Greek & Roman Civilization

Greece

Greek culture, renowned for its masterpieces of art, poetry, drama, and philosophy, also made great advances in medicine. The earliest Greek medicine still depended on magic and spells. Homer considered Apollo the god of healing. Homer's Iliad, however, reveals a considerable knowledge of the treatment of wounds and other injuries by surgery, already recognized as a specialty distinct from internal medicine. By the 6th century B.C, Greek medicine had left the magic and religious realm, instead stressing clinical observation and experience. In the Greek colony of Crotona the biologist Alcmaeon (lived about 6th century B.C) identified the brain as the physiological seat of the senses. The Greek philosopher Empedocles elaborated the concept that disease is primarily an expression of a disturbance in the perfect harmony of the four elements—fire, air, water, and earth—and formulated a rudimentary theory of evolution. Kos and Cnidus are the most famous of the Greek medical schools that flourished in the 5th century B.C. Students of both schools probably contributed to the Corpus Hippocraticum (Hippocratic Collection), an anthology of the writings of several authors, although popularly attributed to Hippocrates. Although not a practicing physician, the Greek philosopher Aristotle contributed greatly to the development of medicine by his dissections of numerous animals. He is known as the founder of comparative anatomy. Further progress in understanding anatomy flourished by the 3rd century B.C in Alexandria, Egypt, which was firmly established as the centre of Greek medical science. In Alexandria the anatomist Herophilus performed the first recorded public dissection, and the physiologist Erasistratus did important work on the anatomy of the brain, nerves, veins, and arteries. The followers of these men divided into many contending sects. The most notable were the empiricists who based their doctrine on experience gained by trial and error. The empiricists excelled in surgery and pharmacology; a royal student of empiricism, Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, developed the concept of inducing tolerance of poisons by the administration of gradually increased dosages.

Greco-Roman

 Alexandrian Greek medicine influenced conquering Rome despite initial resistance from the Romans. Asclepiades of Bithynia was important in establishing Greek medicine in Rome in the 1st century B.C. Asclepiades taught that the body was composed of disconnected particles, or atoms, separated by pores. Disease was caused by restriction of the orderly motion of the atoms or by the blocking of the pores, which he attempted to cure by exercise, bathing, and variations in diet, rather than by drugs. This theory was revived periodically and in various forms as late as the 18th century. Galen of Pergamum, also a Greek, was the most important physician of this period and is second only to Hippocrates in the medical history of antiquity. His view of medicine remained undisputed into the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century). Galen described the four classic symptoms of inflammation and added much to the knowledge of infectious disease and pharmacology. His most important work, however, was in the field of the form and function of muscles and the function of the areas of the spinal cord. He also excelled in diagnosis and prognosis. Some of Galen's teachings tended to hold back medical progress, however, such as his theory that the blood carried the pneuma, or life spirit, which gave it its red colour. This theory, coupled with the erroneous notion that the blood passed through a porous wall between the ventricles of the heart, delayed the understanding of circulation and did much to discourage research in physiology. The importance of Galen's work cannot be overestimated, however, for through his writings knowledge of Greek medicine was subsequently passed to the Western world by the Arabs. While the Romans learned most of their medical knowledge from Egypt, Greece, and other countries that they conquered, their own contributions involved sanitation and public health. Roman engineers built aqueducts to carry pure water to residents of Rome, a sewage system to dispose of human wastes, and public baths. These measures helped to prevent infectious diseases transmitted by contaminated water. The gradual infiltration of the Roman world by a succession of barbarian tribes was followed by a period of stagnation in the sciences. These invasions destroyed the great medical library in Alexandria (Alexandria, Library of) and many of its books and medical manuscripts were lost. Western medicine in the Middle Ages consisted of tribal folklore mingled with poorly understood remnants of classical learning. Even in sophisticated Constantinople (now Istanbul), a series of epidemics served only to initiate a revival of magical practices, superstition, and intellectual stagnation.