Transcript Hellenistic Medicine

Hippocrates &
Hellenistic Medicine
Hippocratic Medicine
 c.
450 – 370 BCE
 Hippocratic
Corpus
– 60 or so texts attributed to him
– Range of subjects
– He didn’t write all of them
– Written over ~70 years by several
individuals
– Collected in Alexandria, Egypt around
420 – 350 BCE
 Hippocrates
more of a legend
– “malleable cultural artifact”
 Corpus
does provide insights into
Greek medicine
 Hippocratic
Oath
– Insights into two aspects of Hippocratic
medicine
 Social
context
 Medical science
 Social
context
– Plurality of healers
– Social status
 Scientific
basis
– Not anatomical
– Highly speculative
 Based
on humoural theory
 Disease
 In
an imbalance
community: epidemic
– Environmental
 In
humans
– internal
 Imbalance
humours
– Blood
– Phlegm
– Yellow bile
– Black bile
related to one of the 4
Social Context
 4th
century BCE
 Alexander
empire
 Rise
the Great & the Greek
of philosophy, reason, science
 Plato
 Socrates
 Aristotle
 Linkages
between 4 elements theory
& four humours theory
Plato, Aristotle & The Body
Plato (427-347 BCE)
 Brain: Reason
 Heart: Spirit
 Liver: Appetite
Based on speculation
Aristotle (384-322
BCE)
 Brain: giant cooling
system
 Heart: seat of all vital
functions
 2 types of blood
vessels
Based on dissection of
animals
Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE)
& His Empire
Hippocratic Medicine
 Hippocratic
medicine did not believe
that it was important to know about
anatomy
 Structure had little to do with
theories of health & illness
 Physiology more important
Hellenistic Medicine
 Hellenistic
medicine knew far more
about anatomy
 Rise of Alexandria (in Egypt) as
centre of medical and scientific
learning
Herophilus (ca. 330–260 BCE)
 Delineation
of nerves
 Realization they were connected to
the brain
 Brain responsible for transmission of
information to the body
 Brain replaced heart as centre of
body functioning
 Distinguished
between arteries &
veins
 Arteries originated in heart
 Distributed blood and pneuma
 Veins
arose from liver
 Distributed nutrients to the body
 Responding
to anatomical
findings on dissection
– Liver (large organ)
– Connected to heart by inferior vena
cava
– Heart (large organ)
– Aorta leaves heart, all other
arteries traceable to it
– Brain (large organ)
– All nerves traceable to it
Continuities from Plato
Plato
 Brain: Reason
 Heart: Spirit
 Liver: Appetite
Herophilus
 Brain: Body Reg.
 Heart: Pneuma
 Liver: Nutrition

Erasistratus (ca. 330-255 BCE)
 Arteries
blood
only contained pneuma; no
Learned Medicine in the
Roman Empire
 Greek
empire fragmented after death
of Alexander
 Coincided with Rome’s rise to power
 First Greek physicians arrived in
Rome around 219 BCE
 Athens sacked by Roman Army
around 80 BCE
Roman Empire
Roman Attitudes to Greek Medicine
 Ambivalence
 Roman
culture more pragmatic
 Some believed doctors were harmful
 Low social status of the physician
 Roman citizenship
Roman Contributions to Public
Health
 Acquaducts
 Sewage
systems
 Public baths
 Architectural knowledge re: healthy
locations
 Development of health care
institutions (valetudinaria)
 Military
medicine