by Molly Jones-Lewis
Presented at CAMWS 2011 and currently under conversion to book chapter format for a larger collection of essays exploring intersections of geography, ethnicity, and medicine in antiquity.
This paper presents and examines the testimonia about the Psylloi, a North African tribe known for their... more
This paper presents and examines the testimonia about the Psylloi, a North African tribe known for their quasi-magical abilities in curing and, at times, using poison. First mentioned in Herodotus as a extinct tribe, the name emerges once more in Pliny, Plutarch, Strabo, Lucan, and Aelian connected to a contemporary group that was often employed in the Roman military specifically for their reputed ability to cure the bites of snakes and scorpions.
The paper considers the question of whether this ethnic group was consciously reviving Herodotus' lost Psylloi in an effort to further their reputation with a name familiar to Greek-speaking intellectuals. An alternate version of their story is preserved in Pliny the Elder in which they were not destroyed by a sandstorm (as Herodotus claims), but were instead driven from their lands to take up settlement elsewhere. It is likely that this alternate story was produced by the (new?) Psylloi in order to bolster their reputation among their Greek-speaking clientele.
The paper also addresses the ways in which Roman authors in particular classified them as a incompletely conquered people. For instance, Pliny the Elder (the author who provides the most information about this group) portrays them plotting to import scorpions into Italy in order to boost their poison-curing business (N. H. 11.89), holding demonstrations in which they display their ability to withstand the poisons of toads (25.123), and ritually expose their children to snake-bite in order to prove paternity (N. H. 7.14). In other authors, the Psylloi are far more helpful, though no less formidable. In Lucan's Pharsalia 9.907 they aid Cato's Romans against snakebite, and in Greek-speaking authors their powers likewise serve Roman interests (c.f. Strabo 13.1, Suetonius Aug. 17.4, and Plutarch Cato 57). I argue that the dangerous aspect of their reputation was central to the success of the Psylloi in promoting themselves (as they seem to have done); a power that is dangerous is likewise a power that is effective, and for this reason it was in this group's best interest to appear both dangerous and amenable to serving their Roman masters.
Finally, the paper will discuss the other groups who were similarly identified with poison and antidotes: the Ophiogenes and the Marsi. The Marsi in particular presented a challenge to the Psylli inasmuch as they represented an Italian alternative to these North African poison specialists, and it is possible that there was some competition between the two in self-presentation as the superior poison curers.
An examination of the Psylloi presents a strategy used by an ancient group in order to build a cohesive identity in the pluralistic environment of the late Republic and Empire. The surviving testimonia provide a tantalizing glimpse of the ways in which they built and used a one-dimensional image for gain within a system that comodified ethnic groups (i.e. Catullus' Bithyinian litter-bearers or Thracian gladiators) within its marketplace.
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![](http://photos.academia.edu/448997/145810/169401/tiny_ida.brancaccio.jpg?1324392870 "<strong>Ida Brancaccio</strong><br/>University of Naples "Federico II""){kind=small}
