|
|
 |
|
 |
Although we cannot be sure with absolute certainty, according to writings of ancient scholars, it is believed that Hippocrates was born around 460 BC in the first year of the 20th Olympiad in the month of Aurianios. He was descended from a long line of of gods and demigods. His mother was Phainareti, the twentieth descendant of Herakles and his father was Gnosidikos Asklepieiades Herakleides, the eighteenth descendant of the god Asklepieios. It was his father who first instructed him in medicine although it is suspected that his grandfather played a large role in his induction as well. Hippocrates continued to study under Herodicus, Gorgia (the famous sophist) as well as the great philosopher Democritus.
Hippocrates's mind remained restless and his constant thirst for knowledge meant that the education that he was given, which would have been more than adequate for any other human being, was not nearly enough to satisfy him and so he sought to quench his thirst by traveling to Asia and Africa and learning as much as he could from others he met on his long journeys.
 Hippocrates came to possess a rare and broad education and was rightfully considered the most brilliant medical mind of ancient Greece. Other great men of his time, including Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle admired his work and called him the "Great One" or the "Father of Medicine". In fact the same is true of today's scholars. Hippocrates was also a prolific writer and the author of many medical books, 57 of which survive to this day and embrace a wide spectrum of medicine. He based his medical practice on observations and on the study of the human body holding the belief that illness had a physical and rational explanation and he rejected the views that considered illness to be caused by superstitions and by possession of evil spirits and disfavour of the gods. He held the belief that the body must be treated as whole and not just a series of parts and promoted the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air and cleanliness. He noted that there were individual differences in the severity of disease symptoms and that some individuals were better able to cope with the symptoms than others. He was also the first physician that held the belief that thoughts, ideas, and feelings come from the brain and not the heart, a belief that was unfortunately still prevalent in the rest of Europe even centuries later.
On his journey to Miletus he met the philosopher Anaxagoras and based on his theory of matter and infinity, Hippocrates came to the conclusion that a human being's health is directly related to his natural surroundings. Later he visited the Asklepieion of Ephesus where he studied the papyri dedicated to the gods by the philosopher Heracletus, where he learned the great truths of natural phenomena.
In Limnos he went to fight an epidemic and urged the inhabitants to burn the bodies rather than bury them to avoid the spreading of the disease and he also encouraged the inhabitants to boil water before consuming it and to keep those struck by the plague quarantined from the healthy inhabitants. After his successful battle against the epidemic, he traveled to Samos and then to Anaia where he met General Melissus who was also a philosopher and supporter of the Pythagorean Theory. It is through their discussions that Hippocrates came to yet another conclusion that stated that "The healing of the body cannot be separated from the health of mind" from which the quote 'sound body, sound mind' comes from. Hippocrates contended that health may be gained by obedience to spiritual laws which improve thought, sharpen the wits and assist in great measure the exercise of free will without harming others. Only in this way can one reach a harmony resembling the harmony of nature. These two factors are mutually entwined and the one influences the other, in particular emotional disturbances influence the nervous system and all of organic life.
In 430 BC during the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans laid siege to Athens and famine and plague were rife. Hippocrates arrived in Athens to a truly pitiful situation. The Athenians from want of proper nutrition and medical attention and from the looming fear of imminent death had given themselves over to an insatiable appetite of self indulgence in anything and everything. Hippocrates noticed that the only people that had not been struck by the plague at all but were bursting with health were the iron smiths. He realised that the fact that they worked in a dry atmosphere because of the heat, the germs were unable to survive. He ordered fires to be lit in every home to dry the atmosphere and for corpses to be burnt. Once again water was boiled before consumption and sure enough, the plague began to retreat. The Athenians honoured him with a golden crown and allowed him to take part in the Elefsynian Mysteries where he was named a citizen and his children were given the privilege of being fed free of charge by the Prytaneum for life. It was also decided that citizens of Kos were to be henceforth considered equal to Athenians and granted the same benefits and privileges. Hippocrates did not get the chance to meet Pericles who was unfortunately one of the final victims of the plague but he did meet and became a close personal friend of Sophocles and Euripides.
Before having had a chance to rest from his adventure in Athens, he was summoned by the Macedonian King Perdicass II. None of the doctors that had attempted to treat the king were able to correctly diagnose his illness, not even Euryphontas, a respected doctor of ancient Greece. Hippocrates determined that the king's illness was not physical but rather psychological. He diagnosed a split personality owing to a negative childhood experience. This was truly a pioneering and brave diagnosis. When Perdicass was a child, he had dreams of one day marrying a beautiful girl called Phila who he grew up with. When she turned fourteen, his father also noticed her beauty and took her as one of his concubines. When his father died and he became king, he was unable to think clearly and to have his father's concubine as his friend. Hippocrates healed the wounds created by Euryphontas who had followed the misguided art of bleeding the patient, and advised the king to simply follow his feelings. After Perdicass was cured, Hippocrates returned to Kos.
Hippocrates's reputation had spread throughout the world and King Ataxerxes of Persia summoned Hippocrates to go to Persia and treat the people from a plague that had broken out. The Persians were at war with the Greeks and so in spite of the mythical fortunes that he was promised, Hippocrates refused to go and assist the enemies of his country, although he did express compassion for the suffering of his fellow men. On hearing of Hippocrates's refusal, King Ataxerxes vowed to destroy Kos. The Koans scorned the anger of the Persian King and left their fate in the hands of the gods. The Persian King soon died of a stroke and so the promise of the destruction of the island never materialised. The gods, it seemed, were on the side of the Koans.
Hippocrates bravely contended not only the anger of the enemies of his country but also that of his jealous countrymen who twice indicted him of the crime of having set fire to the Asklepieion. Students of Euryphontas who along with their master were incredibly jealous of Hippocrates's successes, set fire to the Asklepieion and accused Hippocrates of doing so, saying that he wanted to destroy the inscriptions and reintroduce them as his own. Many of Hippocrates's supporters testified on his behalf as many had witnessed him bravely battling the flames along with others in their attempt to douse the fire. It was Euryphontas himself that accused him the second time claiming that he had seen him setting fire to the library of the Asklepieion but he was unable to convince people of this act since it was an act not consistent with Hippocrates's character and previous exemplary life.
Hippocrates traveled throughout Greece practicing his medicine. He founded a medical school on the island of Kos and began teaching his ideas. He soon developed an Oath of Medical Ethics for physicians to follow. This Oath is taken by physicians today as they begin their medical practice. He died in 375 BC in Thesally with his son Thesallus. Today Hippocrates is known as the "Father of Medicine".
The Hippocratic Oath
I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asklepieios, and Hygeia, and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil, according to my ability and judgment, this Oath and covenant.
-
 • To hold him, who has taught me this art, as equal to my parents, and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage, and to teach them this art if they desire to learn it without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me, and to pupils who have signed the covenant and who have taken an oath according to the medical law, but to no one else.
- • I will apply my knowledge for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
- • I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art.
- • I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favour of such men as are skilled in this work.
- • Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief, and in particular of sexual relations with both male and female persons, be they free or slaves.
- • What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account ought to be spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
- • If I fulfil this Oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dry -
mostly cloudy
- thunder; Cumulonimbus clouds, towering cumulus clouds observed |
| Temp.:
15.0°C | 59.0 °F
Hourly
Fluctuation (0.0 °C/hr)
Humidity: 82 %
Wind: 5 bft - S
|
01:30 AM
(GMT+2) -
06/01/09 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
