They swear to practice medicine ethically and honestly. Nowadays, the Hippocratic oath is a vow that doctors and other health professionals take when they qualify. This means they studied diseases by directly examining the living person. These early medical practitioners promoted the systematic study of clinical medicine. Hippocrates and his colleagues wrote the “Hippocratic Corpus,” which comprised around 60 early ancient Greek medical works. Until then, medicine had been a part of philosophy and the practice of rituals, incantations, and the casting off of evil spirits. The teaching at his school revolutionized medicine and established it as a profession and a discipline in its own right. As the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine, he made major contributions to medicine that persist today. Hippocrates of Kos lived from 460–370 B.C.E. Share on Pinterest Hippocrates remains ‘the father of western medicine.’ It was not until 2,000 years later that scientists concluded the theory was false. However, while the ancient Greeks pushed medicine forward in many ways, the theory of humors posed an obstacle to advances in medical practice. This theory remained popular in Western Europe until the 17th century. Consequently, illness would occur when someone had too much or too little of one of the humors. The theory developed that when all the humors balanced and mingled properly, the person would experience perfect health. The ancient Greeks later linked each humor to a season, an organ, a temper, and an element, as seen in this table: Humor The idea then developed of keeping these four humors in balance as a necessity for good health. These four humors were blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. This idea of four elements prompted ancient Greek doctors to establish the theory of four humors or liquids. The ancient Greeks still believed in and revered their gods, but science gradually became more critical as they tried to explain the reasons and solutions for illnesses and other aspects of life.Įmpedocles put forward the idea that all natural matter consisted of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. The Greeks built the city of Alexandria in Egypt, turning it into a vast center for education and learning. Until then, incantations and attempts at repelling evil spirits had been the most popular form of medicine.Īround 300 B.C.E., Alexander the Great had turned Greece into a massive empire that spread across the Middle East. superstitionĪs Greek doctors started wondering whether all illnesses and disorders might not have a natural cause, they also considered responding to illness with natural cures. Techniques included using olive oil to raise body temperature and the practice of warming up before competing to avoid injury. The Olympic Games, which began in ancient Greece, raised the need for people to keep healthy in order to promote fitness and prevent injury. In wars, doctors worked to heal wounds, remove foreign bodies, and look after the general health of soldiers. Two crucial factors that encouraged the ancient Greeks to seek healing and promote health were military activity and sport. This was a more flexible form of written communication and easier for people to understand than hieroglyphs. Their writing was phonetic, meaning that people could read it out loud. They promoted and enjoyed cultural activities, including poetry, public debates, politics, architecture, sculpture, comedy, and drama. The Greeks of antiquity were great traders and relatively wealthy. He proposed that illness might result from environmental problems, nutrition, and lifestyle. He appears to have been the first person to wonder about the possible internal causes of illness. He wrote widely on medicine, although he was probably a philosopher of science rather than a doctor. Here, they began the practice of observing patients who were sick.Īlcmaeon lived around 500 B.C.E. This curiosity paved the way for important developments in math and science.Īncient records show that they set up an early medical school in Cnidus in 700 B.C.E. The ancient Greeks were thirsty for logic and logic-based discussions, and they were curious about why things existed and why events happened.
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