The modern hippocratic tradition. Some messages for contemporary medicine.

Hippocrates (5th century B.C.), the most prominent physician of antiquity, was born in the small Greek island of Kos, which is near the coast of Asia Minor. Before his era, medicine was practiced as an empirical art and had a religious nature. Hippocratic medicine represents the landmark for the evolution of Western medicine. This "father" of rational medicine assimilated the accumulated knowledge of the past and formed a diagnostic system based on clinical observation and logical reasoning. The great physician attributed diseases to natural causes, believed in the healing power of nature, and gave special emphasis to the prevention and prognosis of illnesses. He treated patients as psychosomatic entities (a holistic medical approach) in relation to their natural environment. In his treatises, Hippocrates defined the ethical principles guiding medical practice. His entire work was inspired by humanistic ideals and an undeviating dedication to the patient. Modern medicine can derive valuable lessons from the Hippocratic tradition. For the coming 21st century, medicine more than ever senses the need to combine the concepts of humanistic values and the Hippocratic messages with the technologic "imperative" (power). This bond is necessary to the improvement of medicine in the future because, currently, the enormous biomedical technology so far has contributed little to the traditionally human fields of psychosomatic and functional disturbances, posing new dilemmas and threatening scientific problems.

Galen: a pioneer of spine research.

Galen of Pergamum AD (2nd century), the most eminent Greek physician after Hippocrates, marked the history of medicine for more than 14 centuries. His doctrines, expressed in his voluminous work, combined the medical heritage of the Hippocratic, the Alexandrian, and some of the most important medical schools of antiquity. The strong influence of the Hippocratic tradition can characteristically be traced in orthopaedics and particularly in Galen's presentation of the spine. Based on his observations, derived from dissection and vivisection of animals, Galen established a pioneer model for the study of human spine. His research ended in an accurate description of the vertebral column and the spinal cord. He also described the course and the distribution of the nerves emerging from the spine. In addition, he dealt with the diseases affecting these structures focusing on spinal tuberculosis and the injuries of the spine and the spinal marrow. Galen was the first physician to demonstrate the neurological implications following transection of the spinal cord at several levels. The predominant feature in Galen's reference to spine is its teleological perspective; the great physician tended to attribute the prodigious structure of the spine to nature's providence. Despite the inevitable anatomical errors, Galen's inspired experiments remained the only thorough approach of spinal anatomy and pathology until the recent centuries, when the evolution of sophisticated technical aids opened new pathways to spine research.

Hippocrates. The father of spine surgery.

Hippocrates (5th-4th century B. C.), the founder of scientific medicine, left a valuable heritage of knowledge and methodology, which extends to almost all branches of modern medicine. Among the many fields of medicine he explored, he devoted much of his scientific interest to the study of orthopedics. In fact, some of the principles found in the Hippocratic treatises On Fractures and On Joints are still valid today. This great physician also was the first to deal with the anatomy and the pathology of human spine. In his books, he provides a precise description of the segments and the normal curves of the spine, the structure of the vertebrae, the tendons attached to them, the blood supply to the spine, and even its anatomic relations to adjacent vessels. The Hippocratic list of spinal diseases includes tuberculous spondylitis, post-traumatic kyphosis, scoliosis, concussion, dislocations of the vertebrae, and fractures of the spinous processes. Hippocrates devised two apparatuses, known as the Hippocratic ladder and the Hippocratic board, to reduce displaced vertebrae. Those pioneer methods are deemed to be the precursors to the sophisticated techniques used in spine surgery today. Because of his thorough study of spinal diseases and their management, which was the first such study in orthopedics in the history of medicine, Hippocrates should be regarded as the father of spine surgery.

The fatal disease of the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III Palaeologus (1328-1341 AD).

The Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III Palaeologus (1328-1341 AD) died at age 45 from a disease the nature of which is unknown. However, light is thrown on this by the texts of the Byzantine historians John Cantacuzenus (who became Emperor under the name of John VI) and Nicephorus Gregoras, both of whom belonged to the immediate entourage of the Emperor. From their descriptions of the symptoms it appears that Andronicus suffered from malaria for 20 years (1321-1341). The coma that preceded the Emperor's death was probably a cerebral manifestation of chronic malaria.

Obesity in byzantine and in modern era from a public health perspective.

Obesity is one of today's most serious and amplified public health problems. Surprisingly, obesity constituted a health problem through the Byzantine Empire (3rd to 15th century AD) as well; the extent of the problem was then very much alike to that one seen in modem industrialized and developing countries of today. In this report we perform an historical throwback in Byzantine years in order to explore the link regarding the aspects of obesity in these years and in modem era.

The survival of the ritualistic over the 'scientific' element of hydrotherapy in Greece.

In this paper we present some elements of the history of 'scientific' psychiatric hydrotherapy and, moreover, of a particular form of the water-purifying ritual--that is, foot washing--among the populations living in Greece and in Orthodox communities in the Balkans. We speculate on the reasons that caused the virtual disappearance of the former, while the latter still flourishes.

[Bladder surgery and the Hippocratic oath]. / La taille vésicale et le serment hippocratique.

Referring to the famous prohibition "I will not cut persons laboring under the stone but will leave this to be done by practitioners of this work", which appears in the hippocratic oath, the authors attempt an explanation of the real meaning of this phrase. They come to the conclusion that through this prohibition Hippocrates favoured the birth of urology, protecting his students from the danger of professional defamation.

[Sexuality in Ancient Egypt]. / La sexualité dans l'ancienne Egypte.

The present article explores the sexuality in ancient Egypt. In particular in this article are presented the ways of concubinage (marriage, concubinage, adultery), the incest, loves of the pharaohs and of the common people, the freedom of choice in garments, the status of the hetairas and of the whores, the sexual perversions (male and female homosexuality, necrophilia, sodomism, bestiality, rape, masturbation, exhibitionism), the operations of the genitals (circumcision, excision, castration) and finally the level of knowledge in gynaecology, fertility, contraception and obstetrics that even today demands our admiration.

[Traditional medicine in ancient Greece (coexistence of Asclepian art and Hippocratic medicine)]. / Tradycyjna medycyna w starozytnej Grecji (wspólistnienie sztuki asklepiejskiej i medycyny hipokratejskiej).

Ancient Greece created two types of medicine: priestly-religious one with god Asclepios and temple treatment and other rational one, formed by Hippocrates. Both coexisting types of medicine represented two non-antagonistic alternatives of treatment for the patients. In spite of differences between both kinds of ancient Greek medicine we have no evidence either of a collaboration between Asclepian priests and Hippocratic physicians, or of any mutual misunderstanding or hostility, Asclepios followers respected the tradition, believed in the divine descent of their profession, but remained loyal to the Hippocratic Oath. The fact, that when the rational medicine did not help the patient, he searched his healing in religious or other alternative type of medicine, happens often even in contemporary times.