stylistic modulation (morphology and function) of certain types of short literary forms (anecdote, ethnography, and saying) is variously illuminating: for unravelling how the same themes take on different shapes and meanings in each medical author, and for detecting how the usage and functions of each literary form change or remain the same through time. Enlightening medical (re)writing in terms of medical diction’s literary transformations is essential for a fuller comprehension of ancient and early Byzantine milk science – what we term “galaktology” – and its evolution. Furthermore, this study contributes to a better understanding of ancient and Byzantine short literary forms and of their uses in scientific texts, such as medical treatises.
