Greek Medicine

Greek Medicine Jamie Mason

Hippocrates • Historians accept that Hippocrates was born around the year 460 BC and became a famous physician and teacher of medicine. Other biographical information, however, is likely to be untrue (see Legends). • The Hippocratic Oath, a seminal document on the ethics of medical practice, was attributed to Hippocrates in antiquity although new information shows it may have been written after his death. • The Hippocratic school held that all illness was the result of an imbalance in the body of the four humours, fluids which in health were naturally equal in proportion .When the four humours, blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm, were not in balance.

Hippocrates and the rise of rational medicine • Virtually nothing is known of the first physician named Hippocrates, but there are considered to have been several, all of them teachers at the famous medical school on the Mediterranean island of Cos. It was in the 5th century B.C.E., however, that Hippocrates’ name and image began to emerge as a leader in medical research and thought. • Hippocrates is generally credited with turning away from divine notions of medicine and using observation of the body as a basis for medical knowledge. Prayers and sacrifices to the gods did not hold a central place in his theories, but changes in diet, beneficial drugs, and keeping the body "in balance" were the key.

Timeline

st 1

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700 B.C.E.

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Homer writes of Apollo, the bringer and reliever of plagues in The Iliad 600 B.C.E.

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The rise of Greek science and philosophy: Thales begins inquiries about nature and physics

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580 B.C.E.

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Pythagoras born at Samos; later founds a scientific and philosophical cult

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480 B.C.E.

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Empedocles born; noted philosopher and physician

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460 B.C.E.

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The most noted "Hippocrates" born; the Hippocratic Corpus begins its formation

Timeline

nd 2

part

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146 B.C.E.

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Greece becomes a Roman protectorate 50-70 C.E.

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Dioscorides writes Peri ulhV iatrikhV, known in Latin as De materia medica 129 C.E.

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Galen born; noted physician 150 C.E.

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Artemidorus writes Oneirocritica 76 C.E.

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As the Western Roman Empire falls, Western physicians begin to lose contact with Greek scholars and texts in the East

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632-1200 C.E.

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Islam grows, eventually taking over Egypt and much of the Hellenized

Timeline

rd 3

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• 1450-1598 C.E. • With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, many Byzantine scholars emigrate to Italy, bringing Greek texts and teaching the language; Greek medical texts are printed with vigor and studied dogmatically 1540-1800 C.E. • Western scholars begin to question the data in Greek medical texts, but take up their methods of scientific enquiry and experimentation, developing modern Western medicine • 1800 C.E. • Greek medical texts become the focus of modern

Aristotle • The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was the most influential scholar of the living world from antiquity. Though his early natural philosophy work was speculative, Aristotle's later biological writings demonstrate great concern for empiricism, biological causation, and the diversity of life. Aristotle did not experiment, however, holding that items display their real natures in their own environments, rather than controlled artificial ones.