The cradle of Western medicine

Abstract

The origins of Western Medicine can be found through the Greeks and the Romans, originally with Mythological figures represented by the god Asclepius, and later by Greek doctors such as Hippocrates and Galen. Roman medicine was highly influenced by the Greek medical tradition, relying more on naturalistic observations rather than on spiritual rituals. The writings of Galen survived more than other medical scriptures in antiquity. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years. This acceptance led to the spread of Greek medical theories throughout the Roman Empire, and thus a large portion of the West. Most of the actual medical terms are of Greek origin, as they were the founders of rational medicine in the golden age of Greek civilization. The Hippocrates were the first to describe diseases based on observation, and the names given by them to many conditions are still used today. On the other hand, most anatomical terms are in Latin (Nomina Anatomica), explained by the printed descriptions and illustrations of human dissections published in 1543 in the seminal work “De humani corporis fabrica” (“The Fabric of the Human Body”) by Andreas Vesalius.