Ricerc@Sapienza

This study describes how Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) as a methodological practice can help medical students learn and acquire analytical ability. This ability, capable of improving observational acumen and generally acquired only after years of clinical experience, may be achieved also by recourse to the systematic and reasoned examination of the visual arts, in particular paintings.

Anatomical ex-votos of feet have always been interpreted as representing the unhealthy part of the body for which patients were asking healing. However, according to the archaeological data and literary sources, another interpretation is also possible: the purpose of this article is to focus on the strong relationship between feet and fertility in the ancient world by cross-referencing the available archaeological evidence with the scientific data relating to this topic. That shed light on an important aspect of the Healing Temples in Greek and Roman medicine.