Modern advances in medicine, as in other areas, originate in Ancient Times. Today, people are accustomed to the availability and safety of the process of diagnosing and treating various diseases. However, it took humanity many centuries and millennia to achieve this level of medicine. According to numerous studies, there is an assumption that “medicine began to originate in Ancient Greece” (Harust et al. 18). However, various types of healing practices existed in all corners of the Ancient World. The development of science and technology went side by side with the spread of medicine, which made it far from perfect and sometimes even dangerous.
People of Ancient Times were extremely religious, and many things were attributed to the world of spirits and ghosts, which often happened with the treatment of diseases. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that demons caused health problems. The Egyptians supposed that illness is a consequence of sin, and through them, God wants to teach man a lesson (Westphalen 22). Egyptian doctors thus used various magic spells using amulets, tattoos, and offerings. Despite this, papyrus scrolls have been found describing techniques for treating various diseases such as urinary tract infections, gynecological problems, heart disease, even depression, and cancer, which were considered incurable (Westphalen 23). Egyptian doctors also performed often successful surgical operations using silicon and metal scalpels. There are even known cases of operations on the brain and limb prostheses (Westphalen 23). Thus, the Egyptians made significant progress in studying and treating various diseases; however, they never separated spiritual reasons from material ones.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Ancient Greeks began to divide diseases according to the type of their origin. The most detailed medical text “Corpus the Hippocraticum” was compiled between 323 and 31 BCE and consists of 60 treatises (Westphalen 24). It describes the epidemic, joints, fractures, gynecology and medical ethics, and the importance of diet and lifestyle. The main difference between Greek and Egyptian medical practice is that the Greeks did not separate philosophy and science, which led to their tendency to theorize rather than research in practice. According to archaeological evidence, “treatment in ancient Greece was conducted not by doctors, but by priests in temples” (Harust et al. 25). Philosophy in ancient Greece helped spread medical knowledge through the creation of medical schools and the development of treatment from a scientific point of view. Gymnastics was also popular as a cure for chronic diseases. Hippocrates described external causes of conditions, such as climate, and internal ones originating from a person’s lifestyle (Harust et al. 26). Thus, the Greeks paid more attention to developing a scientific theory of medicine than actual healing.
All advanced civilizations of the Ancient World, such as China and India, had their medical practices. The Indian system of treating diseases developed from the religious Vedic tradition. The priests were engaged in medicine: they established contact between gods and people and sought to exorcise demonic forces causing health problems (Saini 255). Based on the Vedic priests’ observations, a more rational and methodical theory of Ayurveda began to develop, which was a complete study of the origin and treatment of diseases (Saini 256). In China, already in 221 BCE, there was a study of medicine as a science. However, as in all ancient countries, it bore a ritual and religious character. The Chinese tradition of treating diseases was based on the doctrine of human and natural energy, with disturbances in the flow of which they associated the occurrence of various health problems (Yang and Monti 2-3). Thus, the medicine of ancient times relied more on religion, but doctors of that time conducted observations and experiments to treat various conditions.
Works Cited
Harust, Yurii, et al. “Medicine and Humankind since Ancient Times: Historical and Legal Aspects of Joint Development.” Journal of History Culture and Art Research, vol. 9, no. 1, 2020, pp. 17-29.
Saini, Anu. “Physicians of Ancient India.” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, vol. 5, no. 2, 2016, pp. 254-258.
Westphalen, Neil. “Warfare, Ships and Medicine in Ancient Egypt and Greece.” Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, vol. 28, no. 2, 2020, pp. 18-30.
Yang, Jingduan, and Monti, Daniel. Clinical Acupuncture and Ancient Chinese Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2017.