Ancient Greek Medicine

Since the majority of well known physicians in the ancient era were Greek (Galen and Hippocrates to name two), I wanted to learn more about the origins and culture of medicine in ancient Greece. One of the more enlightening books on the subject happens to be Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine by Sir James Elliott. He describes how in early Greek medicine, "the ancients were well informed in attributing destruction of the infection to the sun's rays". This was of course based on the belief that Apollo, the god of the sun, was instructing ancient physicians how to harness the sun's rays to fight common ailments. Another figure that I found fascinating was Apollo's son, Asclepius who was believed to be the god of medicine. The actual symbol of medicine that is used now is based on the Rod of Asclepius shown below compared to the actual symbol on the right.

Asclepius and his Rod

The modern symbol of medicine

According to Elliott, "when Asclepius was in the house of his patient, Glaucus, and deep in thought, a serpent coiled itself around his staff. Asclepius killed it, and then another serpent appeared with a herb leaf in its mouth, and restored the dead reptile to life." Apparently, it was believed that poison was the cause of disease and if a snake was capable of causing disease then it might be capable of curing it as well. I also found interesting that while doctors were held in high esteem, two divisions were recognized: physicians and surgeons. It was also interesting and humorous to see that physicians were held in less honor than surgeons, much like it is today. "Then Asclepius bestowed the power of healing upon his two sons; nevertheless, he made one of the two more celebrated than the other; on one did he bestow the lighter hand that he might draw missiles from the flesh, and sew up and heal all wounds, but the other he endowed with great precision of mind, so as to understand what cannot be seen, and to heal seemingly incurable diseases."