Ancient Greece

Question 0

What were the temples that were built to the Greek god of healing known as?

Answer 0

Asclepeia (sng. Asclepion).

Question 1

Who was the Greek god of healing?

Answer 1

Asclepius

Question 2

What is the most famous of the Asclepeia known as?

Answer 2

Epidaurus

Question 3

What is the modern-day equivalent to an Asclepion?

Answer 3

A health spa

Question 4

Describe the medical treatments provided by a Greek Asclepion.

Answer 4

The Greeks would turn to an Asclepion today like we would turn to a hospital.
Sick person would go to sleep and be healed by a visit from Asclepius and his two daughters (Hygeia & Panacea) in their dreams.
Built at remote locations and provided many relaxing activities for the patient to partake in, e.g. Baths, a gymnasium, a stadium, a library, a theatre, accommodation and temples to other gods.
If a person had a cold, something as simple as a bath could make them feel better. The Greeks would’ve put this ‘miraculous’ recovery down to the work of the gods.
Patients built up their strength by eating regular meals and resting, and some priests would also carry out simple surgery.

Question 5

What medical terms have originated from the names of the daughters of the god Asclepius?

Answer 5

Hygeia- hygiene.

Panacea- a ‘cure all’ tablet or remedy that cures any difficulty/ailment.

Question 6

Why might Asclepeia have had a negative effect on the progress of medicine?

Answer 6

Cures for illnesses were sought in the supernatural, rather than in nature. This meant that their ideas were very limited, because it prevented them from developing other types of logical cures.

Question 7

Why were new medical ideas able to emerge in Ancient Greece?

Answer 7

The wealth of certain Greeks allowed them to devote a lot of time to thinking and learning- they could have ‘the desire to inquire’.

Question 8

What are the four bodily humours and what elements, seasons and properties are they linked to?

Answer 8

BLOOD- air- spring- warm & moist.
PHLEGM- water- winter- cold & wet.
BLACK BILE- earth- autumn- cold & dry.
YELLOW BILE- fire- summer- hot & dry.

Question 9

What does the Theory of the Four Humours state?

Answer 9

Disease is caused by an imbalance in one of the four bodily liquid/humours.
E.g.) In the cold and wet season of winter, people suffered from colds, showing there was too much phlegm in the body and the body was trying to get rid of it.

Question 10

How did doctors treat patients using the Theory of the Four humours?

Answer 10

The aim was to put the humours back into balance and to do this the doctor had to reduce the excess humour:
Bleeding (use of bleeding cups)
Purging (clear the bowel from either end)

Question 11

Why did the Greeks use natural approaches to medicine?

Answer 11

Many wealthy Greeks devoted much of their time to thinking&learning.
The Greeks had ‘the desire to inquire’.
The role of Greek philosophers (e.g. Hippocrates) influenced attitudes to medicine.
Observation of increasing amounts of humours led to theory of four humours.
People could make sense of what they could see.
Herbal remedies that worked had been handed down by ancestors and developed through the enormity of the empire (by trade) and were widely used by mothers and wives.

Question 12

Why did the Greeks use supernatural approaches to medicine?

Answer 12

The gods played a very important role in Greek beliefs- they had a god for almost all aspects of life.
Explained illnesses/recoveries that they otherwise would not have been able to understand.
Some, especially the poor, did not have access to the consultation of a doctor and so if they couldn’t find a natural or obvious explanation to an illness, they would most likely turn to the gods for help (e.g. An offering).

Question 13

How did Greeks doctors prevent and treat disease?

Answer 13

Observation: Trained to diagnose illnesses, record symptoms and observe at each stage. Sometimes wrote up a patient history.
Advice: from observations, knew that many illnesses cleared up on their own, so mostly gave advice on how diseases might develop.
Treatments: how to try and help nature restore proper balance by making them vomit, purging their bowels or bleeding them.
Surgery: iron and steel led to stronger and sharper instruments, so developed good techniques and amputation. Few invasive ops but did drain lungs.
Astrology.
The poor used herbs, plants, vegetables and wore charms as they couldn’t afford proper doctors or medicine.
Hippocrates said ‘exercise, keep clean, eat sensibly’.

Question 14

Who was Hippocrates of Cos?

Answer 14

An Ancient Greek doctor and teacher of doctors.

Question 15

What is a physician?

Answer 15

A trained doctor

Question 16

How did Hippocrates impact on medicine?

Answer 16

The Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Collection of books
Observing and recording
Encouraged Natural treatments 
The four humours

Question 17

Why was The Hippocratic Oath important to medicine?

Answer 17

It gave people confidence in doctors.
Doctors swore by the gods to have high standards of treatment and behaviour and to work for the benefit if their patients, not to make themselves wealthy.

Question 18

Why was the Hippocratic Collection important to medicine?

Answer 18

It was the first detailed list of symptoms and treatments. Doctors continued to use the theories and methods within these books for many centuries.
*Many of these books were written by other doctors.

Question 19

Why was Hippocrates’ encouragement of using clinical observation making a record of the symptoms and development of diseases important to medicine?

Answer 19

Doctors were more likely to choose the right cure if they took care to find the cause of the problem.
These notes could then be used to help with diagnosis and treatment of future patients.

Question 20

Why was the fact that Hippocrates encouraged doctors to look for natural treatments important for medicine?

Answer 20

People were more likely to find the true cause of a disease rather than looking uselessly to the gods for help.
One of the theories that merged as a result of this was the theory of the four humours.

Question 21

In what ways did Hippocrates’ work have a long term impact?

Answer 21

Doctors’ standards were raised, and even doctors now still have to follow strict standards.
Four Humour theory was still applied to medicine hundred of years later.
Doctors continued to record symptoms and treatments.
The treatments in the Hippocratic Collection were used hundreds of years after he died.

Question 22

Which aspects of medicine did not change despite the work of Hippocrates.

Answer 22

Ascelpeia were still very popular.
There were still priests and magicians who worked as healers.
There were no developments in surgery.
No knowledge of the true cause of illness.

Question 23

Which factors helped Hippocrates?

Answer 23

Attitudes- the Greeks had the ‘desire to inquire’, so people began to look for natural explanations to illness.
Wealth- the Greeks were very wealthy and could afford to devote their time to thinking and learning.
Communication- the Greeks recorded ideas and passed these on in books.
Lifestyle- the Greeks were already focused on hygiene and health.

Question 24

What factors hindered Hippocrates?

Answer 24

Religion- strong belief in gods, so most people still went and enjoyed going to Asclepeia.
Government left people to sort out hygiene for themselves.
Attitudes- more interest in the causes of illness than developing surgery, and most people died during surgery.