My Journey to Some of the Ancient Roots of Modern Medicine
A Message from the Dean
My Journey to Some of the Ancient Roots of Modern Medicine
DEBORAH PROTHROW-STITH, MD
As guests of Carol Ludwig, M. D. and Gene Ludwig, Esq., my husband and I recently traveled to Greece and Turkey. It was an amazing journey that gave me the chance to visit important historical sites that shaped modern medicine as we know it today.
One of the Greek Islands, Asklepieion, Kos is the archeological site of Hippocrates’ practice. The site is a vast three-storied display of remaining building fragments that was used over the course of 1000 years, between 300 BC- 300 AD, as a place of healing and worship. The first floor of the building is dedicated to the body, the second to the soul and the third to the mind and spirit.
Asklepios
Hippocrates Scroll
The opportunity for students to sit and learn at this site is a remarkable reminder of the pledge to teach others the knowledge and skills of medicine. One also has the opportunity to trace a path that leads into the woods, believed to be the place of quarantine for patients with communicable diseases.
In addition to Kos, we also visited the Epidaurus Archaeological Site, which is named after the god of medicine, Asklepios, and features the remains of a dormitory for patients and families, a dining hall, temples, and a hospital where pilgrims came from all over the Mediterranean seeking healing for their ailments through physical and spiritual means. There is a wonderful museum with antiquities brought by patients, and carved stones detailing the ailments that were treated; and the financial records detailing transactions for the healing operations.
During this remarkable tour of antiquities and Greco-Roman culture, I thought regularly of Imhotep and the Egyptian roots of Greek medicine. Imhotep was one of only two Egyptian mortals to attain the honor of total deification in this historic land of the Pharaohs.
Imnhotep is still held in esteem by physicians who, like the eminent 19th-century British practitioner Sir William Osler, consider him“ the first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity.” Though Egyptian Medicine had clear spiritual origins, it is credited with laying the rational and scientific foundation for medicine today through written“ medical recipes.” Next up? A tour of Egypt’ s antiquities are in order.
1
https:// www. greeka. com / dodecanese / kos / sightseeing / kos-asklepieion 2 https:// ancient-greece. org / archaeology / epidauros. html
Imhotep
3 http:// www. bbc. co. uk / history / historic _ figures / imhotep. shtml
2