Ancient and Classical Health Care
Hippocrates, often identified as the “Father of Medicine,” was said to have been born around 460 BC. He believed disease was a part of nature and not of supernatural origin. He taught his followers to look for natural causes of illness through observation and logical reasoning. Hippocrates, along with his students and subsequent practitioners, is credited with establishing medicine as a separate profession. Greek physicians laid the foundation for medical thinking in Europe. (https://en.wikipedia.org/Hippocrates )
A hundred years later, Aristotle (c. 384-322 BC), a pupil of Plato, was known for studying “the world of living things.” His writings and teachings set down a framework for organizing information about anatomy and embryology. His influence on how to think about diseases and injuries significantly changed the approach to health care. (https://en.wikipedia.org/Aristotle )
Asclepius was the God of Medicine in ancient Greece. From the fifth century BC onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew, and many traveled to his temples seeking to be healed. Asclepiades of Bithynia was a 1st-century BC Greek physician (c. 120-40 BC). (His name perhaps indicated his chosen profession rather than a given name.) As a physician Asclepiades was particularly interested in mental disease. He made a distinction between hallucinations and delusions, for instance, and his unique approach to treatment included environmental interventions, such as diet, exercise, bathing, and even music. (https://en.wikipedia.org/Asclepius ) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepiades_of_Bithynia )
Galen (129- c. 217 AD) practiced medicine at the beginning of the Christian era in Rome. His significant contribution came in recognizing the importance of studying anatomy to understand how the body worked. Because Galen was a prolific and persuasive writer, his ideas remained both influential and essential to the foundations of medical practice. (https://en.wikipedia.org/Galen)
