Ancient Greek Medicine Exam 1 Essay Questions
and Correct Detailed Answers Already Graded A+
What was the function of the Asclepieion? - CORRECT ANSWER-- It was a place
where people went to be healed by the gods
- They would sleep in the sanctuary and would get healed by the god himself, by
one of the sacred animals, or a dream with a riddle would be given and then
further assistance would be required to understand it
- Established them in a place that seemed healthy (good water and air)
- Would it be considered a hospital if sick people are going there?
- It functions as a religious sanctuary dedicated to healing, it is a divine place
- This place has a sort of power, the location is what is holy, it is local
- Abyton where you go to incubate
- 5th to 4th century BC, there is a rise in these due to plagues because they need
Asclepius
- Civic place but also a place for healing
Epidaurus - most important one
Is there any evidence that Asclepius healed people? - CORRECT ANSWER-- He
gained status because of his healing skills
,- Stele I and II of Epidaurus - the Epidaurian inscriptions told the time of cure but
NOT who had treated them, people traveled hundreds of miles to go to Epidaurus
because it was recognized as the greatest healing shrine of Classical Greece
Testimonies of Aelius Aristides ( 117 - 181 AD)
What does the Hippocratic Corpus have to say about turning to the gods for
healing? - CORRECT ANSWER-- They don't have a problem with religion
- The oath swears to the gods
- It is important that you believe in the god
- Regimen says that you should pray to the gods but you should also work on it
on your own, they work together
- On the Sacred Disease - all diseases are natural in their cause but all nature is
divine
Cooperation between religion and medicine
* Did Hippocrates separate philosophy (stadium sapientiae) from medicine during
the Classical period? * - CORRECT ANSWER-- Philosophy had a different
trajectory than medicine
- No he didn't separate them because things in the Corpus draw on theory for
certain medical practices
, - Timaeus has a lot of stuff that has medical vocabulary, Plato has a connection to
anatomy and the body in the Timaeus
- The Hippocratic authors were not dissecting the human bodies due to the
taboo, so they had to reason out how the body works without actually seeing
inside it
- Aristotle dissected many animals and has a big biological project and
extrapolates that structures between animals and the human body, he also
breaks things down into elements and qualities which is a lot more systematic and
tied to biological functions
- Why not cut a human body? There was a big part of understanding nature
philosophically
A lot of idea of dogmatic or rational medicine which is philosophic in nature, the
idea that you can know something about a disease without having experienced
the treatment for it as done by Erasistratus/Praxagoras - you know what the
qualities of the disease are and then you can give the right medicine
What is Plato's relationship to medicine? - CORRECT ANSWER-- He talks about
diseases of decomposition
- He explains growth and decay as the result of triangles that lay the foundation
for all matter
He is a non medical man that used information at the forefront of debate to
explain his own account of the creation of the human body and to explain some
of its mental or psychic defects (shown in the medical sections of the Timaeus)
and Correct Detailed Answers Already Graded A+
What was the function of the Asclepieion? - CORRECT ANSWER-- It was a place
where people went to be healed by the gods
- They would sleep in the sanctuary and would get healed by the god himself, by
one of the sacred animals, or a dream with a riddle would be given and then
further assistance would be required to understand it
- Established them in a place that seemed healthy (good water and air)
- Would it be considered a hospital if sick people are going there?
- It functions as a religious sanctuary dedicated to healing, it is a divine place
- This place has a sort of power, the location is what is holy, it is local
- Abyton where you go to incubate
- 5th to 4th century BC, there is a rise in these due to plagues because they need
Asclepius
- Civic place but also a place for healing
Epidaurus - most important one
Is there any evidence that Asclepius healed people? - CORRECT ANSWER-- He
gained status because of his healing skills
,- Stele I and II of Epidaurus - the Epidaurian inscriptions told the time of cure but
NOT who had treated them, people traveled hundreds of miles to go to Epidaurus
because it was recognized as the greatest healing shrine of Classical Greece
Testimonies of Aelius Aristides ( 117 - 181 AD)
What does the Hippocratic Corpus have to say about turning to the gods for
healing? - CORRECT ANSWER-- They don't have a problem with religion
- The oath swears to the gods
- It is important that you believe in the god
- Regimen says that you should pray to the gods but you should also work on it
on your own, they work together
- On the Sacred Disease - all diseases are natural in their cause but all nature is
divine
Cooperation between religion and medicine
* Did Hippocrates separate philosophy (stadium sapientiae) from medicine during
the Classical period? * - CORRECT ANSWER-- Philosophy had a different
trajectory than medicine
- No he didn't separate them because things in the Corpus draw on theory for
certain medical practices
, - Timaeus has a lot of stuff that has medical vocabulary, Plato has a connection to
anatomy and the body in the Timaeus
- The Hippocratic authors were not dissecting the human bodies due to the
taboo, so they had to reason out how the body works without actually seeing
inside it
- Aristotle dissected many animals and has a big biological project and
extrapolates that structures between animals and the human body, he also
breaks things down into elements and qualities which is a lot more systematic and
tied to biological functions
- Why not cut a human body? There was a big part of understanding nature
philosophically
A lot of idea of dogmatic or rational medicine which is philosophic in nature, the
idea that you can know something about a disease without having experienced
the treatment for it as done by Erasistratus/Praxagoras - you know what the
qualities of the disease are and then you can give the right medicine
What is Plato's relationship to medicine? - CORRECT ANSWER-- He talks about
diseases of decomposition
- He explains growth and decay as the result of triangles that lay the foundation
for all matter
He is a non medical man that used information at the forefront of debate to
explain his own account of the creation of the human body and to explain some
of its mental or psychic defects (shown in the medical sections of the Timaeus)
