Ancient Greece _ Medicine
- Created by: NimishaReshikesh
- Created on: 24-04-14 18:47
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
The Asclepion:
Baths - people could bathe here which helped with hygene
Temple of Asclepius - people/priests prayed to make them feel better
Living Quarters for Priests - priest that preeched lived here
Abaton - where the people who had come to pray slept and it was believed that if you slept there Asclepius and his daughters would come and heal you
Stadium - people recieved entertainment and participated in activities, brought everyone together
Gymnasium - people exercised
Library -
Tholos -
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Who was Asclepius and How was he supposed to help the sick?
- god of medicine
- helped the sick by curing them off their illnesses with the help of his daughters
- used herbal remedies and snakes
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Why did people feel better after they had gone to the Asclepion?
Two reasons:
1) - patients introduced to new hygenic techniques and practices such as bathing often
- patients participated in exercises for example weight bearing which made them healthier and fitter
2) - people believed that Asclepius and his daughters healed them, the positive attitude helped them to get better (mind over matter)
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Greeks New Idea
Theory of the Four Humours
- Four humours were: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile
- If the humours were balanced then the person was healthy
- If the humours were out of balance then the person was unhealthy
- Greeks believed that everything was made up from four elements: air, water, fire and earth
- Linked the seasons with the elements and the humours
- e.g. If people were sneezing and had runny noses in winter it meant that they had too much phlegm
- Led the Greeks to do everything in moderation to keep humour balanced
- This meant people had started looking for natural explanations of disease
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Greeks New Idea
Theory of the Four Humours
- Four humours were: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile
- If the humours were balanced then the person was healthy
- If the humours were out of balance then the person was unhealthy
- Greeks believed that everything was made up from four elements: air, water, fire and earth
- Linked the seasons with the elements and the humours
- e.g. If people were sneezing and had runny noses in winter it meant that they had too much phlegm
- Led the Greeks to do everything in moderation to keep humour balanced
- This meant people had started looking for natural explanations of disease
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Who treated the sick?
- trained male doctors (e.g. Hippocrates )
- mothers and wives (using herbal remedies)
- Priests
- A few trained female doctors (e.g. Hagnodice)
[The same type of healers as in Ancient Egypt - continuity]
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
Treatments and Preventive Methods
Treatments:
- herbal remedies
- simple surgery
- bathing
- bleeding
- antiseptics (e.g. wine, vinegar)
Prevention:
- diet
- hygiene
- exercise
- 'a daily regimen'
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
New Greek Ideas About Medicine
- Diseases had natural causes
- Doctors : Hippocrates
- Surgery : Simple surgery
- The theory of the four humours (Hippocrates)
- Hippocratic oath ( still used nowadays)
- Cleanliness - baths, personal hygiene
- Careful observation of patients and recording of treatments
- Do everything in moderation (eating healthy, exercise and sleep)
- Natural treatments (herbal, bathing)
Ancient Greece _ Medicine
The Importance of Alexandria
- Herophilus was one of the first Greek doctors to do dissections, he made an important discovery: the brain controls the body
- Greeks built a library and a university there
- The library not only had writings from Greek writers such as Hippocrates but also from doctors in India, China, Egypt and Mesopatamia.
- There were over 700,000 different items in the library
- Erasistratus made an important discovery when disecting a heart : it had four one way valves
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