GREEK MEDICINE: HISTORY, STAGES, CONTRIBUTIONS, AUTHORS - HISTORY - 2025

The Greek medicine refers to all those healing and medicinal practices that developed in ancient Greece, specifically the Homeric era dese -century VII. C.- until 146 a. C., when the polis were invaded by Roman troops.

The medicinal advances of the ancient Greeks were very important to Western culture; in fact, it can be said that modern medicine owes many concepts and foundations to this civilization.

In the earliest stage of Greek medicine, healing methods were related to mystical and religious events. Source: pixabay.com

In the earliest stage of Greek medicine, healing methods were related to mystical and religious events. Therefore, the concept of disease was not fully understood, since when someone fell ill, it was thought that the patient's body had been the victim of a spell or had been possessed by an evil spirit.

Later, the doctor Hippocrates dared to question this way of thinking, arguing that the disease was a natural process in living beings and that it could be due to both external factors -such as the climate or food- as well as internal factors -tumors, allergies., among others-.

Consequently, thanks to the ancient Greeks, non-empirical rational medicine arose, a concept that is still used today. However, to reach a more scientific approach, this ancient civilization had to face a series of stages that allowed it to slightly detach itself from the divine and apprehend itself in a more objective way of study.

Origins and history

War wounds

One of the aspects that mobilized the development of Greek medicine was the need to heal the wounds that remained as the aftermath of fighting and wars.

Currently, there are several ceramic engravings where you can see a set of images of the Greeks trying to heal the physical damage caused by the warfare.

For example, in the digital magazine National Geographic you can see a photograph of an ancient plate where the warrior Achilles is visualized bandaging his friend Patroclus during the Trojan confrontation. This vessel dates from the 5th century BC. C.

The iatros

In ancient Greece, the iatros were the medical priests who worshiped the god Asclepiades. The professional activity of these figures was quite limited in the most archaic periods, since they were mainly dedicated to guarding the sanctuaries and watching over the offerings and donations made by patients.

They also ensured that prescribed religious rituals were observed, such as soaking in hot springs.

The author Miguel Lugones, in his work Medicine in antiquity: Aesculapius and culture (2010), assures that, although iatrós was an equivalent of the shaman or witch of primitive medicine, its functions were more restricted because it belonged to a discipline more rigorous professional. However, the first Greek doctors assumed a task much more mystical and religious than scientific and rational.

The first Greek doctors on record

The oldest written testimony about Greek physicians is found in the Homeric text The Iliad. In it appear Machaon and Podalirio, who were in charge of caring for the wounds of the Greeks during the Trojan War. According to this work, Podalirio and Machaón are the sons of Asclepiades, who was later venerated as the god of medicine.

In the same way, in The Iliad the writer Homer affirmed that the iatros were men who were worth a lot in the Greek communities and socially they were classified as demioergos - "public servant" -, having the same status as fortune tellers, teachers, carpenters and the reciters of poems.

The legend of Asclepiades

According to legend, Asclepiades was a highly acclaimed physician and sage in Greek cities, son of the god Apollo - who was originally the god of medicine - with Coronis, a mortal. Coronis fell in love with Apollo and became pregnant with him, however, she was forced to marry her cousin Ischion.

Upon hearing the news, Apollo was enraged, so he decided to annihilate Coronis and his entire family with the help of his sister, the goddess Artemis. However, when he contemplated the corpse of his lover, Apollo felt sorry for his unborn child, so he proceeded to perform a cesarean section to extract the baby.

In this way Asclepíades was born, who was taken by his father to Mount Pelion to be raised by the centaur Chiron, who had knowledge of music, ancient magic and medicine. Asclepiades learned to master all of these arts and became famous for his healing abilities.

However, Hades - the god of the Underworld - accused Asclepiades of depopulating his kingdom, since this doctor saved most of the humans with his medicinal techniques. For this reason, Zeus decided to kill Asclepiades by destroying him with lightning.

Asclepiades became a cult figure within Greek culture. In fact, several temples and shrines were built in his honor. Some claim that Hippocrates was a faithful follower of Asclepiades, however, Hippocrates leaned towards a more rational and less mystical medicine.

Stages

Religious medicine

As mentioned in previous paragraphs, the first Greek doctors merged their healing practices with their religious or magical beliefs. For this reason, the healing sanctuaries were located on the outskirts of the polis and the sick had to make a mandatory excursion to visit the facilities.

The healing shrines were located on the outskirts of the polis. Source: pixabay.com

These sanctuaries were generally located near rivers and springs, since the waters - sometimes thermal - had curative virtues.

In order to carry out the healings, the Greeks performed a ritual that began with a bath, then a simple sacrifice was performed. In some localities, the sick had to sing some songs in honor of the god Apollo and his son Asclepiades.

Beginnings of scientific medicine

In the year 700 a. C. the first educational institution of medicine was founded in Greece, specifically in the city of Cnido. In this school, the first anatomical treatise was made, written by Alcmeón de Crotona. During this period, Hippocrates also began his postulates, in fact, he installed his own school in the city of Cos.

Likewise, in this stage the Greek doctors tried to detach themselves from the Egyptian influence, however, Greece had taken many medicinal elements from Egypt, so this distancing process was not conclusive.

Medicine during the Hellenistic period

At the beginning of this stage of Greek medicine, a rather notorious stagnation occurred, since no original experiment or work was produced. This was because the ideas of Aristotle were still being used, which were blindly accepted by the disciples and students.

However, during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, some progress was made in the area of ​​biology. The most outstanding doctors of this moment were Erasistratus and Herófilo, who experimented with the dissection of animals.

In fact, Herófilo wrote a treaty titled On the dissections, where he described the brain and assured that this was the center of all motor and intelligent activity.

Contributions for today

The rod of Aesculapius

The rod of Aesculapius is an object associated with the Greek god Asclepiades - Aesculapius in its Roman equivalent -, which consists of a snake coiled around a staff. This rod was used by the god to heal the sick and today it is used as a symbol by the World Health Organization to identify medical institutions around the world.

The rational approach

Thanks to the Greeks, Western medicine began to be applied in a more objective way, detaching itself from its religious and cultural burden. This means that doctors began to study the human body from a rational perspective, considering that disease is a natural process in all living beings.

Furthermore, thanks to the Greeks, medicine began to be taught in schools and a system of diagnosis and treatment was introduced, which is still used today. Similarly, diseases began to be associated with feeding problems and other external phenomena, such as the weather.

Featured Authors

Galen of Pergamum (129-216 BC)

Galen was a Greek surgeon, physician, and philosopher, currently considered one of the most important medical researchers of the Ancient Age. Some historians claim that his postulates were so influential that they dominated Western medicine for a thousand years, standing out in the fields of physiology, anatomy, neurology, pharmacology, and pathology.

Hippocrates of Cos (460-370 BC)

Hippocrates is considered by many authors as the father of medicine, since his contributions were fundamental for the development of this discipline. One of the contributions of Hippocrates, in addition to affirming that disease was a natural process, was the fact of considering medicine as a separate discipline from other knowledge such as philosophy and theurgy.

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Aristotle was one of the most influential philosophers of the Old Age. His contributions to medicine were mostly speculative, however, he wrote some texts on biology where he addressed the importance of the plurality of life and biological causality.

This thinker did not carry out experiments, since he considered that empirical observation showed the true nature of things, without the need to resort to artificial reconstructions.

References

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3. Darriba, P. (2019) Mythology, medicine and nursing in Ancient Greece. Retrieved on October 16, 2019 from Culture of Care: rua.ua.es
4. Jayne, W. (1926) The healing gods of ancient civilizations. Retrieved on October 16, 2019 from Phillpapers: philpapers.org
5. Jouanna, J. (2012) Greek medicine from Hippocrates to Galen. Retrieved on October 16, 2019 from Brill: brill.com
6. Lugones, M. (2010) Medicine in ancient times: Aesculapius and culture. Retrieved on October 15, 2019 from Scielo: scielo.sld.cu
7. SA (2018) Medicine in ancient Greece: the birth of a science. Retrieved on October 15, 2019 from National Geographic: nationalgeographic.com.es