Volgarizzamenti tardoantichi della teoria umorale in ambito dietetico. Esempi da Anthimus medicus

In the paper the mentions of the humoral system (in particular of the black bile and of the phlegm) in the De observatione ciborum by Anthimus medicus and in its complex manuscript tradition are investigated, with constant attention to textual reading. The investigation is widened to other dietetic and calendarial works of the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages as well. It can be inferred that, in Anthimus' epistle, the ancient medical theory of the four humours is extremely reduced and simplified; in other words, it is vulgarized and used with a symbolic and metaphorical purpose, far from the original physiological framework.