Hippocrates Influence On Religion And Medicine

Religion and medicine go back thousands of years, before Hippocrates brought on the scientific method of ways to help the sick, the people only had their religion or superstitions to heal. Hippocrates and scholars like him helped open the door to more ways of helping the sick and in that helped prolong lives that might have not gotten better by just waiting on a god or using an amulet. Therefore science in medicine helped prolong the life expectancy of people. Ancient Greeks first thought illness was a punishment and healing was a gift from the gods. They would only get help if the God thought it was worth, so while waiting for a god to heal them, they would not take any medicine and in doing nothing this could lead to them dying at a young age. Then came along Asklepios (Asclepius), he was a demigod in Greek Mythology, he was the god of medicine and temples were built in his name and people would go there to be healed. Another form of healing was done through magicians and superstition. Magicians back then were not what we would think of as “Magic” tricks, they were great in mathematics and science, especially Chemistry. People would go to these magicians for amulets or spells to help with many things including sickness. Later Hippocrates came around and believed disease came naturally and was not a punishment sent

Medicine became steeped in superstition and the Roman Catholic Church effectively dominated what direction the medical world took. Some Christians, even believed medicine was not a profession christians should seek out because the church believed disease was a punishment from god and if you trying to fight this disease then you are going against what god wanted. The church encouraged people to seek treatments from their saints or from prayers. With the church's influence over people and restrictions medicine advancements came to a standstill during the Dark