Votive Offerings from Floresti Orthodox Monastery in Romania: An Ophthalmological Lesson from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries CE

• Published in: Journal of religion and health Vol. 62; no. 2; pp. 1305 - 1313
• Main Authors: Cucu, A. I., Perciaccante, A., Galassi, F. M., Nemtoi, A., Bianucci, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2023; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: 19th century; Aging; Clinical Psychology; Deities; Effigies; Eye diseases; Gold; Humans; Life Sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Museums; Original Paper; Public Health; Religion; Religion and Medicine; Religious orthodoxy; Religious Studies; Romania; Silver; Romania; Eye diseases; Religious beliefs; Romania; Votive offerings; Tamata; Eye diseases; Religious beliefs; Romania; Tamata; Votive offerings
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-022-01571-z

Since Antiquity, votive offerings were deposited in temples dedicated to deities in order to fulfil a special request of a supplicant. Later, in Orthodox churches, votive offerings entered in the form of anatomical ex-voto or tamata , metallic effigies that realistically represented the disease-affected portion of the body. In this paper, we show four tamata from eighteenth–nineteenth century identified in the museum of the Orthodox monastery of Floresti (Romania); votive offerings that represent ocular pathologies. Even if the supplicants did not have a medical background and often did not fully understand their diseases, the votive offerings demonstrate their ability to observe pathological changes, at the same time emphasising the importance of their faith in the healing process.