engleski

The treatment of leprous individuals in 9-10th century in Croati

No disease provoked such terror in the medieval world as leprosy. The disease was progressive and mercilessly destructive and consigned its victim to a ‘‘living death’’ invoking the pronouncement ‘‘Mundo mortuus sis, sed Deo vivas’’ – be thou dead to the world, but alive unto God. It is estimated that by the 13th century over 19000 leprosaria were built in Europe to segregate individuals suffering from the disease from other members of the community. The earliest cases of leprosy in Croatia were discovered in the Radašinovci archaeological site. The site was excavated from 1999-2009 revealing the presence of a small cemetery that was in use from the 9th-10th centuries. A total of 124 individuals (30 males, 44 females and 50 subadults) have been recovered. Six individuals: four males and two females exhibit clear osteological evidence of leprosy. The pathological changes include rhinomaxillary changes indicative of leprosy: resorption of the anterior nasal spine, resorption of the central maxilla and destruction of the palatine. Postcranial changes include cupping deformities, volar phalangeal grooves on the proximal phalanges of the hand, concentric diaphyseal remodeling and resorption of the distal ends of the metatarsals, and periostitis on the distal radii, ulnae, tibiae and fibulae. These individuals were randomly distributed throughout the cemetery and exhibit the same grave orientation, architecture and artefacts as the other interred individuals, demonstrating that during the 9th-10th centuries the social reaction to individuals suffering from leprosy displayed no evidence of the ostracism that would later become so ubiquitous.

leprosy ; Radašinovci ; pathological changes

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