The Philosophies Of Medicine In Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece there were two philosophies of medicine: religious and scientific. Even before the Hippocratic times, the Greeks believed that the appearance of the diseases was associated with sins. In Greek society, God played a huge role in the maintenance of human health. When a person got sick, it was seen as a punishment of God, that is, this person apparently has sinned; and vice versa, if a person was healed from sickness, so he deserved it and it was a gift from God. It was also due to the Greek mythology. In ancient times, the Greeks associated Asclepius with healing from all kinds of diseases. In honor of him, temples, shrines were built, where people came to pray and ask him for healing. He was often portrayed as a bearded man
C, the ancient physicinas began to look for the scientific treatment, for material causes of disease, rather than spiritual, which led it to depart from superstition to a more scientific research. At this period it was a blossom of modern medicine as a science, and it was connected with the great Hippocrates. His name became a symbol of the medical art in Ancient Greece, and his "Hippocratic Corpus" is a classic encyclopedia for doctors to this day. Greek doctors began to show interest to the body itself, to examine it, to investigate the causes of diseases and their symptoms, and various methods of
Now the disease did not arise because of the gods, but because of a natural reason. According to the Greeks, health completely dependent on lifestyle, environment and diet. Causes of diseases could be different: it was the influence of the season, climate, age, temperament, heredity. So, in the work about "Airs, waters and places", it was said that the doctor who comes at first time into an unfamiliar district, should study the climate, the soil, the way of life of the population. Only those who pre-examine the conditions of life in that place, who tentatively explores climate, lifestyle and other such things can successfully work as a doctor and treat the local population (Airs, waters, places, 148). Thus it was possible to reveal that the illness or predisposition to the disease was caused by a very hot summer or rainy winter. It is also necessary to take into account that what we drink and eat. A diet played a crucial role in human health. Greek doctors claimed that a diet changes with the seasons: eating a lot and drinking a little in winter, and in contrast, eating less and drinking more in summer (A Regimen for Health, 272). Water quality also indicated the causes of a number of diseases. Water have implications for health and doctors had to know which one suits a particular