The ‘Treatment’ of a Box in Delphi: A Unique Use of the Word ἺΑΣΙΣ

Abstract

The inscription CID II.34 presents a unique use of the word ἴασις, which commonly means ‘treatment mode’ or ‘therapeutic method’ in medical terminology. It is applied here to an archive box and has been accordingly translated, until now, as ‘repair’. However, a comparison with a passage from Theophrastus suggests that the term may refer, in this particular context, to a preventive measure designed to protect the box and the documents it contained from humidity and decay.