East Carolina University’s Laupus Health Sciences Library and our Medical History Interest Group will be hosting Dr. Helen Dixon's "From Amulets to Orthodontia: Phoenician Healing Practices of the First Millennium BCE" on April 28, 2026 at 3:30pm in Evelyn Fike Laupus Gallery, Laupus Library's 4^th floor and virtually through this link.

Presentation Description: The Phoenicians, known for inventing the alphabet we use today in English, lived along what is today the coast of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine in the first millennium BCE. This talk will survey the evidence we have for Phoenician magico-medical healing practices, including orthodontia or dental prostheses, imported Egyptian practices including the use of healing statues, and preventative care, like rituals and amulets.

About the Presenter: Dr. Helen Dixon is an interdisciplinary scholar of the ancient Mediterranean world specializing in Phoenician history and culture in the first millennium BCE. She earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from McGill University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (2013).

Dixon has held postdoctoral positions at North Carolina State University and at the University of Helsinki’s Centre of Excellence in “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions.” From 2017–2019, she served as Assistant Professor of Religion at Wofford College. She also co-authored a successful national grant establishing the University of Helsinki’s Centre of Excellence in “Ancient Near Eastern Empires,” where she remains an external collaborator.

Her research, grounded in archaeological excavation, museum study, and archival work across the eastern Mediterranean, examines how Phoenicians and their neighbors shaped social identities in life and death. She also publishes on digital humanities approaches to the ancient world and the ethical challenges of the international antiquities trade. Dixon teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Ancient Mediterranean History and Museum Studies.

This presentation is part of the Ruth and John Moskop History of Medicine Lecture Series. All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.

Individuals requesting accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should contact the ADA Coordinator at least 48 hours prior to the event at (252) 737-1018 (voice/TTY) / ada-coordinator@ecu.edu