The roots of Western medicine
- Shidonna Raven
- Apr 2
- 2 min read
Source: Britannica
Photo Source: Unsplash,
Early Greece
The transition from magic to science was a gradual process that lasted for centuries, and there is little doubt that ancient Greece inherited much from Babylonia and Egypt and even from India and China. Modern readers of the Homeric tales the Iliad and the Odyssey may well be bewildered by the narrow distinction between gods and humans among the characters and between historical fact and poetic fancy in the story. Two characters, military surgeons Podaleirius and Machaon, are said to have been sons of Asclepius, the god of medicine. The divine Asclepius may have originated in a human Asclepius who lived about 1200 bce and is said to have performed many miracles of healing.
Asclepius was worshipped in hundreds of temples throughout Greece, the remains of which may still be seen at Epidaurus, Cos, Athens, and elsewhere. To these resorts, or hospitals, sick persons went for the healing ritual known as incubation, or temple sleep. They lay down to sleep in the dormitory, or abaton, and were visited in their dreams by Asclepius or by one of his priests, who gave advice. In the morning the patient often is said to have departed cured. There are at Epidaurus many inscriptions recording cures, though there is no mention of failures or deaths.
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