Holidays facilitate us rest and regenerate. However, the Greeks and Romans were not always convinced of this

Greek philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (1st-2nd century AD) observed that our lives are divided between relaxation and effort.

For example, there are times when we work and times when we are on vacation. He said rest was important: :

Rest gives you the taste of work.

In old Greece and Rome, many people also believed that a vacation was an opportunity to restore the health of body and mind.

However, not everyone was convinced that holidays were hearty or a good idea at all.

Take a vacation. It will do you good

In the old world, people sometimes went on vacation to try to improve their mental and physical condition. This usually meant moving from one climate to another in the hope that it would facilitate.

In one of his letters, a Roman writer and lawyer Pliny the Younger (1st-2nd century AD) I’m writing about how he tried to cure a man called Zosimus of a disease that caused him to spit blood.

Pliny sent him on vacation to Egypt. Zosimus returned after a long leave “with regained health”.

However, Zosimus fell ill again. So Pliny sent him on another vacation, this time to Gallia Narbonensis (in today’s southern France). Pliny tells us in his letter:

the air there is hearty and the milk is excellent for curing such diseases [illness].

But be careful where you’re going and how you get there

People also sought out or avoided specific places, depending on whether they were considered hearty or not.

Doctor Galena (circa 129-216 AD) tells us the water in Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos had healing properties for various diseases, including edema, i.e. swelling:

This water is suitable for both people with edema and other types of swelling, as it is very drying. Similarly, it is also suitable for obese people, especially when someone forces them to swim faster in it, and after swimming they do not drink or eat immediately […].

Doctors also advised people to seek or avoid specific means of travel.

For example, when treating headaches, the doctor Celius Aurelianus wrote about advantages of sea travel:

Sea travel imperceptibly and gradually opens the pores of the body, causes a burning sensation due to the saltiness of the sea and, by introducing a change, repairs the condition of the body. We must try to organize trips to places where the climate is bland and northerly winds prevail, and the conditions are opposite to those that may exacerbate the disease.

But he is not recommended traveling in fresh water:

Travel on rivers, bays and lakes is considered inappropriate because it causes the head to become damp and cool due to the fumes from the earth.

It’s straightforward to overdo it on vacation

Not everyone in old times believed that holidays were hearty. Some people thought that holidays can be harmful because sometimes we drink or eat too much.

For example, the physician Galen complained that people on vacation worsened rather than improved their health.

In his work Hygiene Galen noticed that people who were unwell due to the tough routine of work, such as slaves, needed the opportunity to restore their health through holidays.

But Galen excellent these people did not always utilize the holidays to regain health because they used the holidays to eat and drink too much:

They can take care of this on days when there is a public holiday, when they are free from the services of a slave. But due to lack of control, not only do they do nothing to repair what builds up harmfully in the body, but they also fill themselves with these things through needy nutrition.

Greek writer Athenaeus (2nd-3rd century AD) recalls like “everyone […] “looks forward to the holidays” because on Christmas days the tables are filled with drinks and food. Apparently it was straightforward to eat and drink too much.

Vacations waste time and are only for slothful people

In the old world, people sometimes complained that vacations were a waste of precious time.

Philosopher Seneca (1st century BC-1st century AD) held that the religious practice of taking every Sunday off work marked people wasted “the seventh part of their lives.”

Likewise the writer Claudius Aelian (2nd-3rd century AD) he said holidays were invented simply as an excuse for laziness:

Look at yourselves, men – you come up with endless pretexts and excuses for inaction!

How do you want to spend your time?

While many of us will utilize the holidays to rest and regenerate, others will have to or choose to work over the holiday period.

The ancients would say that holidays create recent opportunities not only for our health, but also for other things. For example, Pliny the Younger sometimes took vacations learn Greek. It’s challenging to disagree with this.