Ancient Greek medicine facts for kids

Ancient Greek medicine was a mix of ideas and practices that kept changing as new thoughts and experiments came along. The ancient Greeks believed that many things affected a person's health. These included the humors (which we'll explain soon!), where someone lived, their social class, what they ate, injuries, and even their beliefs and mindset.

At first, ancient Greeks thought illnesses were "divine punishments" from the gods, and healing was a "gift" from them. But as doctors tried out new ideas and saw what worked, they started to understand that illnesses had physical causes, like cause and effect, rather than just being about gods.

Humorism was a main idea in ancient Greek medicine. It said that the body had four main fluids, called humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Each humor was linked to an organ, a mood, a season, and an element (like fire or water). They also thought that men and women might have different diseases and need different treatments.

Where people lived and their social class also mattered. For example, living conditions could expose people to things like mosquitoes, rats, or dirty water. What someone ate was important too, as not having enough good food could make them sick. Injuries, like those from accidents, helped doctors learn about the body and how infections spread. Doctors also paid a lot of attention to a patient's beliefs and thoughts, understanding that the mind played a part in healing, or could even be the cause of an illness.

The idea of the four humors became central to ancient Greek medicine. It stated that good health came from a perfect balance of these humors. If they were out of balance, you would get sick. Hippocrates, often called the "Father of Modern Medicine," was a very important person in ancient Greek medicine. He started a medical school on the island of Kos.

Hippocrates and his students wrote down many illnesses in a collection of books called the Hippocratic Corpus. They also created the Hippocratic Oath for doctors, which is still used today! They even came up with medical words we still use, like acute, chronic, epidemic, and relapse. The ideas from Hippocrates and others greatly influenced medicine for a long time, even in Islamic medicine and medieval European medicine, until new discoveries were made much later.

The first known Greek medical school opened in Cnidus around 700 BC. Alcmaeon, who wrote the first book about anatomy (the study of the body's structure), worked there. This school was where doctors started carefully watching their patients. The Greeks also learned some things from ancient Egyptian medicine, like using certain plants and substances in their medicines. This influence grew stronger when a Greek medical school was set up in Alexandria.

Healing Temples: Asclepieia

The Rod of Asclepius, a symbol of medicine

A view of the Asklepieion in Kos, a well-preserved healing temple

Asclepius was seen as the very first doctor, and myths say he was the son of the god Apollo. Temples built for Asclepius, called Asclepieia, were places where people went for medical advice, to find out what would happen with their illness, and to get healed.

At these temples, patients would enter a dream-like sleep called "enkoimesis." While in this state, they might get guidance from the god in a dream or even be cured by surgery. These temples were designed to help people heal. For example, the Temple of Asclepius in Pergamum had a spring with water believed to have healing powers. People would drink and bathe in it. They also used mud baths and calming teas like chamomile or peppermint.

Patients were encouraged to sleep at the temples. Doctors would then interpret their dreams and review their symptoms. Sometimes, dogs were even brought in to lick open wounds, as it was thought to help healing. In the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, old marble boards from 350 BC list the names, stories, complaints, and cures of about 70 patients. Some of the listed cures, like opening an infection in the belly, seem real enough to have happened, possibly while the patient was in that special sleep.

The Rod of Asclepius, which is a staff with one snake wrapped around it, is still a worldwide symbol for medicine today. People sometimes confuse it with the Caduceus, which has two snakes and wings. The Caduceus was carried by the god Hermes and represents speed, not medicine.

Ancient Greek Doctors and Their Ideas

Ancient Greek doctors did not believe that diseases came from angry gods or evil spirits. Instead, they thought about diseases in a more scientific way, based on observing nature and trying things out. They moved away from magical or religious reasons for why people got sick. However, sometimes they still blamed the patient for their illness, and the doctor's job might be to pray or use spells to help.

Women in Ancient Greek Medicine

In ancient Greece, women were generally not allowed to become doctors. But there are stories of some women who did practice medicine. One famous story is about a woman named Agnodice. Scholars debate if her story is completely true, but the legend says Agnodice dressed up as a man to study medicine and become a doctor. She cut her hair short and wore men's clothes.

While pretending to be a man, Agnodice learned from a well-known doctor named Herophilus. To make her female patients feel comfortable, she would reveal that she was a woman. Eventually, she was discovered and put on trial for practicing medicine as a woman. She showed the court that she was a woman. She was found guilty of breaking the law that stopped women from learning medicine. But her female patients spoke up for her, saying she had helped them when no male doctor could. Agnodice was found innocent, and soon after, the law in Athens was changed. After this, all free-born women were allowed to practice medicine. Agnodice then became a respected doctor in Athens.

While Agnodice is the most famous female doctor from ancient Greece, there were probably others. However, we don't have much information about them. Most women in ancient Greece couldn't get an education, so it was hard for them to become doctors. Some exceptions might have been daughters from rich families who could afford an education.

Besides formal doctors, there were also female healers in ancient Greece. These women weren't trained doctors, but they knew a lot about medicine. They used herbal remedies and natural treatments. They often helped with childbirth and other women's health issues, much like midwives or nurses today. Even though they weren't officially called doctors, they were very important to healthcare in ancient Greece.

Overall, women's roles in medicine in ancient Greece were limited. But some, like Agnodice, broke through these barriers and became respected doctors. Female healers also played a vital role in helping people stay healthy.

The Hippocratic Corpus and Humors

Surgical tools from the 5th century BC. These are reconstructions based on descriptions in the Hippocratic Corpus.

The Hippocratic Corpus was a collection of about seventy early medical books from ancient Greece. These books were linked to Hippocrates and his students. They were important because they suggested that diseases had natural, biological causes, not just magical ones. While people once thought Hippocrates wrote all of them, many scholars now believe different authors wrote these texts over many years.

One book in the Corpus, called the Sacred Disease, argued that if all diseases came from supernatural sources, then medicines wouldn't work. The idea of the humoral theory focused on keeping a balance between blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm in the body. Being too hot, cold, dry, or wet was thought to upset this balance and cause illness. Instead of blaming gods or demons, they sometimes blamed "bad air" (a theory called miasma theory). Doctors who followed humoral medicine tried to bring the humors back into balance. This shift from supernatural causes to biological causes didn't completely get rid of Greek religion, but it changed how doctors worked with patients.

Ancient Greek doctors who followed humorism also thought the environment was very important. They believed that people would get different diseases depending on where they lived. The local water supply and the direction the wind blew were thought to affect people's health.

Patients also played a big part in their own treatment. As stated in the book "Aphorisms", "It is not enough for the physician to do what is necessary, but the patient and the attendant must do their part as well." Patients were more likely to follow advice if they respected the doctor. According to the book "Prognostic", a doctor could gain more respect by being able to predict the outcome of a disease. Doctors were actively involved in patients' lives, even considering where they lived. Knowing which diseases were deadly and which could be cured was important for patients to trust their doctors and follow their advice.

Asclepius (center) arrives in Kos and is greeted by Hippocrates (left) and a citizen (right). A mosaic from the Asclepieion of Kos, 2nd–3rd century AD.

As patient cooperation grew in Greek medicine, getting the patient's agreement became important. Patients were given all the information about their health and then decided whether to accept treatment. The responsibility of both doctor and patient is mentioned in the book "Epidemics", which says, "There are three factors in the practice of medicine: the disease, the patient and the physician. The physician is the servant of science, and the patient must do what he can to fight the disease with the assistance of the physician."

Aristotle's Ideas About Life

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was a very important thinker about the living world. His writings show that he cared a lot about observing nature, understanding why things happen in biology, and the huge variety of life. Aristotle didn't do experiments in a lab. He believed that things showed their true nature in their natural environment, not in artificial ones. While this idea isn't used in modern physics or chemistry, it's still important in studying animals and their behavior. Aristotle made countless observations of plants and animals around him and spent a lot of time putting them into groups. He classified 540 animal species and studied the inside of at least 50 of them.

Aristotle believed that all natural processes were guided by a purpose or design. For example, he thought that nature didn't give an animal both horns and tusks to prevent them from being too "showy." He also believed that living things were arranged in a ladder of perfection, from plants at the bottom up to humans at the top. This was called the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being.

He thought that a creature's level of perfection was shown in its body shape. Aristotle also divided souls into three types: a "vegetative soul" for growing and reproducing (found in plants); a "sensitive soul" for moving and feeling (found in animals); and a "rational soul" for thinking (found only in humans). Unlike earlier philosophers, and like the Egyptians, Aristotle believed the rational soul was in the heart, not the brain.

Theophrastus, who took over from Aristotle at his school, wrote books about plants called the History of Plants. These books were the most important ancient writings on botany and were used for a long time, even into the Middle Ages. Many of Theophrastus's plant names are still used today. He focused more on how things worked mechanically, rather than just their purpose. Theophrastus also realized that some higher plants needed both male and female parts to reproduce, though this discovery was forgotten for many years.

Herophilus, Erasistratus, and Anatomy

The front page of a 1644 version of Theophrastus's Historia Plantarum, which was originally written around 200 BC.

The way we name body parts, the methods for studying them, and how we use that knowledge all started with the Greeks. After Theophrastus (who died in 286 BC), not much new original work was done in biology for a while. It wasn't until the time of Alexandria under the Ptolemies that big steps forward in biology happened again.

The first medical teacher in Alexandria was Herophilus of Chalcedon, often called "the father of anatomy." He disagreed with Aristotle and believed that intelligence came from the brain, and that the nervous system controlled movement and feeling. Herophilus also figured out the difference between veins and arteries, noticing that arteries had a pulse but veins did not. He even developed a way to diagnose illnesses by feeling different types of pulses. He and his friend, Erasistratus of Chios, studied the role of veins and nerves, mapping their paths throughout the body.

Erasistratus noticed that the human brain had more folds and bumps on its surface compared to other animals, and he linked this to humans having greater intelligence. He sometimes used experiments in his research. For example, he once repeatedly weighed a bird in a cage and noticed it lost weight between feedings. He believed that the human blood vessel system was controlled by vacuums, pulling blood around the body. In Erasistratus's ideas, air entered the body, went to the lungs, then to the heart where it became "vital spirit," which was then pumped by arteries throughout the body. Some of this vital spirit reached the brain, where it turned into "animal spirit," which was then sent out by the nerves.

Galen: A Major Influence

Aelius Galenus, known as Galen, was a very important Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher in the Roman Empire. He was one of the most skilled medical researchers of ancient times. Galen influenced many scientific fields, including anatomy (body structure), physiology (how the body works), pathology (diseases), pharmacology (medicines), and neurology (nerves and brain), as well as philosophy and logic.

Galen's father was a wealthy architect who loved learning. Galen received a great education that prepared him for a successful career. Born in Pergamon (now Bergama, Turkey), Galen traveled widely, learning about many different medical ideas before settling in Rome. There, he treated important Romans and eventually became the personal doctor to several emperors.

Galen's understanding of anatomy and medicine was mainly based on the idea of humorism, which was developed by earlier Greek doctors like Hippocrates. His ideas were so powerful that they influenced Western medical science for over 1,300 years! His reports on anatomy, which were mostly based on studying monkeys (especially the Barbary macaque) and pigs, were not questioned until 1543. That's when new descriptions and drawings of human dissections were published in a famous book called De humani corporis fabrica by Andreas Vesalius. Even then, Vesalius tried to fit his new observations into Galen's ideas.

Galen's ideas about how the circulatory system worked lasted until 1628. That's when William Harvey published his book De motu cordis, which showed that blood circulates throughout the body, with the heart acting as a pump. Medical students continued to study Galen's writings until the 1800s. Galen also did many experiments where he tied off nerves. These experiments supported the idea, which we still accept today, that the brain controls all muscle movements through the cranial and peripheral nervous systems.

Galen saw himself as both a doctor and a philosopher, as he wrote in his book That the Best Physician is also a Philosopher. He was very interested in the debate between doctors who relied on reason and those who relied on experience. His use of direct observation and studying bodies showed a balanced approach between these two ideas.

Dioscorides: The Plant Expert

Pedanius Dioscorides was a Greek physician, pharmacologist (someone who studies medicines), botanist (someone who studies plants), and Roman army surgeon in the first century AD. He wrote an encyclopedia of medicinal substances commonly known as De Materia Medica. This book didn't talk about medical theories or how diseases started. Instead, it described how to use and what effects about 600 plant medicines had, based on what he saw and learned.

Unlike other ancient books, Dioscorides's book was always being copied and used. It became the main source for Western medicines until the 1800s, which shows how effective the medicines he described were. His work also had a bigger influence on European herbal medicine than even the Hippocratic Corpus.

Herodicus: Father of Sports Medicine

Herodicus was a Greek physician from the 5th century BC. He is known as the father of sports medicine. He was the first to suggest using special exercises to treat diseases and keep people healthy. He is also believed to have been one of Hippocrates's teachers.

Herodicus also recommended a good diet and massage using helpful herbs and oils. His ideas are considered the basis of sports medicine. He was very specific about how a massage should be given. He suggested starting slowly and gently, then getting faster with more pressure, and finally ending with gentle rubbing again.

How Ancient Greek Medicine Lived On

Because the Romans had a lot of contact with Greek culture and eventually conquered Greece, they liked and adopted Hippocratic medicine. This led to Greek medical ideas spreading throughout the Roman Empire and much of the Western world.

The most important Roman scholar who continued and expanded on the Hippocratic tradition was Galen (who died around 207 AD). However, after the Western Roman Empire fell, the study of Hippocratic and Galenic texts almost disappeared in Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages. But in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), people continued to study and practice this Greek medicine.

After 750 AD, scholars from Arab, Persian, and Andalusi regions translated Galen's and Dioscorides's works, especially. Then, the Hippocratic-Galenic medical tradition was adopted and expanded upon, with Avicenna being a very influential Muslim doctor and scholar. Starting in the late 1000s, the Hippocratic-Galenic tradition returned to Western Europe through translations of these ancient texts, mostly from Arabic versions but sometimes from the original Greek. During the Renaissance, more direct translations of Galen and Hippocrates from Greek were made using newly found Byzantine manuscripts.

Galen's influence was so strong that even when Western Europeans started dissecting bodies in the 1200s, scholars often tried to make their findings fit into Galen's model, even if they might have shown he was wrong. Over time, however, ancient medical theories were replaced by a greater focus on scientific experiments in the 1500s and 1600s. Still, the Hippocratic-Galenic practice of bloodletting (removing blood from a patient) was used until the 1800s, even though it wasn't effective and was risky.

See also

• Ancient Egyptian medicine
• Byzantine medicine
• History of medicine
• Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences
• Medical community of ancient Rome
• Medicine in ancient Rome
• On Ancient Medicine (Hippocratic Corpus)
• Unani