The world of ancient medicine led to breakthroughs in modern medicine. Medical professions help patients through the work of their predecessors. Due to past discoveries, the present can heal and treat the sick and wounded to the best of its ability.
Compared to today, the gods played a major role in the healing process. Sacrifice, reading sticks and the use of amulets were common methods of healing.
Over time, the profession developed. As it evolved, medical professionals could help where the gods could not.
Ancient Medicine and Mesopotamia
The goddess, Gula, was responsible for healing and health. She was "the great play for the black-headed," that is, the Sumerians. Her son, Ninazu, is associated with snakes, the underworld and healing. He used a rod with two intertwined hoses. He was 'Lord Healer'. In addition, he is associated with health and healing (continuation of life), and death and dying (life that comes after). Snakes represent regeneration and transformation, hence Ninazu's connection. Together, they helped people cross or let them recover.
The Gods and Ancient Medicine
People believed that gods worked through doctors, and maintained people's health.
Suffering from an illness or disease essentially meant that an individual sinned. They must undergo proper treatment. Treatments remove the demons sent by the god / s as punishment. Diagnosis of a disease always referred to the will and intervention of the gods.
Another cause of sickness was when the gods wanted to correct sins and sent ghosts to create problems.
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It was two primary care physicians: Asu and Asipu .
Asu was a doctor who practically treated illness or injury. Associated with the Gula Temple, they focused on the patient's medical history.
Asipu were healers who relied on magic. Conflicting with Asu , they focused more on physical examination of the patient.
In addition, there were two types of healers: New and Asipu .
New were predictions. They practiced hepatoscopy (inspection of the liver in animals) and made prognoses (predict the probable or expected course of the disease).
Asipu were not only doctors but exorcists. They decided which crimes against the gods or demons led to the disease.
Surgeons or veterinarians can be one of Asu or Asipu background, but both types of doctors practiced dentistry. However, it is unclear whether they led the birth. Safe sabutu (midwives) delivered children.
Doctors at Work
In addition to treating patients in temples, many physicians performed house calls. The town of Isin was the center of Gula. A fitness center for doctors, although this is still uncertain. Still, they traveled to temples in different cities when needed. There is no evidence of private practice. Yet kings had their own doctors.
Women and men can be doctors. Before the rise of the Akkadian Empire and its view that women were inferior, women played a major role in medicine.
The doctors shaved their heads for easy identification. Although not committed to it, it left speculation about the number of female doctors. Contrary to speculation, men and women shaved their heads and wore wigs.
With their tools, they traveled through the cities to air the sick. They understood the connection between impurity and disease. However, this was not fully recognized.
Treatments and prescriptions
Social status was not a factor in receiving health care. Taxes depended on social status, with the nobility paying more than ordinary people. The payment will represent the treatment, but given in different forms. For example, the nobility paid in gold while ordinary people paid with a bowl of soul or clay cup.
Doctors disregarded social status, without evidence that they rejected a patient.
Prescription drugs were developed in ASU its place of business.
Combined materials created treatments. This depended on religious reasoning, as well as trial and error.
When it comes to wound care, there were three steps:
- Wash the wound
- Applying plaster
- Ties the wound
With medicine, there were prayers to the god (s) and incantations to ward off demons.
The treatments, from translated texts, were effective. They were built hundreds of years ago, detailing their effectiveness.
Medical Fields
Doctors treat many areas in the treatment of many patients. Gastrointestinal problems, urinary tract infections, skin problems, heart disease and mental disorders were among them.
They were not responsible for their practice. Gods were the direct causes and cures of diseases. Nevertheless, they were responsible for what was or was not done during the procedures.
The exception was surgery. Mistakes caused their hand to be amputated. However, surgery was full of risk. Little is known about human anatomy and physiology. Many procedures were restricted by religious taboos.
Ancient Medicine in Ancient Egypt
Egyptian medicine advanced with time. Their observations, guidelines and procedures were not surpassed for centuries. They understood that diseases can be treated with drugs, and the importance of cleanliness when treating a patient.
The doctors were men and women, specializing in various fields.
As with all aspects of ancient medicine, physicians had little understanding of how organs worked. Therefore, supernatural forces caused diseases.
Preserved records show how advanced they were in the medical field. First, evidence shows sensible surgical procedures. Second, good knowledge was evident in the bone structure. Third, they showed awareness of how the brain and liver work.
Injury and disease
Injuries were among the easiest to understand.
Diseases were difficult. Their causes were less clear and therefore led to problems with diagnoses.
As with the Sumerians, Egyptian doctors believed that the causes of disease were sin or demonic attack. A demonic attack meant a plague of an angry ghost. Another reason was a god's own way of correcting. This is treated through a doctor's recitation of magic wands.
In addition, doctors use amulets and offer aromas, tattoos and statues. They drove away ghosts, appeased the gods, and involved protection against a higher power.
Spells and magic on papyrus scrolls served as medical texts. This relied on sympathetic magic and practical techniques. Medical science was a "necessary art".
For treatment injuries, doctors intervened immediately.
Curable injuries meant that the person did not need medical intervention. If they survived, the doctors decided they would intervene.
In the case of untreated ailments, doctors would not intervene.
Clear injuries were dealt with by practical means. Toothache or gum disease (like all diseases at the time) was for supernatural reasons. Magic, ingrained in Egyptian culture, was part of their lifestyle. The god of magic and medicine, Heka , carried a staff intertwined with two hoses.
Perk-Ankh
Per-Ankh , “Home of Life,” was a library and school attached to a temple. The doctors were priests for Per-Ankh . The concept of this building included healing knowledge from some doctors.
Medical professions
The doctors needed to be of pure spirit and body as well as literate. Each had its own specialty. It was also swnu , a GP, and or , whose specialty was magic.
Midwives, masseurs, nurses, companions and viewers assisted doctors. However, in terms of childbirth, the birth was the midwives and women of the house. There was no evidence of medical training as a midwife. It was not a medical profession.
A highly respected profession, men and women can be nurses who help with procedures. There is also no evidence of schooling or vocational training.
Wet nurses were essential. In ancient Egypt, women generally died after giving birth. Then came a legal agreement. Should the mother pass, the child is raised by the family and the wet nurse.
Dental care never developed much, even though it was a well-known profession. There was an abundance of medical problems, which made it unclear why there were not so many dentists.
Both doctors and dentists used herbs and spices for medicinal purposes.
Medical findings
The importance of diets, especially a change in diet, was recognized. Doctors advised people to shave the body, prevent infection and avoid unclean animals and raw fish.
The canal theory was discovered by observing farmers digging irrigation canals for their crops. Doctors believed that channels gave the body routes for good health. Blockage meant taking laxatives. Although this was the case, they did not understand that the channels had different functions.
Surgery
Many detected surgical instruments are still in use today, only modified.
Every doctor knew the basics of surgery. It was a common skill, along with knowing how to effectively sew wounds. Bandages were tied with certain plant products to treat inflammation. Since there were no anesthetics or antiseptics, it was highly unlikely that procedures deeper into the body were performed.
Through mummies, it is clear that the operations were successful. People survived amputations and brain surgery years before they passed. Wooden prostheses were even found.
By preserving the deceased as mummies, they learned how the body worked.
Ancient Medicine in Ancient Greece
Just as in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, sickness was a divine punishment and healing was a gift from the gods.
There were two decisive factors that led the Greeks to heal and promote health:the military and sport.
Due to fighting in war, practitioners needed to heal wounds, remove foreign bodies and take care of the soldiers' general health.
The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece, promoted sports. Practitioners raised the need for people to stay healthy. Combined with sports, this promoted fitness and prevented injury.
Practitioners were interested in the body. They explored the relationship between cause and effect, the relationship between symptoms and disease and the success and failure of treatments.
There is a blur between the physical and spiritual worlds of medicine. Patients called God Asclepius, the dispenser of healing and a skilled practitioner, to his sanctuaries. Through the patient's dreams, he gave advice that the doctors would follow.
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Important factors have been discovered, from lifestyle to traumatic events.
First, they discovered ways to alleviate or worsen the symptoms of a disease. Second, physical structure affects the severity or vulnerability of a disease. Third, there was a growing understanding of the causes that could help combat it. Fourth, there was greater knowledge about the body through fluid balance (humor).
Four humors, further related to a season, organ, temperament and element:
- Black bile - season: cold; body: spleen; temperament: melancholy; element: dry soil.
- Yellow Gall - Season: cold and wet; body: lungs; temperament: phlegmatic; element: won.
- Bad - Season: hot and wet; body: the head; temperament: blood; element: air.
- Blood - Season: hot and dry; body: gallbladder; temperament: choleric; element: Fire.
All balanced mood meant perfect health.
If the person has an illness, it was either too little or too much of one of the humor.
Doctors and practitioners
There were no professional qualifications for doctors. Anyone can be a doctor and travel to look for patients and practice the technique of medicine.
Magic and incantations were a way to search for natural causes. As people began to look for natural cures. Greek physicians were expert balbalists, as well as prescribers of natural remedies. They preferred nature to superstition, and saw nature as the better healer.
If treatments did not work, doctors appealed to the gods. After treating the patient, the doctor took them to a temple to sleep. The daughters of Asclepius, Hygeia and Panacea, would arrive in their dreams with two holy serpents to cure the patients.
Surgery was avoided. It was too risky. Minor surgeries were performed, especially on wounded soldiers.
Wounded soldiers
One way doctors learned their trade and expanded their knowledge was through wounded soldiers. If something went wrong, there was less risk of a soldier causing problems.
The doctors dealt with wounds made of swords, spears, arrows and sling projectiles. They knew the importance of removing foreign bodies (eg arrowheads) and cleaning the wound. In addition to treating wounds, they knew the importance of stopping excessive blood loss
Surgery
Opium was often an anesthetic. However, opium was rare. Soldiers were kept down during the operation.
After surgery, linen or linen thread closed the wounds. Then linen bandages covered the wound. The leaves also covered wounds, sealed with egg whites or honey.
In terms of treatment, a proper diet was important and the use of plants with anti-inflammatory properties.
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The basic knowledge of human anatomy was through observation of wounded soldiers and animal dissection. However, certain beliefs and limitations emerged. The belief was that the human body changed when it was in contact with air and light. Some also protested against the use of animals for such purposes and thought it was cruel.
In Alexandria, Egypt, Greek scholars dissected bodies and studied them. On criminals, they perform vivisection. This led to two findings:
- The brain controls the movement of limbs, not the heart, and
- Blood moves through the veins.
With a lack of practical knowledge, there was a fundamental error in learning the inner body.
It was an attempt to balance the body's natural temperature. With a cold, a person is kept warm. Sweaty and feverish patients were kept dry and cool. To restore blood pressure, patients bled. To restore bile balance, patients cleanse their inner bodies.
All in all, Greek practitioners started the medical profession in the right direction.
Ancient medicine in Byzantine
Located in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, it is now Istanbul.
Like all ancient epochs, they relied on prayer, churches, and priests to heal diseases, afflictions, and perform medical miracles.
Priests maintained hospitals. To be close to God, hospitals were close to churches. Therefore, when medicine failed, patients turned to prayer.
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The rulers of Constantinople (the Byzantine capital) surrounded themselves with the best doctors.
Doctors were highly regarded in society, but their practices were questioned daily. Some doctors supervised all doctors in an area. Each doctor was responsible for 300 inhabitants.
Hospital
The hospitals were the first to provide sick care. They received support from powerful groups in society, especially since most hospitals were in large cities.
This is where the modern hospital concept originates from early Byzantine hospitals.
Anarchy
Anarchy means 'without money'.
The practice of practical, supernatural ancient medicine was within healing institutions. They did not charge a fee and were open to all individuals.
To receive treatment, individuals had to spend the night in a church or shrine. During sleep, one of two saints, Comas or Damian, visits them. They will suggest a specific treatment, the patient will pass it on to the doctor. The next day, after treatment, the patient would leave.
Many of the recommendations of the saints were strange, and at times sexual.
It was not a 'conventional' medicine.
healer
There was no tradition of scientific medicine. It was largely from ancient Greek and Roman medicine.
There was tension between the church and folk medicine, with folk medicine seen as magical. The combination of herbs and remedies created magic and incantations. Spells were separated from physical means. Often these magic replaced Christian prayers and devotionals.
Church
As with all ancient times, God punished people by giving them a disease. Only repentance can lead to full recovery. This soon became a way to cure diseases.
The Church did not consider medicine a suitable profession for Christians.
the conclusion
The similarities with ancient medicine led to those that the medical community shares today. The hard work and dedication of the past led to modern medicine and procedures. The doctors and physicians of ancient times passed on their knowledge to future generations to become better. It is because of the past that we have medical advances, such as those we currently have.
"Getting to bed early and getting up early makes a man healthy, prosperous and wise." -Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac.