Eleni Plati

Scholar of the IRTG from September 2018 till August 2019

PhD project

The PhD project entitled “Medical Metaphors in Plutarch” interprets medical metaphors in Plutarch’s works through the lens of Greek medical theories from Hippocrates to Galen. In his ethical treatises and the Lives, Plutarch frequently cites metaphors projecting ideas, concepts or discourse that belong to the scientific field of medicine. This project looks into how metaphors promote the switch from Plutarch’s texts to medical contexts, crossing the boundaries between medicine and philosophy. At these crossroads, ‘otium’ is located as a prerequisite for philosophical and medical contemplation.  The main research focus is to explore the different targets and contexts of medical metaphors located in Plutarch’s works, with an emphasis on the terms of ‘justice’, ‘physis’ and ‘otium’. ‘Otium’ is thus examined from a philosophical, medical and political point of view.

Eleni Plati held a scholarship at the Collaborative Research Centre 1015 “Otium” from September 2018 until August 2019. During her time in Freiburg, she focused on the semantics of ‘otium’ in medical contexts in Plutarch and Galen. Eleni Plati is doing her PhD in Classics at the University of Hamburg (supervisor Prof. Dr. Christian Brockmann).

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