Tyler Stetson

1

• Tyler Stetson

Greek Medicine
2
Table of Contents
The Temples of Asclepios Temple of Asclepios
Epidauros City of Alexandria Erasistratus Galen He
rophilus

• How it Started
• Greek Medicine Timeline
• Hippocrates Oath and Law
• Hippocrates Page
• The Four Humors
• The Four Humors Diagram
• What the Four Humors Mean
• Asclepios

3
How it Started

• The Greeks spent a lot of time traveling for
  trade and for other reasons in the Mediterranean.
  It was on these long voyages that they learned,
  from the Egyptians, about medicine. Because the
  Greeks were plenty rich, some of their people
  started to research the area extensively and
  around 800 BC there was a lof of work being done
  in the Medical area.
• At around this time, the Greeks left their old
  theories of the religion and medicine and adopted
  more logical theories.

4
Greek Medicine Timeline

• 480 BC- Empedocles was born
• 460 BC- Hippocrates was born
• 400 BC- Hippocrates wrote The Hippocratic Oath
  (still used today)
• 384 BC- Aristotle Was Born
• 335 BC- Herophilus was born
• 330BC 110CE- Alexandria was the center of
  Medical reseach and study.
• 308 BC- Erasistratus was Born
• 130 CE- Galen was born

5
Hippocratic Oath and Law

• The Hippocratic Oath
• The Hippocratic oath was written by Hippocrates
  in 400 BC. This oath shows the union that the
  doctors formed and it lays out regulations for
  the doctors.
• This document along with a couple of other
  documents by Hippocrates, are the earliest Greek
  medical writings.
• Another important piece that Hippocrates wrote
  were the Law of Hippocrates.
• In this document Hippocrates lists the parts of
  the medical field and what it takes to be a
  doctor. Also incorporated into it are the
  expectations of doctors and health care
  professionals.
• The Law of Hippocrates

6
Hippocrates

• Hippocrates was Born in 460 BC and became a very
  influential physician in Cos, Greece.
• He used observation and studying the human body
  in his practices. He did not believe that
  sickness and injury was due to superstition, he
  believed that there was a logical reason for all
  sicknesses and injuries.
• He was the first physician to write out disease
  symptoms and particularly pneumonia and epilepsy.
• Most of his treatments involved getting rest,
  fresh air, good food, water, etc.
• He began teaching at a school in Cos (a medical
  school) and that is where he came up with the
  oath (Hippocratic Oath). That oath is still used
  to this day.
• His most important works are the Hippocratic
  Oath, the Laws, and the The Book of Prognostics.
  Click here to see Hippocrates other works.
• The Book of Prognostics talks about illnesses and
  their syptoms along with a few cures and
  treatments. Most of the book is describing the
  symptoms.

7
The Four Humors
In the 1600s, physicians understood the four
humors to signify patterns of speech, behavior
and other qualities that predominate in a human
being. From http//www.sheridanhill.com/humors.ht
ml

• The four humors are Sanguine, phlegm, choler and
  melancholy.
• The job of sanguine is to nourish the body, give
  strength and give color. Sanguine is blood.
• Phlegm is to nourish and moisten the rest of the
  body, and it existed in the colder parts of the
  chylus (the white juice that comes out of meat
  digested in the stomach).
• Choler exists in the hotter part of the chylus.
  Helps with heat and senses.
• Melancholy is thick and black. It nourishes the
  bones.
• FYI Homer Believed that there were only three
  humors.
• The relations to the four seasons and the four
  elements are shown by a diagram in the next slide.

8
The Four Humors

• These show how the four humors relate to the four
  elements, the fours seasons and what they mean to
  people

9
The Four Humors Part IIWhat they Mean

• If someone has a large ego they have a choleric
  temperament. This means that they are self
  centered. Their aggressiveness comes from their
  circulation of blood.
• Someone who is sanguine is very in touch with
  their nervous system. They follow what their
  body tells them to do. One that is lacking
  sanguine often sees illusions or is hallucinating
  because there is not as much sanguine
  circulating.
• One who is phlegmatic is very interested of the
  wellbeing of their internal processes rather than
  what is going on around them.
• Melancholic are more concerned with the physical
  bodies rather than their own body.
• Each of these four humors were supposedly related
  to each of the basic elements (hot, wet, dry, and
  cold)

10
Asclepios

• Asclepios is the Greek God of Healing.
• He is the son of Apollo and the godly friend of
  Ceronis. Although he was not truly a god, he was
  brought up and treated as a god.
• Asclepios was raised by the Ferryman of the Dead,
  Charon. Charon was the one, along with his sons,
  that taught him about medicine.
• Asclepios was became very well known for his
  techniques of resurrection, this was done by
  using the blood of Medusas wounds. The blood on
  her left side was poisonous, and on the right
  side it could regenerate people.
• This blood was given to Asclepios by Athena
• Zeus ended up killing Asclepios because he was
  worried that his techniques of resurrection would
  interfere with World Order

11
The Cult and Temples of Asclepios

• There were many followers and worshippers of The
  Cult of Asclepios.
• These temples of healing are based on religious
  practices for treatment.
• There are temple/healing centers were located in
  Epidauros, Kos, and the Asclepion at Pergamon.
• At these centers worshippers
• Would make sacrafices, bathe, and
• sleep in the courtyard. It was
• believed that if worshippers
• participated in these rituals that they
• would be cured by The God of
• Healing, Asclepios.
• The priests in these places would
• also heal people by using ointments and
  other remedies.

12
Temple of Asclepios Epidauros
The Temple at Epidauros was one of the Temples
that worshippers of Asclepios would go to get
healed. The temple was built between 380 and
370 BC by the worshippers Inside there was a lot
of Gold and Ivory held. The gold and ivory were
gifts to Asclepios. The sculptures on the roof
were of Nike and women riders.
13
Alexandria

• Founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great.
• It was governed by Ptolemy
• Lots of money was given to the library and the
  museum to attract researchers
• Medical research in the Alexandrian Museum was
  the best of the best.
• The greatest researchers were Herophilus and
  Erasistratus.

14
Erasistratus of Ceos

• HE lived from 308 BC to about 250 BC.
• He is best known for his work as an anatomist and
  physician from Alexandria. Also known as the
  founder of physiology.
• During his life he made many medical discoveries
  that still hold true today.
• He is best know for his theory on the heart and
  lungs. He theorized that air enters the longs
  and then heart and then it is circulated
  throughout the body.
• Also he theorized that the arteries and veins are
  totally separate from the nervous system. They
  concluded that the brain is the central unit of
  the nervous system. Also they differentiated
  between sensory and motor nerve pathways.
• A lot of his theories were based off of
  information that he collected from dissecting
  prisoners.

15
Galen

• Lived from 131-201 CE.
• He was noted for his work as a Surgeon for the
  Gladiators of Pergamos.
• After work with the Gladiators, he was asked to
  come to Rome and be the physician of the Emperor.
• He spent much of his life (outside of surgery)
  writing about medicine.
• Some of his writing was about the research that
  he performed on kidneys and the spinal chord.
• His research was used throughout the West after
  his death. Most of his writings were lost but
  his theories and research was still used.

16
Herophilus

• Lived from 335 to 280 BC in Alexandria
• He was a Greek Physician who was known as the
  most careful anatomist.
• He did a lot of work with dissections of humans
  (sometimes in public).
• He made many observations on the liver, retinas
  and ovaries.
• Also, he worked with Erasistratus to
  differentiate between the sensory and motor
  nerves.
• His biggest theory was the Diagnostic
• Value of the Pulse. His teacher at the
  Alexandria Medical School told him that the pulse
  was only the restricting of certain vessels and
  it indicated disease. Herophilus went further
  and corrected his teacher by stating that the
  pulse came from the heart through palpitations,
  tremors and spasms, all due to a muscle within
  the heart.
• Most of his discoveries were put together in his
  book On Dissections.