Introduction - Under The Spell Of The Pharmakon

Abstract

This is the introductory chapter of the book, which examines the written Hippocratic recipes, whilst assessing the extent and nature of the lost elements in the transmission of ancient pharmacological knowledge. The Hippocratic Corpus contains over 1,500 recipes. The majority of these recipes are concentrated in the gynaecological treatises, but recipes are also found in the nosological treatises and in the surgical treatises. The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of approximately sixty texts in Ionic dialect, on a variety of medical topics, and in a variety of styles, grouped under the name of Hippocrates, the famous physician of Cos. The bulk of these treatises were composed in the second half of the fifth century BC and in the first half of the fourth century. This chapter presents an overview of how other chapters of the book are organised.Keywords: Hippocratic Corpus; nosological treatise; pharmacological knowledge