This chapter examines John’s Medical Epitome. The focus here is on the first four of its six books. In contrast to the established view that this work was intended for physicians, it is argued that it was primarily written for philiatroi, intellectuals who were deeply interested in medicine, but not practising physicians themselves. The Medical Epitome, unlike John’s other two works, mainly consisted of material from earlier sources. The analysis of the text starts with a close reading of John’s proem and a discussion of the background of his dedicatee, the Byzantine statesman Alexios Apokaukos. It then shifts to an examination of the work’s structure with the aim of emphasizing John’s intentions in putting together his material. The analysis proceeds by way of a number of case studies focusing on diagnosis and therapy, and goes on to show that John intentionally condensed his material, removing specialized advice, so as to make it appeal to non-expert readers. Thus it is shown, for example, that the absence of details on invasive operations is consistent with the character of his intended readers, who were only able to use non-invasive techniques, such as phlebotomy and arteriotomy. Finally, the particular attention John paid to differential diagnosis, especially as regards eye affections, which is often supplemented with his own advice, is highlighted.
Clinical value of diascopy and other non-invasive techniques on differential diagnosis algorithms of oral pigmentations: A systematic review
