Hippocrates, born in the fifth century BC, was born on the Greek island of Kos. Thus we can say that Hippocrates was the oldest physician in the world. He wrote many important treatises related to medicine, as well as founded a medical school on that island. He presented the details of the treatments of various diseases from his experience and thus he became famous as the first modern doctor.
Biographical details
Information about Hippocrates is vague and unreliable. He was probably born in c. 460 BC, but details of his life were estimated even in antiquity. One of the oldest sources in the life of Hippocrates is attributed to Sorenus of Ephesus, himself a physician, who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Soranus' method of quoting earlier texts now lost has been an invaluable source of information on ancient medicine. He states that Hippocrates knew several 5th-century sophists, most notably Gorgias of Leontini, and was taught medicine by both his father and a gymnastics trainer, Herodicus of Selimbria. We also know that Hippocrates founded and ran a medical school at Kos.
Plato mentions Hippocrates in his Protagoras, suggesting that he worked for fees and that he believed that the body should be treated as a whole (Phaedrus). Roman scholar and medical writer Cornelius Celsus claim that Hippocrates was the first to separate medicine from philosophy, and other ancient sources also suggest that Hippocrates believed in the importance of diet and exercise for a healthy body. Soranus informs us that Hippocrates traveled throughout his life and died at Larissa in Thessaly, c. 370 BC
In antiquity, many legends arose about the great genius of Hippocrates, but most of these are likely to be pure inventions. He reportedly discovered that King Perdicus II of Macedon's health problems were down to love, he put an end to the plague in Athens in 430 BC by lighting fires everywhere, and he treated the philosopher Democritus, whom everyone called mad. understood (without any justification). Hippocrates had three sons who carried out his work - Thessalus, Dracon, and Polybus.
Hippocratic corpus
Hippocrates has long been credited with writing a large number of ancient treatises, speeches, and letters on medicine referred to collectively as the Hippocratic Corpus (Corpus Hippocraticum), compiled in the Hellenistic period in Ptolemaic Alexandria. went. Modern scholars believe that, on stylistic grounds only, these texts may have actually been written by multiple authors and indicate that Hippocrates never made any reference to writing anything in contemporary sources during his lifetime. Therefore, scholars believe that some of the texts were written by Hippocrates, but exactly which one is still debated.
The 3rd century BC corpus was re-edited in the 1st century CE by the scholars Dioscurides and Caption. Many ancient writers, often famous physicians, often wrote commentaries on the works of Hippocrates, most notable being Herophilus of Chalcedon (4th-3rd centuries BCE), and Apollonius of Citium (1st century BCE), and Galen (2nd-3rd centuries BCE). ) CE).
Hippocratic texts deal with all kinds of medical topics but can be divided into four main categories of diagnosis, biology, treatment, and general advice for doctors. There are over 60 treatises, each on specific topics, for example, joints, medicine, governance, surgery, physiology, progression of diseases, purifying treatments, and gynecology. Issues relating to ethics and other disciplines of medicine, especially philosophy, are also discussed.
Hippocratic oath
When it comes to oaths for physicians, the Hippocrates oath must be mentioned, it may have been taken only after the death of Hippocrates and was probably a reserved oath taken by a specific group of physicians. But if you look at it, it was actually a religious document according to which oath was administered to ensure that doctors would do their work according to the dignity of society and social values. With an oath, the practitioner took an oath by Apollo, Hygeia, and Panacea to honor his teacher and not poison, not to abuse patients in any way, use knives, or break the secrecy between patient and doctor.
Conclusion
Hippocrates is credited by historians with moving the subject of medicine away from an earlier supernatural and theological approach, which was closely linked to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, toward a modern view of observation, classification, causes, and effects. , and so on. , Even though others before him, such as the Alcmeons of Croton, also began to approach medicine rationally and details of his life and work are scant, Hippocrates is known just as he was. was in ancient times. The world is the father of modern medicine.
