Greek medical practices are recorded, outlining ancient healing practices.
Time | 5th Century BCE |
Title | Greek medical practices are recorded, outlining ancient healing practices. |
Event | The Ancient Greeks are the source of most medical knowledge until (and including) the time of the Roman Empire. Early Greek medicine focuses largely on spiritual beliefs. The Greeks establish a cult and erect grand temples to worship Asclepios, the god of healing. |
The Greeks understand sickness to be both psychic
and physical. To heal the psyche, worshippers listen to music and have
their dreams interpreted while staying in the temple.
Alcmaeon, a Greek philosopher and physician, also popularizes the theory
that the brain perceives sensations and is responsible for thought and
memory.
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Cult leaders use local vegetation to make ointments
and other herbal remedies. They also prescribe regular exercise, baths,
and nutrition regimes that include social interactions. These
prescriptions are seen as an important part of the religious healing
process. Many of them are practiced as late as 400 AD.
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Early Greek medicine focuses on the god of
healing. Worshippers believe that Asclepios, with the help of his
daughters Hygeia and Panacea, heals the faithful if they build temples
in his name, make sacrifices, and sleep in the temples.
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