This volume contains the papers of a conference held in 2001 that brought together linguists and historians of medicine to consider the ancient evidence for the actual activities and gestures involved in the life of a Roman doctor. Veterinary medicine is also included, as well as magic, alongside more familiar medical authors such as Celsus and Pliny. The range of activities discussed here is substantial, from touching and bandaging to cauterization and the preparation of a variety of drugs in a variety of forms. The best papers are those that go outside the strictly philological to introduce epigraphic, artistic or archaeological information to explain or to develop accounts in purely literary sources. Even jokes about the gladiator-turned-doctors can be interpreted to show the cruelty of ancient surgery. Prayers and chants show the ever-changing relationship of medicine to the divine, which is far from being a simple dichotomy.

Students of ancient medicine will find much to ponder here, but they will also have to work hard to find discussions of specific texts, save for what is specified in the list of chapters, for there is no index of any kind, and the brief introduction does little more than hint at the contents of each chapter. It is also disappointing that in a book specifically devoted to actions and their description there are no illustrations in the body of the book. The cover shows a relief from Ravenna that may indicate a medical scene, although both subject and the individual components of the image are far from agreed. An opportunity has been lost to make these valuable papers still more useful to the wider community of scholars.