At the core of modern Western medicine stand ancient Greek and Roman ideas concerning the structure (anatomy) of the body and its parts. ATLOMY is a multidisciplinary study of this Greco-Roman part of the history of anatomy. It does so by implementing a novel and innovative method, which combines historical and philological analysis with experimental research and high-end digital and visual design and development.Our sources of information are ancient anatomical texts, in which ancient physicians and philosophers set out their anatomical ideas in detail. During this time of anatomical research and discovery, anatomy was a dynamic field of knowledge. There was no single standard anatomy as there is today. Rather, each author had his own set of ideas of the structure of the body and its parts, and his own terminology to express it. There are, therefore, many Greco-Roman anatomies to investigate. Anatomical ideas and terminology were not limited to professional writings, but became part of popular cultural and daily life. We find them in colloquial idioms and metaphors and in direct and indirect references throughout Greco-Roman literature (plays, poems, historiography, letters and more) and material culture (anatomical votives,vase paintings and more). The ancient anatomical texts allow modern readers to learn about the ancient understanding of the body, the terminology they used to describe it(much of which we still use today)and the empirical and other sources on which they based their ideas. Nevertheless,modern scholars face challenges in interpreting these texts. First and foremost are the disciplinary and visual gaps between the ancient writers of these texts and their modern readers. These are highly technical texts, written for physicians and anatomy experts of the time;and their verbal descriptions rested on visual evidence gained from empirical research and observations of the body. However, most modern readers of these texts are philologists and historians, trained and skilled in observing and studying texts and words – not the body.
ATLOMY is bridging these gaps by breaking through the textual boundaries of our sources. We are deciphering, disentangling and mapping ancient anatomical ideas, terminology and research and developing a groundbreaking, interactive digital Atlas of Greco-Roman anatomy.Our open access Atlas offers tailormade viewing and research tools for researchers, students and the public. We are able to achieve this thanks to ATLOMY’s interdisciplinary and unprecedented team of classicists, historians,modern anatomists, 3D modellers, software developers and product experts, who are working together to analyse and decipher the ancient anatomical knowledge and to present it by means of the 21st century.
Our research improves our understanding of the history of science and medicine and of the Greco-Roman culture more broadly. ATLOMY’s results and interactive outputs will enable researchers, students and the public to better engage with the ancient texts and concepts and it makes them and our scientific interpretations of them more open and accessible. Furthermore, revealing how novel and innovative scientific ideas emerged in earlier times can encourage scientific innovation and "eureka moments" in modern science by motivating us to think beyond accepted assumptions and to challenge our perspective and manner of observation.
