Greek Medicine

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Recommended: Hippocrates influence on modern medicine

Despite all of the Western medical advances in the past couple of years, do not think the West went unaided. Many forget who some of the first pioneers of medicine were. Does Hippocrates sound familiar? Greek physicians were some of the first to set the morals of medicine that are used today. Without those morals or standards, Hippocratic medicine wouldn’t exist and underdeveloped medicine would take its place. Ordinary checkups and lifesaving surgeries would be completely different experiences than the ones many face today. Greek medicine contributed greatly to modern medicine and continues to inspire new physicians each day.
Before Hippocrates, sickness was thought of differently. Instead of being a religious matter, internal diseases were considered a religious matter (Sigerest 23). Many notions about ancient Greek medicine were solely guessed on hints given in some stories like Homer’s epics, the Odyssey and the Iliad. Around the time of Homer in the eighth century B.C., gods were believed to not only cast ailment, but to also heal it (Sigerest 19, 22). In the Iliad, there was a physician and god by the name of Asclepius who was son of Apollo. He is often shown with a snake and staff (Porter 52). This image explains the symbol of medicine, a staff and a snake wrapped around it. The Greek god Asclepius is the source for the medicine symbol that is universally known around the world.
A Milesian philosopher name Anaximander who lived around 560 B.C. believed there were four main elements that formed the world: fire, water, earth, and air (Sigerest 91). Although this theory was wrong, it later helped Hippocrates set up his beliefs about illness. Surgery, surgical tools, and medical schools were introduced in the late sixth ce...

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... find an oath that is very valuable. It states the morals and values that a doctor should have. Many new doctors are stating their beliefs of morally good healthcare through the words of the oath. Without the contribution of Greek medicine, modern medicine would not be the way it is today.

Works Cited

BARBATO, ANTHONY L., and ROGER J. BULGER. "On the Hippocratic Sources of Western Medical Practice." The Hastings Center Report July 2000: S4. Academic OneFile. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Clendening, Logan. Source Book of Medical History. New York: Dover Publications, 1960. Print.
"The Impact of Greece and Rome on Medicine." Helicon Encyclopedia of World History.2010. History Study Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.
Sigerist, Henry E. A History of Medicine. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford Univ., 1951. Print.

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