Hippocrates | Greek physician | Britannica.com Greek physician Avicenna Hippocrates, (born c. 460 bc , island of Cos, Greece —died c. 375 , Larissa , Thessaly), ancient Greek physician who lived during Greece’s Classical period and is traditionally regarded as the father of medicine . It is difficult to isolate the facts of Hippocrates’ life from the later tales told about him or to assess his medicine accurately in the face of centuries of reverence for him as the ideal physician. About 60 medical writings have survived that bear his name, most of which were not written by him. He has been revered for his ethical standards in medical practice, mainly for the Hippocratic Oath , which, it is suspected, he did not write. Hippocrates, undated bust. Hippocrates, Roman bust copied from a Greek original, c. 3rd century bce; in the collection … Courtesy of the Soprintendenza alle Antichità di Ostia, Italy Life and works It is known that while Hippocrates was alive, he was admired as a physician and teacher. His younger contemporary Plato referred to him twice.

In the Protagoras Plato called Hippocrates “the Asclepiad of Cos ” who taught students for fees, and he implied that Hippocrates was as well known as a physician as Polyclitus and Phidias were as sculptors. It is now widely accepted that an “Asclepiad” was not a temple priest or a member of a physicians’ guild but instead was a physician belonging to a family that had produced well-known physicians for generations. Plato’s second reference occurs in the Phaedrus , in which Hippocrates is referred to as a famous Asclepiad who had a philosophical approach to medicine. history of medicine: Hippocrates Meno , a pupil of Aristotle , specifically stated in his history of medicine the views of Hippocrates on the causation of diseases , namely, that undigested residues were produced by unsuitable diet and that these residues excreted vapours, which passed into the body generally and produced diseases. Aristotle said that Hippocrates was called “the Great Physician” but that he was small in stature (Politics). These are the only extant contemporary, or near-contemporary, references to Hippocrates.

Five hundred years later, the Greek physician Soranus wrote a life of Hippocrates, but the contents of this and later lives were largely traditional or imaginative. Throughout his life Hippocrates appears to have traveled widely in Greece and Asia Minor practicing his art and teaching his pupils, and he presumably taught at the medical school at Cos quite frequently. His birth and death dates are traditional but may well be approximately accurate. Undoubtedly, Hippocrates was a historical figure, a great physician who exercised a permanent influence on the development of medicine and on the ideals and ethics of the physician. Britannica Stories Cheetahs Face Extinction Risk Hippocrates’ reputation, and myths about his life and his family, began to grow in the Hellenistic period , about a century after his death. During this period, the Museum of Alexandria in Egypt collected for its library literary material from preceding periods in celebration of the past greatness of Greece. So far as it can be inferred, the medical works that remained from the Classical period (among the earliest prose writings in Greek) were assembled as a group and called the works of Hippocrates ( Corpus Hippocraticum).

Linguists and physicians subsequently wrote commentaries on them, and, as a result, all the virtues of the Classical medical works were eventually attributed to Hippocrates and his personality constructed from them. The virtues of the Hippocratic writings are many, and, although they are of varying lengths and literary quality, they are all simple and direct, earnest in their desire to help, and lacking in technical jargon and elaborate argument. The works show such different views and styles that they cannot be by one person, and some were clearly written in later periods. Yet all the works of the Corpus share basic assumptions about how the body works and what disease is, providing a sense of the substance and appeal of ancient Greek medicine as practiced by Hippocrates and other physicians of his era. Prominent among these attractive works are the Epidemics, which give annual records of weather and associated diseases, along with individual case histories and records of treatment, collected from cities in northern Greece. Diagnosis and prognosis are frequent subjects. Other treatises explain how to set fractures and treat wounds , feed and comfort patients, and take care of the body to avoid illness. Treatises called Diseases deal with serious illnesses, proceeding from the head to the feet, giving symptoms, prognoses, and treatments.

There are works on diseases of women, childbirth, and pediatrics. Prescribed medications, other than foods and local salves, are generally purgatives to rid the body of the noxious substances thought to cause disease. Some works argue that medicine is indeed a science , with firm principles and methods, although explicit medical theory is very rare. The medicine depends on a mythology of how the body works and how its inner organs are connected. The myth is laboriously constructed from experience, but it must be remembered that there was neither systematic research nor dissection of human beings in Hippocrates’ time. Hence, while much of the writing seems wise and correct, there are large areas where much is unknown. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The Embassy, a fictional work that connects Hippocrates’ family with critical events in the history of Cos and Greece, was included in the original collection of Hippocratic works in the Library of Alexandria . Over the next four centuries, The Embassy inspired other imaginative writings, including letters between Hippocrates and the Persian king and also the philosopher Democritus .

Though obviously fiction, these works enhanced Hippocrates’ reputation, providing the basis for later biographies and the traditional picture of Hippocrates as the father of medicine. Still other works were added to the Hippocratic Corpus between its first collection and its first scholarly edition around the beginning of the 2nd century ad. Among them were the Hippocratic Oath and other ethical writings that prescribe principles of behaviour for the physician. Influence Human Health: Fact or Fiction? Technical medical science developed in the Hellenistic period and after. Surgery , pharmacy , and anatomy advanced; physiology became the subject of serious speculation; and philosophic criticism improved the logic of medical theories. Competing schools in medicine (first Empiricism and later Rationalism) claimed Hippocrates as the origin and inspiration of their doctrines. In the 2nd century ad, the physician Galen of Pergamum developed his magnificent medical system, a synthesis of preceding work and his own additions that became the basis of European and Arabic medicine into the Renaissance .

Galen was argumentative and long-winded, often abusive of contemporaries and earlier physicians, but at the same time, with exaggerated reverence that ignored five centuries of progress, he claimed that Hippocrates was the source of all that he himself knew and practiced. For later physicians, Hippocrates stood as the inspirational source, while the more difficult Galen offered the substantial details. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest As time went on, reverence for the past had to contend with new notions of scientific method and new discoveries. In the process, Galen’s authority was undone, but Hippocrates’ eminence as father of medicine remained. Scientific progress in fields such as anatomy, chemistry , microbiology , and microscopy, especially beginning in the 16th and 17th centuries, demanded that Galen’s medicine be criticized and revised part by part. Arguments against Galenic medicine were often more effective when they were presented as returns to true Hippocratic medicine. New scientific methodology argued for a return to observation and study of nature, abandoning bookish authority. The simple and direct writings of the Hippocratic Collection read well as sample empirical texts that eschewed dogma .

By the late 19th century, Galen was irrelevant to medical practice, and general knowledge of Hippocratic medical writings was beginning to fade. However, today Hippocrates still continues to represent the humane, ethical aspects of the medical profession. A number of idealized images of Hippocrates have survived from antiquity, but none that seems to derive from a contemporary portrait. Hippocrates, the Physician - Greeka.com View all Famous people | Next famous personality: Archimedes, the mathematecian His Life and Death Born on the island of Kos Dodecanese in around 460 BC, Hippocrates was the son and grandson of physicians, who practiced medicine in the local Asclepieion, the famous healing centre dedicated to god Asclepius. Hippocrates himself practiced medicine throughout his life, not only in the Asclepieion of Kos but also in other places and towns of Greece. Not much about his personal life is known, but sources say that he died around 377 BC in Larissa Thessaly, in one of his journeys. Other sources tell that Asclepius was over a hundred years old when he died.

Medical Schools At that time, there were two medical schools that dominated in Greece: the Knidian and the Koan Schools of Medicine. The former concentrated on diagnosis, the later on prognosis. The former failed to achieve its purpose since in the Greek tradition it was forbidden to dissect a human body, so physicians knew very little of the human anatomy. Hippocratic Theory and Practices The Koan, or else Hippocratic, School developed certain theories that were based mostly on self-treatment. Hippocrates believed that a body became ill when there was an imbalance in the four humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. Medicine therefore aimed to restore this balance. Another Hippocratic concept was that each disease reached to a state of "crisis", after which the disease would either subside or increase, leading eventually to the death of the patient. A relapse might occur depending on the number of days between the crisis and the contraction of the disease. Hippocrates also developed an early homeopathetic theory: he believed that a human body has the power to heal itself or restore the balance of the four humors.

Thus, complete rest and immobilization was recommended to patients to remove pressure from the point of pain and diffuse it all over the body. For this end, Hippocrates had developed special machineries, such as the Hippocratic bench, a bed to pull the body of the patient and diffuse pressure. Nature could do a great job in healing illnesses, according to Hippocrates. He usually didn't use drugs, except if they were natural balms and extracts. He also gave much attention to the sterilization of the patient and he was said to use clean water and wine to heal wounds. The Hippocratic School taught physicians to be strictly professional and to follow certain procedures. They had to be calm, honest, understanding, smart and very serious. Clinical Medicine However, the most important innovation of the Hippocratic School was that he made physicians keep a detailed record with all their observations and methods for each medical case separately, thinking that these records would be very helpful for the latter generations. In this way, Hippocrates founded clinical medicine. After many observations, he came to believe that diseases could be a matter of family inheritance, natural environment, lifestyle and food habits. The Hippocratic Corpus Hippocrates and his students had made remarkable achievements in the detection of various diseases and their symptoms.

He even classified illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. All his clinical observations and medicinal applications are discussed in detail in the famous Hippocratic Corpus, which comprises of medical notes, textbooks, lectures, essays and researches. The most famous text of the Hippocratic Corpus is the Hippocratic Oath that physicians take even today upon their graduation. Unfortunately, after the death of Hippocrates, all researches and observations on clinical case histories came to a stop. Probably his discoveries were so much respected that the physicians of the following centuries didn't dare to investigate or question them. His clinical methods were utilized by the Arabs in the Middle Ages, by the Europeans after the Renaissance and by physicians till the 17th century, when medicine started to develop again as a science. More: Hippocrates Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Intellectuals & Academics Hippocrates Biography Hippocrates was a Greek physician. He is considered as one of the greatest figures in the history of medicine and referred to as the 'Father of Western Medicine'. This biography profiles his childhood, life, works, achievements and timeline.

Quick Facts Thessalus, Draco By J.G de Lint (1867-1936), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Hippocrates was a Greek physician of the Classical Greece age. He is considered as one of the greatest figures in the history of medicine. As the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine, he is referred to as the 'Father of Western Medicine'. Hippocratic School of Medicine radically changed the system of medicine in ancient Greece. It separated medicine from traditional disciplines such as theurgy and philosophy and established it as a professional discipline. The very commonly known âHippocratic Oathâ has been derived from and credited to the first physician of human history â Hippocrates. Other achievements and noteworthy feats of this great physician include âThe Hippocratic Corpusâ, which is a collection of ancient Greek medical works closely related and associated with Hippocrates and his teachings. The credit for the systematic study of clinical medicine goes to him as he summed up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribed standard practices for physicians through his Hippocratic Corpus and other works. Childhood & Early Life Going by historians, Hippocrates was born around 460 BC in Cos, an island in Greece.

There is, however, confusion regarding the dates and works surrounding him. There are many sources of information about Hippocrates but Soranus of Ephesus, who was Hippocrates' first biographer, is the main source of most of the personal information about him. Other sources of information on Hippocrates are the Suda of the tenth century and the works of John Tzetzes. Contemporaries like Plato and Aristotle also mention about him in their works. Historians believe that he was an avid traveler and moved a lot in Asia Minor and Greece teaching his pupils and practicing his art. It is also presumed that he taught at the medical school at Cos frequently. According to Sonarus of Ephesus, Hippocrates was the son of Heraclides, who was a physician and his mother Praxitela was the daughter of Tizane. Hippocrates had two sons named Draco and Thessalus who were his students. Polybus, his son-in-law, was also his student. According to Galen, a later physician, Polybus became Hippocrates true successor whereas his sons Draco and Thessalus had a son each who were named after Hippocrates. Sonarus also revealed in his biography of Hippocrates that he acquired knowledge of medicine from his grandfather and father.

He gained knowledge about other subjects from Gorgias ad Democritus. It is presumed that he received his training at the asklepieion of Kos, and he also took lessons from the Thracian physician Herodicus of Selymbria. Throughout his life he practiced and taught medicine and travelled to places as far as Thrace, Sea of Marmara and Thessaly. Hippocratic Theory Hippocrates was probably the first person to believe that diseases are common and natural occurrences and not due to some external supernatural forces like gods. He stated that diseases were created by environmental factors, diet, and living habits. Pythagoras and his disciples had credited Hippocrates for associating philosophy and medicine. The Hippocratic School of medicine or Koan school applied general diagnoses and passive treatments to achieve success. This system focused on patient care and prognosis and not diagnosis. Even though it achieved considerable success in treating diseases, Hippocratic system of medicine and its philosophy are different than that of modern medicine. Crisis: Crisis was an important point in Hippocratic medicine. It is a point in the advancement of disease where either the patient would recover with the help of natural processes or the patient would succumb to death.

Crisis also might be followed by a relapse. It was also highlighted that crisis occurred on critical days. Hippocratic medicine adopted a very passive and humble approach and the therapeutic approach was also based on "the healing power of nature". His approach of healing focused on simple and natural processes that involved gentle treatment and emphasis was laid on keeping the patient clean and sterilized. Hippocrates was hesitant in using specialized treatment and drugs and instead followed a generalized therapy that required generalized treatment. The generalized treatment that he used included fasting and laid emphasis on the consumption of apple cider vinegar. He also quoted that "to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness." Yet, he used potent drugs in extreme illness. His approach proved successful especially in treating simple ailments. Professionalism: Hippocratic system of medicine was known for its strict professionalism, practice and discipline. âOn The Physicianâ is one of his works in which he has highlighted and recommended that physicians should be calm, patient, honest, well-kept and understanding. They need to closely observe and practice all aspects of their profession. It was important for them to have apt understanding of the instruments, lightning, patient positioning, bandaging, splinting etc.

Great emphasis was laid on clinical doctrines of documentation and observation in his system of medicine. The doctrines state that physicians should always jot down and keep a record of their findings. This was practiced so that new physicians could also benefit from them and learn. He even extended the clinical observation to the patientâs family history and his environment. He has therefore been given the title of the âFather of Medicineâ. Contribution to Medicine The description of many medical conditions and diseases has been attributed to Hippocrates and his disciples. He has been credited with the description of clubbing of fingers which is also known as âHippocratic fingersâ. This is an important sign that helps in diagnosing cyanotic heart disease and lung cancer. He made different categories of illness namely epidemic, endemic, chronic and acute. Relapse, peak, crisis, resolution, paroxysm, exacerbation etc were terms that he used while describing illness. The relevancy of his teachings still holds prominence for students of surgery and pulmonary medicine. He had been the first documented âchest surgeonâ and the techniques that he used and his findings are still practiced.

Hippocratic school of medicine describes aliments relating to human rectum and the relevant treatments. âHippocratic Corpusâ also mentions about excision and cautery. He also mentioned some fundamental concepts about proctoscopy in the corpus which are still in practice. There are references pertaining to endoscopy as well. In order to treat diabetes he prescribed exercises and diet which has been termed as lifestyle medicine in modern time. Hippocratic Corpus & Hippocratic Oath Written in Ionic Greek, the Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of roughly seventy works. It is, however, a subject of debate and speculation whether Hippocrates was the actual author as there is not much evidence to prove if he is the writer of all these books but. It has been attributed to Hippocrates as the teachings described follow his principles. This corpus consists of philosophical essays, research, notes, textbooks etc on a number of subjects pertaining to medicine. The subjects that have been written cater to the needs of different readers. Few of them have been written for professional physicians while some are for layman and a few are for the pharmacists.

Notable among the treatises of the âHippocratic Corpusâ are The Hippocratic Oath; Aphorisms; On Airs, Waters and Places; The Book of Prognostics; Instruments of Reduction; On Regimen in Acute Diseases; On The Sacred Disease; etc. Hippocratic Oath: This is a document that highlights morals and medical practice ethics. The credit for the same goes to Hippocrates but it is believed to have been written after his death. This is considered to be the most sought after document of the Hippocratic Corpus. Though the oath is not applied in its original form in modern time, yet it serves as the foundation for many other laws or oaths that provide description about what morals of medicine and good practice should be like. Medical graduates commonly take these oaths before they start off their career as a doctor. Personal Life & Legacy Hippocrates is believed to have breathed his last in 370 BC in Larissa, Greece. Some records state that the Greek physician died at the age of 83 or 90. Some other accounts claim that Hippocrates had lived more than 100 years.

He had two sons Draco and Thessalus whom he apprenticed in the practice of medicine. He also had a daughter and there is a legend about Hippocrates daughter. She was turned into a hundred foot long dragon by a Goddess named Diane and is considered to be the âLady of the manorâ of an old castle. He is considered to be the âFather of Medicineâ. The contributions that he made brought in revolution in the field of medicine and its practice. Hippocratic form of baldness is considered to be the most severe form of hair loss. A number of clinical signs and symptoms have been named after him and historians believe that he has been the first one to describe them. Few of the notable ones are Hippocratic Face, Hippocratic Oath, Hippocratic Corpus, Hippocratic Succussion, Hippocratic Bench, Hippocratic cap-shaped bandage, Hippocratic fingers etc. A lunar crater has been named in honor of Hippocrates. A museum in the Greek island of Kos has been dedicated to him and has been named as Hippocratic Museum. A program of the New York University Medical Centre that aims at enhancing education through technology has been named as âThe Hippocratic Projectâ.

In 2009, Michael Hulse and Donald Singer founded âThe Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicineâ. Hippocrates is believed to have written many books including, On Fractures, On Injuries of head, Of the Epidemics, On Fistulae, On Ulcers, The Oath, The law, Instruments of Reduction, Aphorisms, On the Surgery, On Ancient Medicine, On the Articulations, On Hemorrohoids, The book of Prognostics, On Regimen in Acute Diseases, On the Sacred Disease, On Airs, Waters and Places etc. Translate this page to Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese Pictures of Hippocrates Hippocrates: The "Greek Miracle" in Medicine Hippocrates: The "Greek Miracle" in Medicine I. Historical Context The Hippocratic Corpus consists of some 60 medical treatises, the majority of them conventionally dated to the later decades of the fifth century B.C.

, or to the early decades of the fourth; that is to say, at the culmination of the "Classical Period," the time when Pericles was leader of the Athenian democracy, when Ictinus was designing the Parthenon and the Apollo temple at Bassae and Phidias finishing his gold and ivory statues of Athene Parthenos for Ictinus' temple and of the seated Zeus for the temple at Olympia. To the later Plato and to Aristotle, Hippocrates from the island of Cos was known as a famous physician, and subsequent tradition sets Hippocrates into the midst of the intellectual ferment at the end of the fifth century. Aulus Gellius, a Roman rhetorician of the second century A.D. , puts it this way: Then the great Peloponnesian War began in Greece, which Thucydides has handed down to memory...During that period Sophocles, and later Euripides, were famous and renowned as tragic poets, Hippocrates as a physician, and as a philosopher, Democritus; Socrates the Athenian was younger than these, but was in part their contemporary. (Noctes Atticae XVII.21, 16-18) .

A variety of developments enabled Hippocratic writers to make medicine a full participant in the so-called "Revolution of Wisdoms" of the latter fifth century B.C. A favorite explanation has long been influence from Presocratic natural philosophers, for these predecessors and contemporaries did pioneer techniques for explaining phenomena in the natural world by means of mechanical processes, summoning analogies that enabled them to see with the eye of the mind what was hidden from their eyes. The sophists, too, were important, for those teachers of knowledge and rhetoric spread over the Greek world at approximately the same time as itinerant Hippocratic physicians. Sophists' training taught men how to mount a convincing argument; direct participation in political assemblies and the law courts gave citizens ample practice in distinguishing between the lesser and the better argument and in deciding what constituted adequate proof. Important also seems to be the development of the Hippocratics' medium, the written prose treatise. In contrast to the writing of poetry, written prose develops slowly in the Greek world; medical writers, historians, and writers of political and judicial speeches seize upon it at approximately the same moment, and in their hands written prose rapidly gains sophistication. II.

Formation of the Hippocratic Corpus The figure of a concerned and conscientious physician attracted not only a host of apocryphal legends about his great deeds, but also the heterogeneous collection of early medical writings known as the Hippocratic Corpus. These treatises collected under Hippocrates' name in Hellenistic times, certainly in Alexandria by the middle of the third century B.C. Ancient scholar-physicians who worked on the treatises as glossators and commentators were bothered by their heterogeneity of styles and their contradictory contents, and they borrowed methods current in Homeric criticism to explain them. Some suggested that Hippocrates' life was prodigiously long (perhaps 109 years!) and that he wrote some treatises when young and others when old; others conjectured that instead of a single Hippocrates, there were seven, all members of the same family, writing the treatises over several generations. The "best" treatises were judged to be compositions from the hand of "The Great Hippocrates, Father of Medicine" at the height of his intellectual powers. Galen , practicing medicine at Rome in the latter half of the second century A.D. A.D.

, is certain, for example, that Hippocrates himself wrote Epidemics I and III, but that his son Thessalus must have discovered among his father's papers after the old man's death Epidemics II, IV, and VI in the form of notes scribbled on skins and wax tablets. The son, Galen supposes, misunderstood his father's intentions, and although the lad expanded what he found, what he published remained, in Galen's view, "unfinished works-in-progress." Contradictions of fact also bothered subsequent readers, and the earliest extant references to the Hippocratic Oath, from the first century A.D. , show that Scribonius Largus, a physician who accompanied the Emperor Claudius to Britain, and Soranus, a Greek physician who practiced at Rome, worried about the provision that forbids giving a woman an abortive pessary, especially when the Oath is juxtaposed to the fact that two writers of embryology in the Corpus (Fleshes and Nature of the Child) describe aborted fetuses six and seven days old and acknowledge that they witnessed or caused the abortions that produced the fetuses.

Neither Scribonius Largus nor Soranus is worried about the historical and scholarly issues regarding Hippocrates, but they do wonder about what the oath prescribes for their own practice of medicine in Rome of the Principate. Each decides that he can summon Hippocrates as authority on the use of abortives. Scribonius Largus does so to prohibit all abortions, citing another Hippocratic principle, namely that medicine is the art of healing, not harming. Soranus decides that the Oath prohibits only abortive pessaries and that other procedures are permitted when the life of the mother is in danger, and he adds that he would never prescribe an abortive to preserve a woman's youthful beauty or to conceal her adulteries. III. The Corpus after Antiquity The figure of Hippocrates as "Father of Medicine" remains a potent one in medical circles throughout antiquity and beyond, although he is increasingly viewed through Galen's lens, which pictures an Hippocrates who is very much like Galen himself.

Galen's enthusiasm for certain texts in the Hippocratic Corpus was crucial to the continuing interest later physicians took in Hippocrates and his writings, and Hippocratic texts were copied in sufficient numbers to survive into Byzantine times and be reimported into the West during the Renaissance. Renaissance anatomists, such as Vesalius and Paré, pointed with scorn to mistaken deductions that Galen drew from his dissections on animals, and Galen's influence suffered as a result. By contrast, once the Corpus was translated into Latin early in the sixteenth century, the prestige of Hippocrates and his writings escalated throughout Europe, as physicians continued the practice, now more than a millennium and a half old, of combing the Corpus in search of precedents for the medicine they were themselves currently practicing. Only in the twentieth century have historians of medicine come round to admitting that there is nothing to connect "Hippocrates", the famous physician from Cos mentioned by Plato and Aristotle, with any single medical treatise in our present Hippocratic Corpus.

While the historians Herodotus and Thucydides announce their names – "Herodotus of Halicarnassus" and "Thucydides the Athenian" being the very first words of their histories – the medical writers of the Corpus are nameless. They mention place names in the case histories of the Epidemics, but the towns and villages named are where their patients lived, from Elis in the western Peloponnese to Thasos in the northern Aegean and Perinthus and Chalcedon along the northern coast of the Black Sea. From the Epidemics one gets the impression of itinerant physicians, working in fairly close contact with one another on the same and similar medical problems from strikingly similar points of view, but writing them up in distinctive narrative styles. IV. The Hippocratic Physician This picture of the ancient physician coincides with what we know about doctors from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B.C. in other sources. Already in Homer's Iliad Podaleiris and Machaon, sons of Asclepius, accompany the Greek armada to Troy, where they fight and heal.

Machaon's skill draws the admiring remark that: a healer is worth many men in his ability to cut out arrows and smear soothing medicaments on wounds ( Iliad XI.514-515 ) A nascent theory of bodily humors, such as we see fully developed in the Corpus, operates in the epics: balance is a sign of health, imbalance, a harbinger of disease. Cholê is both Achilles' anger and the inner juice his body has accumulated in excess ever since his days as a nursling at the breast. Although medicine is an old technê, Hippocratics burst upon the medical scene of the later fifth century as full participants in the intellectual discussions and debates that mark the later Classical Period. They were agonistic in stance and concerned with self-conscious presentation of their medical technê and with its ability to guide the doctor in a logical movement from theory to practice; that is, from nosological cause of diseases and intellectual constructs for human physiology to the administration of proper curative remedies. V.

Hippocratic Medicine In common with other intellectuals in the Greek city-states, Hippocratics are interested in ethnography and far-away places and peoples, in epidemic diseases and plagues, in the origins of man and embryology, and in valetudinarian dietetics. Like their contemporaries Euripides and Aristophanes, Hippocratics are quick to pounce upon causes and remedies that they consider irrational, and they too express their scorn for earlier ways of thinking. The writer of Sacred Disease criticizes "witch-doctors, faith-healers, quacks and charlatans," whose etiology for epilepsy and sudden seizures invokes attacks from the gods and whose therapies consist of purifications, incantations, prohibition of baths, lying on goat-skins and eating goats' flesh (Sacred Disease 1-2). The writer of Diseases of Young Girls censures women who follow commands from Artemis' priests to dedicate costly garments to the goddess in the effort to cure madness in the premenarchic young girl.

Both medical writers ground their etiology for the diseases in blockage of inner vessels by a bodily humor; both consider sitting still and having your feet go to sleep an appropriate analogy for the numbness that extinguishes the senses in the diseases. Both base treatment on the evacuation of the noxious fluid from vital areas of the body: the epileptic is to take a phlemagogue to move excess phlegm gradually from his head so that its sudden descent into his body doesn't overwhelm his senses, and the young girl is to sleep with a man as soon as possible to remove the impediment at the mouth of her uterus, while pregnancy will bring her long-lasting cure by opening up her body so that her excess fluids can move about freely. VI. The Hippocratics and "Rationalized" Medicine Hippocratics find it important to absorb all human diseases within their medical technê, including the very difficult sicknesses of sudden seizures and premenarchic madness, and to this end they not only assign mechanical causes that interact with the anatomy and physiology they endorse, but they also employ therapies that reverse a diseased condition in accordance with the same mechanical principles.

"Opposites cure opposites" is a deliberate intellectual stance in opposition to the "like cures like" of sympathetic magic. Hippocratics know how to speak the language of science, and they are certainly the first in the Western tradition to write medical science in a form that has survived to our time. They formulate questions that the West has continued to ask: What makes this person sick? Do women get sick in the same way as men? We can object that neither a descent of phlegm from the head as an etiology for epilepsy, nor a fantasy membrane at the mouth of the uterus in the young girl, is an empirically visible phenomenon; and we can dismiss the medical content of their science. We cling, however, to some of their deontology and medical ethics, as summarized in the Hippocratic Oath. What is important here is that these medical writers are asking not "Who causes this sickness?" but rather, "By what process does this sickness occur?" However imaginative their mechanistic explanations may be, Hippocratics can defend them with arguments that appeal to process, not to a capricious or malevolent deity, and they can explain the therapies they prescribe in terms of the actions that their medicaments set in motion.

Ann Ellis Hanson Hippocrates - History Learning Site Hippocrates Citation: C N Trueman "Hippocrates" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Hippocrates made such an impression on medical history that his name is still very much associated with medicine today. All newly qualified doctors take what is called the ‘Hippocratic Oath’ and some see Hippocrates as the father of modern medicine even though he did most of his work some 430 years before the birth of Christ. Greek doctors had started to look at the issue of poor health and disease by using a process of reasoning and observation. The most famous of these was Hippocrates. He is thought to have been born in Cos in 460 BC. In fact, we know very little about Hippocrates as a person but his fame was such that Plato and Aristotle wrote about him. While Hippocrates has found fame in medical history, there were other Ancient Greek doctors who were not so lucky. Ancient Greek medical knowledge is demonstrated in what is known as the Hippocratic Collection. This is a collection of sixty medical books of which Hippocrates wrote just some.

We do not know who wrote most of them but they cover a time span of 150 years so they could not have all been written by Hippocrates. Hippocrates and other Greek doctors believed that the work done by a doctor should be kept separate from the work done by a priest. They believed that observation of a patient was a vital aspect of medical care. Ancient Greek doctors did examine their patients but Hippocrates wanted a more systematic period of observation and the recording of what was observed. Today, we would call this ‘clinical observation’. Such ideas have lead to Hippocrates being called the ‘Father of Medicine’. The Hippocratic Collection gave Greek doctors detailed advice on what to do with their patients: “First of all the doctor should look at the patient’s face. If he looks his usual self this is a good sign. If not, however, the following are bad signs – sharp nose, hollow eyes, cold ears, dry skin on the forehead, strange face colour such as green, black, red or lead coloured. If the face is like this at the beginning of the illness, the doctor must ask the patient if he has lost sleep, or had diarrhoea, or not eaten.” From “On forecasting diseases”.

In the book “On Epidemics”, doctors were told to note specific symptoms and what was observed on a day to day basis. By doing this they could make a natural history of an illness. Hippocrates and other doctors believed that by doing this they could forecast the development of the illness in future: “I believe that it is an excellent thing for a physician to practice forecasting. He will carry out the treatment best if he knows beforehand from the present symptoms what will take place later.” From ‘On forecasting diseases’ The ideas of Hippocrates and others spread in the eastern Mediterranean and others took to writing down what they saw with regards to illnesses. These writings have survived and have given historians a vast resource to study. Hippocrates and other doctors worked on the assumption that all diseases had a natural cause rather than a supernatural one. Priests believed that an illness such as epilepsy was caused by the gods. Hippocrates believed that with all other illnesses it had a natural cause. “Men believe only that it is a divine disease because of their ignorance and amazement.” From ‘The Sacred Disease’.

Hippocrates Facts & Biography | Famous Biologists Born: c.460 BC at Kos, Ancient Greece Died: c.370 BC at Larissa, Ancient Greece Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician who was born around 460 BC on Cos, an Aegean island. Many consider him to be the “father of medicine” because he transformed the path of Greek medicine. He believed that diseases were caused by some type of natural action instead of being caused by the spirits or gods. His Early Life Hippocrates was the son of Praxithea and Heracleides. His family’s wealth allowed him to receive a very good education when he was child. After studying nine years of reading, spelling, writing, physical education, poetry, singing, and music, he attended two years of secondary school. Hippocrates likely studied medicine under his father. He observed not only his father, but also another physician, Herodicos, on how they treated patients. His training may have included trips to the Greek mainland and quite possibly to Libya and Egypt to learn other medical practices. Later Work Hippocrates was given credit for healing many, such as Macedonia’s king, whom he had treated for tuberculosis.

His dedication to healing was tested when he fought the plague in Athens for three years from 430-427 BC. The peak of his career occurred during the time of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Later, Hippocrates taught medicine to his own sons, Draco and Thessalus. The physician and teacher role blended well when Hippocrates started a school for medicine in Cos around 400 BC. One of the main things that he taught was that it was important to keep a record of the patient’s condition and symptoms. The Hippocratic Corpus A body of writing that has been attributed to Hippocrates is the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of medical books. It contains 70 books and they are considered to be the oldest known books about medicine. Each subject matter was written for a particular reader or student. Some books were written for physicians and some for pharmacists while others were written for the layman. This ancient Greek doctor recommended diet and physical exercise as remedies or cures for ailments. However, he pointed out that some individuals who could not or would not follow these recommendations would most likely need some type of medicine.

His writings also taught that physical handling may cure physical troubles, such as a dislocated shoulder, where the physician could position it back into place. The Hippocratic Oath The Hippocratic Oath is a document on medical practice ethics and morals. It was credited to Hippocrates, although new information indicates it could have been authored after he died. This is believed by many to be the most famous document of the Hippocratic Corpus. Even though the Hippocratic Oath today is not often applied in its original form, it is still the foundation for many other oaths or laws that outline what the good practice and morals of medicine should be. These oaths are commonly taken by today’s medical graduates. The Death of Hippocrates Very little is known about the death of Hippocrates apart from different possible years in which he may have died. A variety of sources state it was 377 BC, but others disagree. Regardless, his contribution to the medical world still endures in modern medicine around the world. Famous Biologists Greek Medicine - Hippocrates - Crystalinks In Greek antiquity, medicine was second to mathematics. Ancient Greek Civilization was at its peak during the 400's BC.

During this period of time, sick people went to the temples dedicated to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. At this time, a man named Hippocrates began teaching that every disease had only natural causes. He is known as the great ancient Greek physician. In medicine, doctors still refer to the Hippocratic oath, instituted by Hippocrates, who is also credited with laying the foundations of medicine as a science. Galen built on Hippocrates' theory of the four humors, and his writings became the foundation of medicine in Europe and the Middle East for centuries. The Greek physicians Herophilos and Paulus Aegineta were pioneers in the study of anatomy, while Pedanius Dioscorides wrote an extensive treatise on the practice of pharmacology. Hippocrates was the first physician known who actually considered medicine to be a science, and to be separate from religion. He wrote the Hippocratic oath, an oath that every new doctor-to-be still says to this day. It reflected Hippocrates high ideals. Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460 BC�c. 380 BC) was an ancient Greek physician.

He has been called "the father of medicine", and is commonly regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in medicine of all time. He was a physician trained at the Dream temple of Kos, and may have been a pupil of Herodicus. Writings attributed to him (Corpus hippocraticum, or "Hippocratic writings") rejected the superstition and magic of primitive "medicine" and laid the foundations of medicine as a branch of science. Little is actually known about Hippocrates's personal life, but some of his medical achievements were documented by such people as Plato and Aristotle. The Hippocratic writings introduced patient confidentiality, a practice which is still in use today. This was described under the Hippocratic Oath and other treatises. Hippocrates recommended that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians.Other Hippocratic writings associated personality traits with the relative abundance of the four humours in the body: phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and blood, and was a major influence on Galen and later on medieval medicine. The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of about sixty treatises, most written between 430 BC and AD 200.

They are actually a group of texts written by several different people holding several different viewpoints erroneously grouped under the name of Hippocrates, perhaps at the Library of Alexandria. None of the texts included in the Corpus can be considered to have been written by Hippocrates himself, and one of them at least was written by his son-in-law Polybus. The best known of the Hippocratic writings is the Hippocratic Oath; however, this text was most likely not written by Hippocrates himself. A famous, time-honoured medical rule ascribed to Hippocrates is Primum non nocere ("first, do no harm"); another one is Ars longa, vita brevis ("art is long, and life short"). The Hippocratic face is the change produced in the countenance by death, or long sickness, excessive evacuations, excessive hunger, and the like. The nose is pinched, the eyes are sunk, the temples hollow, the ears cold and retracted, the skin of the forehead tense and dry, the complexion livid, the lips pendent, relaxed, and cold. The Hippocratic face is so called because it was first described by Hippocrates.

In medicine, clubbing (or digital clubbing) is a deformity of the fingers and fingernails that is associated with a number of diseases, mostly of the heart and lungs. Idiopathic clubbing can also occur. Hippocrates was probably the first to document clubbing as a sign of disease, and the phenomenon is therefore occasionally called Hippocratic fingers. Medical astrology is an ancient medical system that associates various parts of the body, diseases, and drugs as under the influence of the Sun, Moon, and planets, along with the twelve astrological signs. Hippocrates, the Greek physician who is regarded as the father of medicine, insisted his students study astrology, saying, "He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool." Each of the astrological signs (along with the Sun, Moon, and planets) are associated with different parts of the human body. Also, many plants are referred to in old herbals as being "under the influence of" some planet.

This was used as a codification of the plants properties and used to create mixtures specific to different diseases.The associations of the signs with the parts of the body are as follows: Aries - head, face, brain, eyes Taurus - throat, neck, thyroid gland, vocal tract Gemini - arms, lungs, shoulders, hands, nervous sytem Cancer - chest, breasts, stomach, alimentary canal Leo - heart, chest, spine, spinal column, upper back Virgo - digestive system, intestines, spleen, nervous system Libra - kidneys, skin, lumbar region, buttocks Scorpio - reproductive system, sexual organs, bowels, excretory system Sagittarius - hips, thighs, liver, sciatic nerve Capricorn - knees, joints, skeletal system Aquarius - ankles, calves, circulatory systemPisces - feet, toes, lymphatic system, adipose tissue The Hypocratic bench or scamnum was a device invented by Hippocrates (c. 460 BC�380 BC) which used tension to aid in setting bones. It is a forerunner of the traction devices used in modern orthopedics, as well as of the rack, an instrument of torture.

The patient would lie on a bench, at an adjustable angle, and ropes would be tied around his arms, waist, legs or feet, depending on the treatment needed. Winches would then be used to pull the ropes apart, correcting curvature in the spine or separating an overlapping fracture. The Hippocratic Oath The Hippocratic Oath is an oath traditionally taken by physicians, in which certain ethical guidelines are laid out. It is thought to be written by Hippocrates by some scholars, but this is disputed and instead thought to be written by the Pythagoreans. One traditional version is below but there are others. Several parts of the Oath have been removed or re-worded over the years in various countries, schools, and societies but the Oath still remains one of the few elements of medicine that have remained unchanged. Most schools administer some form of oath, but the great majority no longer use this ancient version, which praises pagan gods, advocates teaching of men but not women, and forbids cutting, abortion, and euthanasia.

Also missing from the ancient Oath and many modern versions are complex, new ethical landmines such as dealing with HMOs, living wills, and whether morning-after pills are technically closer to prophylactics or an abortion. I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation- to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others.

I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional practice or not, in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret.

While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot! Greek Medicine: Hippocrates Father of Medicine Medical historians generally look to Hippocrates as the founder of medicine as a rational science. It was Hippocrates who finally freed medicine fromthe shackles of magic, superstition, and the supernatural. Hippocrates collected data and conducted experiments to show that disease was a natural process; that the signs and symptoms of a disease were caused by the natural reactions of the body to the disease process; and that the chief role of the physician was to aid the natural resistance of the body to overcome the metabolic imbalance and restore health and harmony to the organism. Hippocrates was born on the island of Cos, off the southwest coast of Asia Minor, or present-day Turkey, around 460 B.C. His father was a physician-priest in the Asclepion at Cos, and his family could trace its lineage back to the legendary Asclepius.

Hippocrates lived a very long life and died at a ripe old age in the town of Larissa in Thessaly. The Hippocratic Revolution When Hippocrates began to practicemedicine, the established school of medicine was the Cnidian school. But this school's approach to medicine had several serious flaws, whichwere already becoming apparent and starting to cause a general dissatisfaction with the art of medicine. The Cnidian school considered the body to be merely a collection of isolated parts, and saw diseases manifesting in a particular organ or body part as affecting that part only, which alone was treated. Their system of diagnosis was also faulty, relying exclusively on the subjective symptoms related by the patient, while totally ignoring the objective signs of the disease. Hippocrates radically disagreed with the Cnidian school, countering that the human body functioned as one unified organism, or physis, and must be treated, in health and disease, as one coherent, integrated whole. In diagnosis, not only the patient's subjective symptoms, but the objective signs of the disease must also be considered to arrive at an accurate assessment of what was going on.

As his main unifying theory for the holistic understanding of the human organism and how it functions in health and disease, Hippocrates used the concept of the Four Humors. Although the groundwork of humoral physiology and pathology had already been laid by his predecessors, Hippocrates finally brought the thory of the Four Humors into its classical form. Health is a harmonious balance of the Four Humors. Disease results from their disharmony and imbalance. The physician's job is to restore health by correcting the imbalance and restoring harmony to the humors. To quote Hippocrates: "The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; these make up the nature of the body, and through these he feels pain or enjoys health. Now, he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect to compounding, power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled. Pain is felt when one of these elements is in defect or excess, or is isolated in the body without being compounded with all the others." - The Nature of Man Hippocrates took his band of renegade physicians with him to the island of Cos.

There, they set about to revolutionize the art of medicine and put its theory and practice on a truer, sounder footing. Hippocratic Medicine Physiology and pathology in Hippocratic medicine was based on the Four Humors. A united confluence and sympathy between all four humors working together was necessary for good health. Pneuma - the Breath or Vital Force, and the Innate Heat, which were suffused into the blood from the lungs via the heart, gave the blood the power to sustain life. Hippocrates saw pepsis, or an orderly, balanced, harmonious digestion and metabolism of the Four Humors as being essential to all good health. In disorders of pepsis Hippocrates saw the origin of most disease. Hippocrates' anatomical knowledge was rather scant, but this is compensated for by his profound insights into human physiology and the soundness of his reasoning. But even so, his surgical techniques for dislocations of the hip and jaw were unsurpassed until the nineteenth century. In therapeutics, Hippocrates saw the physician as the servant and facilitator of Nature. All medical treatment was aimed at enabling the natural resistance of the organism to prevail and overcome the disease, to bring about recovery.

In the treatments he prescribed, Hippocrates was very sensible, pragmatic and flexible in his approach, favoring conservatism and moderation over radical or extreme measures. Bloodletting, which was much abused at other times in medicine's history, was used only rarely by Hippocrates, and even then, only applied conservatively. Hippocrates placed great emphasis on strengthening and building up the body's inherent resistance to disease. For this, he prescribed diet, gymnastics, exercise, massage, hydrotherapy and sea bathing. Hippocrates was a great believer in dietary measures in the treatment of disease. He prescribed a very slender, light diet during the crisis stage of an acute illness, and a liquid diet during the treatment of fevers and wounds. Hippocratic medicine was constitutionally based, so its approach to diagnosis and treatment was quite flexible. As a holistic healing system, Hippocratic medicine treated the patient, and not just the disease. Hippocrates was the first physician to systematically classify diseases based on points of similarity and contrast between them. He virtually originated the disciplines of etiology and pathology. By systematically classifying diseases, Hippocrates placed their diagnosis and treatment on a sounder footing. The Hippocratic Corpus The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of over 60 works.

Although all of them are attributed to Hippocrates, the Corpus is of a heterogenous character, and many, if not most, of its works may actually have been written by his students. Still, we can be fairly certain that Hippocrates actually did author many books in the Corpus, including many original, groundbreaking works. These include: Airs, Waters and Places - the first major work on medical meteorology, climatology, geography and anthropology. Aphorisms - a collection of wise, pithy sayings giving advice on practical matters of diet, prognosis and therapeutics. Ancient Medicine - a defense of the empirical study of medicine against one biased by preliminary axioms and assumptions. Also deals with the Four Humors. The Legacy of Hippocrates Hippocrates was the personification of the ideal physician - wise, caring, compassionate and honest. He is most remembered today for his famous Oath, which set high ethical standards for the practice of medicine. His exemplary life has been a constant and enduring source of inspiration for doctors and healers down through the ages. GCSE History wiki - Hippocrates Hippocrates This is a diagram of the four humours and if one was unbalanced then you would be ill.

About Hippocrates Hippocrates was a Greek physician born in 460 BC on the island of Cos, Greece. He became known as the founder of medicine and was regarded as the greatest physician of his time. He based his medical practice on observations and on the study of the human body. He held the belief that illness had a physical and a rational explanation. He rejected the views of his time that considered illness to be caused by superstitions and by possession of evil spirits and disfavor of the gods. Hippocrates held the belief that the body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts. He accurately described disease symptoms and was the first physician to accurately describe the symptoms of pneumonia, as well as epilepsy in children. He believed in the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air and cleanliness. He noted that there were individual differences in the severity of disease symptoms and that some individuals were better able to cope with their disease and illness than others. He was also the first physician that held the belief that thoughts, ideas, and feelings come from the brain and not the heart as others of him time believed. Hippocrates traveled throughout Greece practicing his medicine.

He founded a medical school on the island of Cos, Greece and began teaching his ideas. He soon developed an Oath of Medical Ethics for physicians to follow. This Oath is taken by physicians today as they begin their medical practice. He died in 377 BC. Today Hippocrates is known as the "Father of Medicine". Hippocratic medicine was notable for its strict professionalism, discipline and rigorous practice. The Hippocratic work "On the Physician" recommends that physicians always be well-kempt, honest, calm, understanding, and serious. The Hippocratic physician paid careful attention to all aspects of his practice: he followed detailed specifications for, "lighting, personnel, instruments, positioning of the patient, and techniques of bandaging and splinting" in the ancient operating room.He even kept his fingernails to a precise length. The Hippocratic School gave importance to the clinical doctrines of observation and documentation. These doctrines dictate that physicians record their findings and their medicinal methods in a very clear and objective manner, so that these records may be passed down and employed by other physicians.

Hippocrates made careful, regular note of many symptoms including complexion, pulse, fever, pains, movement, and excretions.He is said to have measured a patient's pulse when taking a case history to know if the patient lie. Hippocrates extended clinical observations into family history and environment. "To him medicine owes the art of clinical inspection and observation". For this reason, he may more properly be termed as the "Father of Clinical Medicine". Hippocrates and his followers were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. He is given credit for the first description of clubbing of the fingers, an important diagnostic sign in chronic supperative lung disease, lung cancer and cyanotic heart disease. For this reason, clubbed fingers are sometimes referred to as "Hippocratic fingers". Hippocrates was also the first physician to describe Hippocratic face in Prognosis. Shakespeare famously alludes to this description when writing of Falstaff's death in Act II, Scene iii.

of Henry V Hippocrates began to categorize illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic use terms such as, "exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm peak, and convalescence." Another of Hippocrates's major contributions may be found in his descriptions of the symptomatology, physical findings, surgical treatment and prognosis of thoracic empyema, i.e. suppuration of the lining of the chest cavity. His teachings remain relevant to present-day students of pulmonary medicine and surgery. Hippocrates was the first documented chest surgeon and his findings are still valid. Biography 'Soranus of Ephesus, a 2nd-century Greek gynecologist, Hippocrates's first biographer and is the source of most information on Hippocrates's person. Information about Hippocrates can also be found in the writings of Aristotle, which date from the 4th century BC, in the Suda of the 10th century AD, and in the works of John Tzetzes, which date from the 12th century AD. Soranus stated that Hippocrates's father was Heraclides, a physician; his mother was Praxitela, daughter of Phenaretis.

The two sons of Hippocrates, Thessalus and Draco, and his son-in-law, Polybus, were his students. According to Galen, a later physician, Polybus was Hippocrates’s true successor, while Thessalus and Draco each had a son named Hippocrates. Soranus said that Hippocrates learned medicine from his father and grandfather, and studied other subjects with Democritus and Gorgias. Hippocrates was probably trained at the asklepieion of Kos, and took lessons from the Thracian physician Herodicus of Selymbria. The only contemporaneous mention of Hippocrates is in Plato's dialogue Protagoras, where Plato describes Hippocrates as "Hippocrates of Kos, the Asclepiad".Hippocrates taught and practiced medicine throughout his life, traveling at least as far as Thessaly, Thrace, and the Sea of Marmara. He probably died in Larissa at the age of 83 or 90, though some accounts say he lived to be well over 100; several different accounts of his death exist. This information is fom wikipedia. This is a statue of Hippocrates.

Hippocrates lived 400 years before the birth of Christ. He is known as the father of medicine because many of the things he discovered are still practiced today. During the time when Hippocrates lived, people were very superstitious. *They believed there were four fluids in the body which matched four elements; earth, air, fire and water. They would carry sick people to the temple because they thought the god of medicine, Aesculapius (es kyoo LAY pe us) could heal them. They would say magic words over the patient to try and heal them. Hippocrates taught that diseases came from natural causes. He had observed many patients and carefully recorded their symptoms and the way their illnesses developed. He would look at the color of the skin, and how the eyes looked. He would look for fevers and chills. He described many illnesses includingpneumonia, tetanus, tuberculosis, arthritis, mumps, and malaria .He told his students to carefully observe their patients and to learn from the things they had observed. He said the human body could heal itself and could return itself to good health. The patient was given something to relieve pain, but nothing else was done.

He told his patients they should eat a moderate amount of food; not too much and not too little. A moderate amount of exercise was recommended. Patients were encouraged to walk for exercise. Doctors were told to make sure their hands were clean before they treated patients. He said the operating room should be well lighted and look cheerful. His thought patients in good spirits would heal faster.Physicians should be men of honor, according to Hippocrates. He encouraged them to work as hard as possible for the good of the sick.The Hippocratic Oath was named for him. It included rules of conducts for doctors and even today doctors still honor a form of the oath. About the four humours In traditional medicine practiced in Greco-Roman civilization and in Europe during the Middle Ages (at least until the Renaissance), humorism, or humoralism, dictated that the four humors were special fluids associated with the four basic elements of nature, that were thought to permeate the body and influence its health. An imbalance in the distribution of these fluids was thought to affect each individual's personality. The concept was developed by ancient Greek thinkers around 400 BC and was directly linked with another popular theory of the four elements (Empedocles).

Paired qualities were associated with each humour and its season. The word humour derives from the Greek χυμός, chymos (literally juice or sap, metaphorically flavor).It is believed that Hippocrates was the one who applied this idea to medicine. "Humoralism" or the doctrine of the Four Temperaments as a medical theory retained its popularity for centuries largely through the influence of the writings of Galen (131-201 AD) and was decisively displaced only in 1858 by Rudolf Virchow's newly-published theories of cellular pathology. While Galen thought that humours were formed in the body, rather than ingested, he believed that different foods had varying potential to be acted upon by the body to produce different humours. Warm foods, for example, tended to produce yellow bile, while cold foods tended to produce phlegm. Seasons of the year, periods of life, geographic regions and occupations also influenced the nature of the humours formed.The imbalance of humours, or "dyscrasia", was thought to be the direct cause of all diseases. Health was associated with a balance of humours, or eucrasia.

The qualities of the humours, in turn, influenced the nature of the diseases they caused. Yellow bile caused warm diseases and phlegm caused cold diseases.In On the Temperaments Galen further emphasized the importance of the qualities. An ideal temperament involved a balanced mixture of the four qualities. Galen identified four temperaments in which one of the qualities, warm, cold, moist and dry, predominated and four more in which a combination of two, warm and moist, warm and dry, cold and dry and cold and moist, dominated. These last four, named for the humours with which they were associated—that is, sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, eventually became better known than the others.

While the term "temperament" came to refer just to psychological dispositions, Galen used it to refer to bodily dispositions, which determined a person's susceptibility to particular diseases as well as behavioral and emotional inclinations"[In classic times] medicine was equated with philosophy and three Greek philosophers ]Hippocrates (c.460 – 370 b.c.e.), Plato (427-348 b.c.e.) and Aristotle (384-322 b.c.e.) contributed to the vision of health, disease and the functions of the body. Although they had differences in general they saw health as an equilibrium of the body as determined by the four humors.Sap in plants and the blood in animals is the fount of life. Other body fluids- phlegm, bile, faeces, became visible in illness when the balance is disturbed. For instance, epilepsy, the sacred disease was due to phlegm blocking the airways that caused the body to struggle and convulse to free itself. Mania was due to bile boiling in the brain.

Black bile was a late addition to disease theory and was associated with melancholy." Hippocrates was a physician and a teacher of medicine, he was born around 460BC on the Greek island of Kos. He was sed to of learned his medicine from his father who was also a physician. He was one of the first physician to not belief that superstitions and beliefs are the cause of illness. He sed that diesese and illness was not a punishment from god but was caused by diet and living habits. His medicine was alot more sensible ompared to docters before him, he belived that illneses had individual differences and was also the first doctor to discover that thoughts and feelings came from the brain and not from the heart. He started a medical school on the greek island of Cos and taught all his work to his pupils, he also developed an oath of Medical Ethics for other physicians to follow, it is still used today.

Question: Hippocrates was known as the Greek what?
Answer: Father of Medicine