Ancient Greece (Medicine) Flashcards
How could you get rid of an excess humour?
By purging, vomiting, or bloodletting
Describe the work of Hippocrates
He was the ‘founder of modern medicine’
He believed in natural causes of disease.
Created the ‘Hippocratic Oath’
He wrote parts of the ‘Hippocratic Corpus’
What is the Hippocratic Oath?
An Oath where doctors promise to obey rules of behaviour (Still take the Oath today)
What is the Hippocratic Corpus?
A collection of medical books (some written by Hippocrates)
What did Hippocrates think that illness was an imbalance of?
The elements
To be healthy, what did the Ancient Greeks believe you had to do?
- To exercise
- To wash regularly
- Eat lots in the winter, drink little
- Eat little in the summer, drink lots
Describe the work of Asclepius
He was the ‘Greek God of Healing’
He’s linked to Asclepion temples
Why did people go to Asclepion temples and what did people do at these temples?
People went there to stay when they were ill.
They bathed and relaxed there, and prayed to Asclepios in hope that he’d cure them in their sleep.
Success stories were written on the walls of the Asclepions.
What were ‘ward rounds’ ?
When priests performed rituals by putting snakes on the ill patients. (Snake = symbol of medicine)
What was surgery like during the Ancient Greek time period?
- Surgery was used as a last resort
- Most surgeries were performed externally
- Surgical instruments developed (made from iron, steel and brass)
Natural beliefs/treatments?
Aristotle - came up with the Theory of the Four Humours (yellow bile, black bile, blood, phlegm) had to be balanced for someone to be healthy.
