An Anthropological Analysis: The Role of Ancient Greek Medicine in Modern-Day Medical Practices

Abstract

Ancient authors, such as Thucydides and Hippocrates, have reported on many diseases as well as various medical interventions. Many of these methods have been critiqued over time by modern professionals, such as anthropological and classical scholars as well as those in the medical field. Such critiques have brought about many questions of how medical treatments and interventions shifted throughout time. This paper will analyze the works of Hippocrates as well as Thucydides to evaluate the scientific approaches of the ancient Greek world to obtain a better understanding of why this shift over time was crucial to modern, western medicine today. Ancient medical treatments, dating from the 5th century BC to present day, will also be explored and compared to modern treatments to highlight the similarities and differences of these interventions. Such interventions, both past and present, will be analyzed and understood through various case studies, focusing on concepts such as Hippocrates and the Four Humours, Glaucoma and Animalistic Healing properties, and Thucydides and the Plague of Athens. These case studies will provide a range of examples of ancient Greek medical interventions, some of which seem either abnormal or scientifically valid compared to modern medicine. The past sets a precedent for our modern-day lives, thus learning about and comparing past medical interventions to present interventions provides us with background knowledge and a deeper understanding of modern-day pathologies. This understanding can lead us to the advancement of treatments and the bettering of our medical systems along with a general societal understanding of health.