Greek Doctors

Galen was a Greek Doctor who worked in Ancient Rome. He wrote many books and his ideas were the basis of medical training in the Middles Ages. He developed Hippocrates' ideas and mainly used bloodletting, or purging, to prevent and treat illness, as well as his owen treatments based on his Theory of Opposites. He also drew detailed diagrams of human anatomy using knowledge he gained from operating on wounded gladiators and carrying out dissections on dead (mostly animals') bodies.

Hippocrates was an Ancient Greek doctor. His ideas and books were very influential well into medieval times and beyond. He dismissed the ideas that gods caused disease - he believed there was a physical reason for illness, which needed a physical cure. Most of his treatments were based on diet, excercise and rest byut he also used bleeding and purging to get rid of excess humours. He wrote the Hippocratic Oath, where doctors swore to respect life and prevent harm. His method of clinical observation (studying symptoms, making notes, comparing with similar cases the disgnosisng and treating) is the basis of the approach used today.