According to the theory, the human body consists of four elementary fluids - blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile - whose correct proportion maintains health and whose imbalance causes illness (Greek Medicine, 141). Besides the famous writings of Hippocrates, Galen was also a well known writer/physician in the study of medicine. He spent most of his time in Rome, where he served as a physician and was described as "the main source for physiological and anatomical knowledge" (Roman Medicine, 227). Through careful observation, Galen studied a range of diseases and "dissected animals to learn more about how the body was constructed and how it worked" (Medicines and Drugs, Internet). Herophilus and Eristratus were two other physicians who contributed to the understanding of anatomy. They were among the first to dissect a human body and were responsible for gaining knowledge in "human circulation and respiration" (Greek Medicine, 141). These contributions to the medical world, as well as the works of Hippocrates were two important mechanisms in the growth of medicine.
Hansen 3.
In his book, In the Grip of Disease, G.E.R. Lloyd states that the "move made by Hippocratic authors," and "the growth of cults of Asclepius and other healing gods and heroes," were two of the "remarkable developments" in Greek medicine. He goes on to state the following:.
"First there was religious medicine, the type represented in the shrines of Asclepius at Epidaurus, Athens, Cos, and elsewhere. Then came naturalists accounts of disease and their cures. Science, in a word, on this view, overtook religion as the basis of medical practice" (40). .
Before the current knowledge of medicine, the Greeks, as well as the Romans, viewed their gods as therapeutic. Asclepius was the Greek god of Medicine who later was adapted to the Roman Empire. Asclepius, and other gods, were believed to have sent diseases in the form of punishment and were allegedly the only ones capable of curing them.