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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

[Propolis. The bee glue as presented by the Graeco-Roman literature].

The bee glue, commonly known as propolis, has been employed for medical purposes already in teh ancient world. More than 15 Greek and Roman authors report on the preparation and application of the so-called third natural product of the bees (besides honey and wax). Aristoteles described the fundamental issues of its biology in his 'Historia Animalium' correctly. The bulk of propolis is obtained from the barks of poplars. Once carried in the hives, the glue is used to stabilize the cells and honeycombs and to protect the bees against invaders and cold weather. Propolis has been chiefly employed for the preparation of ointment and plasters. For this purpose, the viscous raw material was purified, moulded and boiled. In most preparations, the bee glue was only one of many (up to 20) pharmacologically active constituents and came to five to 20% of the mixture. Only rarely, a single drug therapy was using propolis was carried out. The application of the glue was most successful in general surgery and casualties. In that respect, the ancient physicians took advantage of the anti-edematous and anti-infectious properties of the substance. Thus, it was used to treat bumps, indurations, and slow-healing wounds. Moreover, cataplasms against swollen cervical nodes and indurations of the female breast often contained propolis. Finally, bee glue proved successful for the treatment of chronic backache and pain in the hip as well as fresh injuries of muscles and tendons. In the sector of skin diseases, lichens and condylomata were found to respond well to propolis. ALl this indications have been a matter of several records. However, the successful use of propolis in diseases of the stomach and liver has ben reported solely by Alexander of Tralles (6th century AD). Not counting the internal diseases, the spectrum of indications for propolis has not substantially changed as compared to the classical antiquity. Interestingly, radiation therapists have adopted the ancient remedy and use propolis successfully for the treatment of actinic stomatitis and mucositis.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

The role of Galen in the development and progress of medical sciences.

Early Roman medicine was a mixture of religion and witchcraft, but as time went by, it became more influenced by the Greek medical sciences, which were more developed. The most famous Greek physician during the Roman period was Galen (129-200 AD). In the 4th century A. D. The Byzantine physicians of the Emperor Julian, made the Galenic writings available to ordinary practitioners, and so Greek medicine spread throughout Syria and was carried by the Nestorians into Persia, where it became available to the Islamic World.

Arab World↗
PubMed1995

Ibn-Sina's concept of cardiovascular diseases.

Ibn-Sina's description of cardiac diseases has been logically and scientifically presented perhaps for the first time in the history of medicine through a classified description of cardiac diseases. The terminology employed by him is basically Greco-Arabic. Ibn-Sina with his logical mind, classified drugs according to their potency of overcoming malhumours. He is the first physician to correlate the diseases of the heart with the temperament and psychic make up of an individual.

Arab World↗
PubMed1997

The relation between Greek and Islamic materia medica.

Many studies have been made on the exact data of the introduction of Greek sciences to the Arabic culture. During the 8th and 9th centuries A.D. a big progress was done in the Arab-Islamic sciences, when the Caliphs of the Omayad and Abbasid dynasties invited many scientists, researchers and translators for translation of all sciences into Arabic. The Arabs paid special attention to the Greek natural sciences such as botany and pharmacy. Greek materia medica was a major common basis for Arab-Islamic medicine and pharmacy which in turn paved the way to the modern pharmaceutical therapy.

Arab World↗
PubMed2004

West meets east: early Greek and Babylonian diagnosis.

Studies of Greek medicine and Babylonian medicine usually show little awareness of the richness of source material in the other discipline. The present study attempts to begin bridging the gap by showing that early Greek medicine and late Babylonian medicine had much in common, to a surprising extent. Certain early treatises in the Corpus Hippocraticum show clear parallels with Babylonian medicine, in both form and content. These Greek medical texts pay little attention to theory, such as a theory of the four 'humours', nor to diet or venesection, but consisted of prognosis based upon observation of the patient's external features, as well as drug-based recipes, and these characteristics also reflect the current state of Babylonian medicine at that time.

Arab World↗
PubMed2004

An Assyriologist reads Hippocrates.

Comparing Babylonian and Greek medicine has been done in a book by Goltz (1974). She found fifteen similarities and almost none can stand criticism. New (dis)similarities, some certain, others uncertain, are pointed out here. They are found in the oldest layer in the Corpus Hippocraticum, De morbis 2.12-75; supposedly 'Cnidian opinions'. A good example is a method of draining pus from the chest that is also found in Babylonia.

Arab World↗
PubMed1991

Medical ethics in ancient times.

Moral self-regulation is all the more important in ancient medicine since medical training and practice in the Greek-Roman world were not subjected to any legal or state regulations. Physicians on the one hand had to acquire scientific skills, through voluntary efforts, and on the other hand had to offer the image of a "friend-physician" with respect for the personality of the patient. This code of conduct would distinguish the professionally serious physician from the many quack-doctors who claimed to be healers. Conversely, the famous text of the so called "Hippocratic Oath" cannot be considered as a significant example of the prevailing positions in ancient medicine, because it draws inspiration from philosophical-religious concerns typical of the Pythagoric sect.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1989

Traces of medical activity in Ephesus.

Ephesus was an important city of Asia Minor, existing as an exchange point between Egypt and the Greek-Roman world. As it was the birthplace of famous physicians and situated between Kos-Knidos and Pergamon, it is surprising that no medical buildings have been clearly identified in this area. In the upper old Hellenistic city, two pillars include, on the southern face, a youth with a goat and Hermes, respectively. On the internal faces, reliefs of tripods, an omphalos, a mortar and a twined snake may refer to mantic and/or pharmacy and medicine. Near the pillars, a temple for sacrifices dedicated to Hera and a statue of Apollo manteion in the Prytaneoion have been found. Because both the Apollo and Hermes myths are closely related to medicine, the pillars may be a sign of medical activity in that part of the city. This activity may be related to both mantic in the direction of the temple and practice in the direction of a building which has not yet been identified. This interpretation is confirmed by an inscription on the Museion-Church of Virgin Mary: a physician from the Mouseion is referred to as a practitioner near the supreme priest (hieros): thus, the pillars may be an indication of both sacred and medical activities in that part of the city.

Archaeology↗
PubMed1997

Aging and the aged in Aesopic fables.

Little attempt has been made to re-assess the attitudes to aging and old age of the ancient-medieval Greek-speaking world on the basis of the literary remains (which are common to both) since Richardson (1933). There are however some collections (proverbs, sayings, "purple passages" from literature and so forth) which include material revealing attitudes which are in fact quite different from those of today and which can even be surprising. One such collection, the large number of fables which more or less conform to the genre associated with Aesop, is here analyzed to isolate the texts which have to do with aging and the attitudes they reveal. Of the surprisingly few fables which touch upon the matter, most are distinctly complimentary. In most instances the elderly are seen to increase, rather diminish, in certain powers other than physical strength. Fables are found which characterize them as being astute, intelligent, crafty, loyal and, above all, capable of giving sound advice and good leadership when the situation requires it of them. The celebrated Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, although it was not specifically interpreted in this way in ancient times, best sums up the general attitude: that dogged persistence (the characteristic of the elderly) will ultimately prove superior to all the erratic bursts of youthful speed anytime. Hence Cicero: "Old age is more spirited than youth, and stronger!"

Aged↗
PubMed1991

From theurgical to secular medicine in ancient Greece: pínakes and sanationes.

Although rational secular medicine, i.e. medicine founded on clinical observation and on the exploration of the natural causes of diseases, prevailed in Greece as late as the IV century B.C., testimonies of theurgical medicine survive in temples dedicated to the gods of medicine, e.g. Maleatas, Amphiaros and Asklepios. Votive inscriptions (Latin sanationes) show clinical cases, solved with the aid of the physician-god, who acts during the dream, which is an essential component in classical medicine and art of the medical treatment. It is worth noting that sanationes have been found in temples of many healing cities, e.g. Epidauros and Lebena and in Tiberine Island in Rome, but not in Kos and Pergamon, where Hippocrates and Galen were active, respectively. Is it just fortuitousness or testimony of the prevailing "scientific" meaning due to the work of the two most representative physicians of the classical world?

Clinical Medicine↗