The Story Of Acient Greek Medicine

Greek Medicine was known to be spread around the 4th century BCE by Hippocrates to other physicians. Illness was initially thought to be caused by evil spirits. It began with Homer and it spread to Hippocrates, who is known to be the father of medicine. They used rational thinking when it came to medicine which is why it has such an influence on today's time. Back when medicine was created, the craze over medicine began to decrease. However, the thoughts of illness, caused by spiritual thoughts, changed in the 5th Century BCE.

A legend states that it began with centaur Chiron, who is a mythological creature with an upper-body as a human and a lower body as a horse. He was wounded by Hercules and needed to heal himself. After he did, he passed his knowledge down to the hero Achilles, who was the hero of the Trojan War. Ancient Greece has had a great influence on the world because of its scientific achievements.

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This is due to the fact that their approach continues to be around today but when it was created, religion made a big impact because of how medicine connects to religion, the treatments used and Hippocrates' beliefs.

First off, for many years, Greeks believed that the human body served as an important position when it came to the afterlife. However, this was changed by Aristotle and Plato because they went against the belief in religion and stated that the human body had no use in the afterlife.

Also, when people were thought to have an illness, instead of treating it with medicine, they believed that one would need to spend at least one day inside the temple in order to be cured. Even so, this later showed others that the method was not working and something else needed to occur. Although this was true, this theory was later shut down and was proved to be wrong by many people such as the father of medicine. This is because he believed in healing naturally and that all physicians should study anatomy in order to know the right treatments. Additionally, Hippocrates has influenced the evolution of diseases and treatments today. First, he believed that all illnesses were due to a failure that occurred inside of the body. Secondly, he stated that the patient’s background information needed to be examined in order to come up with a successful diagnosis. Finally, he believed that doctors could only help subside the symptoms of the disease and the patient would have to get rid of the sickness on their own.

For one, in today's time, one can notice that greek medicine’s approach back in the day was related to their beliefs in religion. The thoughts of illness impacted many patients due to the fact that religion was believed to have caused it. When people were sick, doctors stated that it was an evil spirit living inside of the patient. Over many years, doctors in ancient Greece, such as Hippocrates and other physicians, did not believe in the statement about evil spirits so “...by the 5th century BCE, there were attempts to identify the material causes for illnesses rather than spiritual ones…began to take a greater interest in the body itself and to explore the connection between cause and effect”. It is evident that evil spirits and gods were an important symbol when it came to treating patients with a healing process. Also, until the time of Hippocrates, in the struggle between life and death, it was, more often than not, a death that prevailed. During the time before rational medical thought, the streamlined system of treating patients naturally was unheard of, and all complaints were assigned to the will of loads of commonly worshiped Greek gods. It was during the period of Greek belief that a slight change in what was thought to be demonstrated in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in physics, math and even medicine. Medicine had a rather close connection to religion so it made it difficult for people to prove physics wrong. It is true that believing in something for a long time makes one have a strong belief and takes lots of convincing to change one's mind. This is why it took Greeks a long time to make the connection that religion and medicine did not affect one another due to people not wanting to listen to each other.

Secondly, the treatments back in ancient times had a lot to do with the religion that Greeks believed in. The story of medicine is believed to have evolved during the Trojan War. A legend states that Chiron was wounded and needed to heal himself. After he did, he passed his knowledge down to the hero Achilles. Additionally, the Greeks believed in Asclepius, who was a hero. Healers and those in need of healing referred to Asclepius' name in prayer and healing ceremonies in temples and at home. This was made up of priests in which believed that illness came from evil spirits.

“These treatments also consisted of ritual cleansing and the presentation of sacrificial gifts to the priests from the patients as a form of payment. These temples became great centers of healing, much like a modern-day health spa. However, the use of this type of medical practice began to wane in the face of the growing body of medical treatments”.

It is proven that one would need to spend at least one day inside the temple in order to be cured. However, this later showed others that the method was not working and something else needed to occur. Ancient Greeks believed in a connection between the divine or magical and medicinal practices or other unsolvable occurrences. Internal diseases were considered a religious matter and all diagnoses demanded the factors of evil spirits due to it playing an important role in their religion. People that were ill would be affected by the thoughts of religion because they were not being given the undivided attention of doctors. The mindset that the physicians had in their treatment plan was affected so sick people would be sent to temples to be healed. Little did the doctors know that this was not curing everyone that was being sent but they were slowing dying as they went. However, for them, this was not bad due to the fact that they had faith in the body is an important component in the afterlife.

Some may argue that many ways of their treatment are not being used today due to the religious factors that were involved, which shows that they did not have a great influence. There were specific procedures done in order to remove evil spirits. Asclepius, hero, and god was depicted holding a serpent entwined staff. He gave patients advice for healing during dreams and attempted to repel evil spirits and

“Since the physicians did not acknowledge magical help to be possible, they were more interested in that their patients resorted to religious medicine. Greek medicine and its relation to religion and magic that the god could help when the physicians could not” (Greek Medicine).

In today’s time, religion is not an extremely important factor when it comes to diagnosing

patients. Although people’s beliefs are taken into account when it comes to the treatment that they receive, it is not used to make them feel better. However, some religions do go to temples or wherever they worship their belief in order for the one that is sick to feel better. Additionally, Asclepius is known to be a god of healing and the serpent on the rod represents rebirth and fertility. Many may argue that there's no influence but this symbol is still around and influences medicine today. This is because the doctor’s symbol is a rod with a snake curled around it. Ancient Greeks believed snakes have healing power. Snakes represented regeneration, a symbol of life and death and wisdom. They used a species of non-venomous snake called Aesculapian snake in their healing temple, which was called Asclepieia. Hygieia, the goddess of health and hygiene and Panacea goddess of healing, two daughters of Asclepius, have snakes in their sculptures as well. This shows that although some things may not be used for the same exact reason as they were in the past, they are passed down to current generations. This keeps past traditions from Greeks present in the century.

Lastly, Hippocrates’ beliefs changed the face of how religion connected to medicine. Hippocrates believed in healing naturally and that all physicians should study anatomy in order to know the right treatments. Hippocrates had a list of terms which determined if someone was dead based on what they looked like and because of spirits or gods. These terms that he believed in included

“blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. These were in turn associated with the fundamental elements of air, water, earth and fire...each of the humours was associated with a particular season of the year, during which too much of the corresponding humour could exist in the body”.

It is evident that when this discovery was made, it changed the way people approached and treated patients. He made it possible for people to trust and believe in the truth. He was able to change facts that had been around for many years and allowed for more people to be healed instead of being sent to the temple. This shows that he was a leader that people were able to look up too. In order to be a leader, someone needs to have certain qualities which include being trustworthy, responsible and intelligent which is something that Hipporctaes had which is why he is called the father of medicine.

All in all, Ancient Greek Medicine has been seen to change the face of medicine due to their religion and because of Hippocrates. First, Greeks believed that the human body had an important use in the after but Plato determined that this was false. Secondly, Greeks believed that when patients were ill, it was evil spirits that were inside of them and in order to get rid of them they needed to go to the temple and pray. Finally, when Hippocrates came along and made his claims, he turned many people around and made them believe in natural healing. It is important to look at how one person can affect something that has been around for many years and make it into something great that would be around for years to come. One can see that things are not the same as before but it is still around today curing many people that are sick. If one wondered where medicine came about, the right place to say would be Greece.