Hx of med wk 6

Greek Medicine: 1500-200 BC

There were two main strands to Greek medicine:

○ The first stemmed from their strong belief in the

_______.

• The god of healing was _______ (also spelt

Asklepios or Aesculapius).

○ The second stemmed from ______ ideas from Greek

doctors, the most famous of whom was Hippocrates.

The Greeks believed in gods for almost all aspects of life.

__________ was god of the sea;

________ was god of war;

________ god of healing.

Temples were built to Asclepius, called _____.

It was believed that if a sick person went to sleep in an Asclepion, Asclepius and his daughters would visit him

in his dreams and cure them.

The most famous of these Asclepeia was built at a remote location called ______, and was part of what would be regarded today as a health complex.

◉ There were baths, a gymnasium, a stadium, a library, a theatre and accommodation, as well as temples to other gods.

From an inscription found on a stone column in the

temple at Epidaurus, c. 370–250 BC:

A man with an _________ in his abdomen went to sleep

in the Temple of Asclepius.

One important Greek philosopher was ________ , who originally developed the Theory of the ________ which

became the basis for Greek medical practice.

The Theory of the ………… was influenced by Greek ideas about balance.

The Greeks believed that the world was made up of four elements: ____, ____, ____, and ____.

Greek doctors noted that patients’ symptoms varied with the season:

_________ in summer

_________ in winter

◉ From this, they deduced that the human body was made up of four vital liquids which they referred to as ‘_________’

◉ four humours: ________, ________, ________, ________.

Greek medical treatments aimed to rebalance the

humours. Treatments prescribed included:

________, ________, and ________

_______ a patient was a treatment which was used

right through to the 19th century.

A scratch was made in the skin and the blood was let out into a cup.

Purging the bowel or making the patient vomit involved herbal concoctions:

“If the pain is under the diaphragm, clear the bowels

with a medicine made from _______, _______ or other

fragrant herbs.” From a book in the Hippocratic Collection, c. 300 BC.

The Greek doctors were also aware of the need to prevent illness and advised their patients on _____, _____, and _____:

“He should wash face and eyes using pure water. He should rub his teeth inside and outside with the fingers using fine peppermint powder. Long walks before meals clear out the body ... and give it more power for digesting.” From a 5th century Greek doctor’s book.

Legend has it that Hippocrates was born in ____ in

about 460 BC. He was the most famous Greek doctor,

and recorded his ideas and discoveries in a number of

books.

◉ He and his followers broke with the tradition of believing

that the gods caused and cured disease and he is

looked upon as the founder of modern medicine.

◉ He encouraged doctors to observe symptoms and to

look for causes based on those symptoms.