Ancient Greek Doctors
...Introduction
As The Greek empire declined, Rome inherited its medical traditions and knowledge. During the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D health standards dropped considerably and outbreaks occurred of life threatening diseases. Galen of Pergamon, a follower of Hippocrates, gathered much of the medical knowledge of the time and added to it his studies of anatomy and physiology (mostly of animals). In Spite of his errors in describing certain anatomical and physiology phenomena, his writing created the foundation for medicine over 1500 years later in Europe. Though Galen created a historical event, he indeed followed and admired one of the greatest doctors of ancient Greece ‘Hippocrates’. A physician and a surgeon he became a leader of a medical school on the ‘Aegean island of Cos’ his works are contained in the ‘Hippocrates corpus’, over 70 volumes of case histories and thoughts on the practice of medicine, role of environmental health and sacred diseases. Although other non-Hippocrates doctors made diagnosis, the Cos physicians would try and predict the outcome of their patients. Hippocrates adopted a view that Breath is the most necessary component of our bodies and if it flowed freely produces heath if impeded produces disease. Hippocrates says that diseases are caused by the differences in the elemental components of the human organism.
Before Hippocrates and Galen
Medical practice in Greece centered around religion (Cult), the cult of Askelepios, the Greek god of medicine and the son of Apollo. Mythology tells us that Askelepios was saving so many lives that Pluto, the god of the underworld, asked Zeus to slay him which Zeus did with a thunderbolt. Whether Askelepios was a real man or not ,many temples around Greece have been placed up in his honor. Patients go to theses temples where they spend the night...
View Full Essay
