Holidays help us rest and recover. But Greeks and Romans weren’t always convinced
- Written by: Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne
The Greek philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (1st-2nd century AD) observed that our lives are divided between relaxation and exertion.
For example, there are times when we are working and times when we are on holidays. He said rest was important:
Rest gives relish to labour.
In ancient Greece and Rome, many people also recognised that taking a holiday was an opportunity to restore the health of the body and mind.
However, not everyone was convinced holidays were healthy or even a good idea.
Take a holiday. It’ll do you good
In the ancient world, people sometimes went on holidays to try to improve their mental and physical condition. This usually meant moving from one climate to another, hoping this would help.
In one of his letters, the Roman writer and jurist Pliny the Younger (1st-2nd century AD) writes about how he tried to cure a man called Zosimus of an illness that made him spit blood.
Pliny sent him on a holiday to Egypt. Zosimus returned after a long holiday “with his health restored”.
However, Zosimus became sick again. So Pliny sent him on another holiday, this time to Gallia Narbonensis (in modern day southern France). Pliny tells us in his letter:
the air is healthy there and the milk excellent for treating this kind of [illness].
But watch where you go and how you get there
People also sought out or avoided specific places, depending on whether the places were considered healthy or not.
The physician Galen (about 129-216AD) tells us the water at Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos, had qualities to treat various illnesses, including hydrops, a type of fluid build-up that leads to swelling:
This water is suitable both for those with hydrops and for the other swellings, being strongly drying. Similarly, it is also suitable for those who are obese, and particularly when someone also compels them to swim more in it quickly, and after bathing more, not to drink or eat immediately […].
Doctors also advised people to seek out or avoid specific modes of travel.
For instance, when treating headaches, the physician Caelius Aurelianus wrote about the benefits of sea voyages:
Sea voyages imperceptibly and gradually open the bodily pores, give rise to a burning effect by reason of the saltiness of the sea, and, by working a change, repair the bodily condition. We must try to arrange voyages to places where the climate is mild and the north wind prevails, conditions the opposite of those which can aggravate the disease.
But he advised against travelling on fresh water:
Voyages on rivers, bays, and lakes are considered unsuitable, since they cause the head to become moist and cold by reason of the exhalation from the earth.
It’s easy to overdo it on holiday
Not everyone in antiquity thought holidays were healthy. Some thought holidays could be harmful, because we sometimes drank or ate too much.
The physician Galen said some people tended to eat and drink too much on holidays.
Pierre Roche Vigneron/Wikimedia
For example, the physician Galen complained about how people on holidays tended to make their health worse rather than better.
In his work Hygiene, Galen observed that people who are unwell because of their difficult work routine, such as slaves, needed the opportunity to restore their health by having a holiday.
But Galen noted these people did not always use holidays to restore their health because they used holidays to eat and drink too much:
They are able to make such provision for themselves during those days on which there is some public festival, when they free themselves from the services of a slave. But due to lack of control they not only do nothing to correct those things collecting deleteriously in the body, but they also fill themselves full of these things by eating badly.
The Greek writer Athenaeus (2nd-3rd century AD) mentions how “everyone […] eagerly awaits festivals”, because on festive holidays the tables are full of drink and food. Clearly, it was easy to eat and drink too much.
Holidays waste time and are only for the lazy
In the ancient world, people sometimes complained holidays were a waste of precious time.
The philosopher Seneca (1st century BC-1st century AD) said the religious practice of taking every Sunday away from work meant people wasted “a seventh of their life”.
Similarly, the writer Claudius Aelian (2nd-3rd century AD) said holidays were simply devised as an excuse to be lazy:
Look at you men – devising endless pretexts and excuses for idling!
How do you want to spend your time?
While many of us will use our holidays to rest and recover, others will need to, or choose to, work this festive season.
The ancients would have said that holidays present new possibilities, not just for our health but for other things too. For example, Pliny the Younger sometimes used holidays to study Greek. It’s hard to disagree with that.
Authors: Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne
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