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Holidays Help Us Rest and Recover. But Greeks and Romans Weren’t Always Convinced | Ancient Origins
Holidays help us rest and recover. But Greeks and Romans weren't always convinced. Constantine Panagires slashed the conversation. The Greek philosopher Plutarch of Kharenia, first to second 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 labor. In ancient Greece and Rome, many people also recognized 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. Saturnalia, the December festival of joy and merriment in ancient Rome. Mayday's weird and wonderful pagan roots. In one of his letters, the Roman writer and jurist Pliny the Younger, first to second 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 Galia Narbanensis, in modern day southern France. Pliny tells us in his letter, "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 to 216 AD, tells us the water at Matilini on the Greek island of Lesbos, had qualities to treat various illnesses, including hydrops, a type of fluid buildup that leads to swelling. Doctors also advise people to seek out or avoid specific modes of travel. Harking back, the ancient pagan festivities in our Christmas rituals, Day of Love, the complex origins of Valentine's Day. For instance, when treating headaches, the physician's cilius Aurelianus wrote about the benefits of sea voyages, but he advised against traveling on fresh water. Voyages on rivers, bays, and lakes are considered unsuitable, since they caused 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. 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. The Greek writer Athenius, second to third 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 alien, second to third century AD, said holidays were simply devised as an excuse to be lazy. 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, plenty the younger sometimes used holidays to study Greek. It's hard to disagree with that. Source. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne/Public Domain. This article was originally published under the title, Holidays Help Us Rest and Recover. But Greeks and Romans weren't always convinced by Constantine Panagires on the conversation, and has been republished under a Creative Commons