[Fainting in Greco-Roman medicine, especially in the traumatology and surgery fields]

Occurrences of fainting are very common in medical as well as non-medical literature; in order to restrict the field to a manageable size, this article focuses mainly on surgery and traumatology. An examination of the various passages suggests that there was considerable ambiguity associated with the concept of fainting. On the one hand it was seen as a common occurrence, to be expected in the context of wounds or surgery, but on the other it was also regarded as a life-threatening force in its own right.