Prehisotric Medicine and the Ancient Civilizations

Prehisotric Medicine and the Ancient Civilizations

1. Egyptians

   • They belived in unblocking chanels in the body
   • Used amulets in order to help heal the body
   • Prayed to different gods in order to get different types of healing

2. Romans

   • The Romans believed in having a system to ensure public health
     • Aqueducts in order to transport clean water
     • Public toilets to keep the streets clean
     • Bathhouses to keep clean
     • They also had hospitals in order to care for the sick

3. Greeks

   • Hippocrates
     • The Four Humors
       • Blood
         • Spring
         • Air
       • Yellow Bile
         • Summer
         • Fire
       • Black Bile
         • Autumn
         • Earth (soil)
       • Phlegm
         • Winter
         • Water
     • He is often called the father of medicine because of the work he did
     • His work was not challenged for 2000 years, as they were thought of as logical
     • He taught physicians in his home
     • Due to his documentation of skin colour and symptoms, we know he treated diseases such as pneumonia, tetanus, tuberculosis, arthritis, mumps and malaria
     • He was one of the first physicians to wash his hands before surgery
     • He battled the plague in Athens for 3 years
   • Galen
     • He belived in treating with opposites, such as using cold to treat warmth
     • He wrote many books
     • He believed in observing the body as a whole and not just focusing on specific parts, as the whole body was connected
     • He believed in proceduers such as blood letting, because he believed that illnesses were caused by an imbalence of the four humors
     • He built upon the theory of the four humors
   • They went to Asclepions in order to try and pray their illnesses away