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 -  

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

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)

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 

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]  

Treatments and Preventive Methods 

Treatments: 
- herbal remedies
- simple surgery
- bathing
- bleeding
- antiseptics (e.g. wine, vinegar)

Prevention:
- diet
- hygiene
- exercise 
- 'a daily regimen' 
 

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)  

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