Sunia Choudhary 10A

Medicine in Ancient Greece

Hippocrates: The Most Famous Greek Doctor.

Hippocrates was born in 460 BC on the island of Kos, Greece, he was known as the father of medicine. He traveled a lot before settling in Kos to practice and teach medicine, he died in 377 BC in Larissa, Greece. Not much more is actually known about Hippocrates.

He contributed to a collection of medical works which later became known as the Hippocratic Collection. In the more important works of the Hippocratic Collection are Airs, Waters, and Places (5th century bc), which, instead of blaming diseases on religious causes, discusses their environmental causes. It suggests that concerns such as a town's weather, drinking water, and location along the paths of favorable winds can help a physician find out the general health of people. Three other works—Prognostic, Coan Prognosis, and Aphorisms—advanced the then new idea that, by observing enough cases, a physician can predict the cause of a disease. Hippocrates’ teachings and ability to make direct, clinical observations influenced the other authors of these works and had a lot to do with freeing ancient medicine from superstition.

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Hippocrates had many important ideas and theories, like the theory of the four humours, which was the idea that the body is made up of four liquids known as humours. These four humours are-        Phlegm                                                                                        Blood                                                                                        Yellow Bile                                                                                Black Bile                                                                     If these humours stayed in balance than a person would stay healthy, but if they became unbalanced then a person would become ill. This theory developed from the theory of the four elements, which was also linked with the four seasons.                                                                                                                                                   ...

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