Ancient Medicine

 The history of Western medicine as well as comparative medicine analysis in various cultures, obviously demonstrates that diseases are not inevitably conceptualized as they are in contemporary times.The conceptualization of diseases depends as much on a society's scientific sophistication as on the pathological realities of a given historical moment in a particular geographic area.There are many instances of this approach in Hippocratic medical instruction.The theory of humors is the legitimate result of the legacy of Ionian philosophy and a permanent reflection of the pathological and clinical characteristics of the endemic diseases in the Mediterranean basin.Throughout the Middle Ages and well into the 18th century, the Hippocratic-Galenic doctrine remained influential. This doctrine not only related disease primarily with the environment but also integrated pollution and impurity views in the clarification of factors causing disease.The Hippocratic philosophy centered on the holistic model of treatment, applying norms, and ethical guidelines that are still relevant today.According to Kristen et al., the focal point of Hippocratic medicine is the belief that medicine should be practiced as a scientific discipline based on the natural sciences, diagnosing and preventing diseases as well as treating them. ( Kirsten T, 2009 )The primary element of Hippocratic philosophy was "a healthy mind in a healthy body."In the Hippocratic care provision, three primary categories were noted: health encouragement, trauma care interventions, and applications in mental care and art therapy.

• Health promotion included physical exercise as an essential aspect of physical and mental health and highlighted the significance of nutrition in the Olympic Games to enhance efficiency.
• Surgical methods established by Hippocrates included interventions on trauma care, primarily owing to the recurring wars in ancient Greece.
• Interventions in mental care and art therapy were in line with the first assessment of mental disorders, proposed by Hippocrates. Music and drama were used in this category as prevention techniques for treating disease and enhancing human behavior.

In particular, the role of the Asclepieion of Kos has been stressed, which shows a holistic medical framework for treatment.Following the Asclepius paradigm, Hippocrates focused on the "natural" treatment to approach the disease.  ( Speaking of dying, 2009 )Hippocrates also believed that the physician should study anatomy, especially that of the spine and its role to the nervous system, which controls all vital functions.

Besides, he was the first who believed that this observation helps recognize the symptoms of each disease. (Rothstein MA, 2010)

In addition, the Hippocratic doctrine acknowledged the external or environmental causes and natural procedure of diseases, the causes and therapeutic importance of psychological factors, nutrition and lifestyle, the sovereignty of mind, body and spirit, and the need for harmony between the individual and the social and natural environment. 

 Humors played a central role in Hippocratic medicine as the human body was considered to be a seething mass of fluids rather than a configuration of discrete organ systems or cells.

When ideas of the body as a mechanism – medical mechanics and chemistry – were becoming more popular even in the 17th century, the older humoral physiologies and pathologies managed to survive, especially in ordinary life.

People talked about humoral associations regularly and acknowledged the closeness between humors and temperaments.

The body consisted solely of a confluence of the four humors, while the four original elements – water, fire, earth, and wind – represented the humors.

The attributes of humors were represented by a color and an attribute

• phlegm was cold and wet, 
• black bile was cold and dry, 
• blood was hot and wet,
• yellow bile was hot and dry. 

Each person had a complexion or temperament that expressed a distinctive combination of characteristics that also varied with age and gender.

The young tended to be hotter and moister than the aged, who were dryer and colder. Men, as a rule, were hot and dry, while women were inclined to be colder and moister. Besides, each part of the body had its characteristics.( Paul Potter, 1988 )

Any modification in a humor's disposition pronounced threat for a person.

Too much of one humor, or too little of another, could induce illness, just as it could be caused by the "degradation" or "putrefaction" of the humors of one or the other body.

Standard therapies and preventive measures relied on re-adjusting apparent imbalances either by funneling off a humor that had become too powerful or corrupted, or by bleeding, purging, vomiting, and other means.

Prevention was as essential as therapy in humoral medicine.

The best way to preserve health was to conduct moderation in all activities, mainly when using the six non-natural elements:

1. air; 
2. sleep and waking;
3. food and drink;
4. rest and exercise;
5. excretion and retention; 
6. the passions or emotions.