Hippocratic Museum

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The Hippocratic Museum is a museum, on the Greek island of Kos. Its exhibits display the history of the Hippocratic Foundation of Kos, which is dedicated to transmitting knowledge about Hippocrates, as well as founding hospitals and institutes. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is believed to have been born there. The displays include some literature about the Hippocratic medicine.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippocrates</span> Ancient Greek physician (c. 460 – c. 370 BC)

Hippocrates of Kos, also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referred to as the "Father of Medicine" in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field, such as the use of prognosis and clinical observation, the systematic categorization of diseases, or the formulation of humoral theory. The Hippocratic school of medicine revolutionized ancient Greek medicine, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields with which it had traditionally been associated, thus establishing medicine as a profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippocratic Oath</span> Oath of ethics taken by physicians

The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. The oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the Western world, establishing several principles of medical ethics which remain of paramount significance today. These include the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence. As the seminal articulation of certain principles that continue to guide and inform medical practice, the ancient text is of more than historic and symbolic value. It is enshrined in the legal statutes of various jurisdictions, such that violations of the oath may carry criminal or other liability beyond the oath's symbolic nature.

Polybus was one of the pupils of Hippocrates, and also his son-in-law. He lived on the island of Cos in the 4th century BC. With his brothers-in-law, Thessalus and Draco, he was one of the founders of the Dogmatic school of medicine. He was sent by Hippocrates, with his fellow-pupils, during the time of the plague, to assist different cities with his medical skill. Afterwards, he remained in his native country. According to Galen, he followed implicitly the opinions and practices of Hippocrates, but the strict accuracy of this assertion has been doubted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kos</span> Island in Greece

Kos or Cos is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986, making it the second most populous of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes. The island measures 42.1 by 11.5 kilometres. Administratively, Kos constitutes a municipality within the Kos regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Kos Town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humorism</span> Ancient Greek and Roman system of medicine involving four fluid types

Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippocratic Corpus</span> Collection of around 60 Ancient Greek medical works

The Hippocratic Corpus, or Hippocratic Collection, is a collection of around 60 early Ancient Greek medical works strongly associated with the physician Hippocrates and his teachings. The Hippocratic Corpus covers many diverse aspects of medicine, from Hippocrates' medical theories to what he devised to be ethical means of medical practice, to addressing various illnesses. Even though it is considered a singular corpus that represents Hippocratic medicine, they vary in content, age, style, methods, and views practiced; therefore, authorship is largely unknown. Hippocrates began Western society's development of medicine, through a delicate blending of the art of healing and scientific observations. What Hippocrates was sharing from within his collection of works was not only how to identify symptoms of disease and proper diagnostic practices, but more essentially, he was alluding to his personable form of art, "The art of true living and the art of fine medicine combined." The Hippocratic Corpus became the foundation upon which Western medical practice was built.

<i>On Ancient Medicine</i> Greek medical text, c. 450–400 B.C.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippocrates of Chios</span> 5th-century BC Greek mathematician and astronomer

Hippocrates of Chios was an ancient Greek mathematician, geometer, and astronomer.

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Greek medicine</span> Collection of medical theories and practices in ancient Greece

Ancient Greek medicine was a compilation of theories and practices that were constantly expanding through new ideologies and trials. The Greek term for medicine was iatrikē. Many components were considered in ancient Greek medicine, intertwining the spiritual with the physical. Specifically, the ancient Greeks believed health was affected by the humors, geographic location, social class, diet, trauma, beliefs, and mindset. Early on the ancient Greeks believed that illnesses were "divine punishments" and that healing was a "gift from the Gods". As trials continued wherein theories were tested against symptoms and results, the pure spiritual beliefs regarding "punishments" and "gifts" were replaced with a foundation based in the physical, i.e., cause and effect.

Asclepiad was a title borne by many Ancient Greek medical doctors, notably Hippocrates of Kos. It is not clear whether the Asclepiads were originally a biological family, or simply a member of an order or guild of doctors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree of Hippocrates</span> Tree in Kos associated with Hippocrates

The Tree of Hippocrates is the plane tree under which, according to legend, Hippocrates of Kos taught his pupils the art of medicine. Paul of Tarsus purportedly taught here as well. The Platanus in Kos is an oriental plane, with a crown diameter of about 12 metres, said to be the largest for a plane tree in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirra, Phocis</span> Place in Greece

Kirra is a village in Phocis, Central Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Itea, to which it is adjacent. Kirra is the point where the Pleistos river meets the Gulf of Iteas, a bay of the Gulf of Corinth.

Vis medicatrix naturae is the Latin rendering of the Greek Νόσων φύσεις ἰητροί, a phrase attributed to Hippocrates. While the phrase is not actually attested in his corpus, it nevertheless sums up one of the guiding principles of Hippocratic medicine, which is that organisms left alone can often heal themselves.

Hippocrates was the name of several physicians in the time of Ancient Greece, some of whom were in the same family as the celebrated Hippocrates of Kos.

Erotianus was the author of an extant Greek work titled Collection of Hippocratic words. It is uncertain whether he was himself a physician or merely a grammarian, but he appears to have written some other works on Hippocrates besides that which we now possess.

Glaucias was a Greek physician of the Empiric school who wrote commentaries on the works of Hippocrates.

On the Nature of Man is a work in the Hippocratic Corpus. On the Nature of Man is attributed to Polybus, the son in law and disciple of Hippocrates, through a testimony from Aristotle's History of Animals.However, as with the many other works of the Hippocratic Corpus, the authorship is regarded as dubious in origin.

Spyros Marketos was a Greek physician, professor of medicine, writer and politician.

Modern understanding of disease is very different from the way it was understood in ancient Greece and Rome. The way modern physicians approach healing of the sick differs greatly from the methods used by early general healers or elite physicians like Hippocrates or Galen. In modern medicine, the understanding of disease stems from the "germ theory of disease", a concept that emerged in the second half of the 19th century, such that a disease is the result of an invasion of a micro-organism into a living host. Therefore, when a person becomes ill, modern treatments "target" the specific pathogen or bacterium in order to "beat" or "kill" the disease.