Twelve centuries of nephrological writings in the Graeco-Roman world of the Eastern Mediterranean (from Hippocrates to Aetius Amidanus).

Abstract

works from the hands of nature, already formed and The island of Crete is at the centre of the Eastern then models and fashions the artificial ’ [4]. Could a Mediterranean basin, the birthplace of medical science. more apt description of the idea behind the creation The year 450 BC marks the emergence of ‘scientific of the artificial kidney could ever be made? medicine’, while 650 AD marks the emergence of Thus, the basic contribution of the Hippocratic era ‘Islamic medicine’, which continued to influence medto nephrology was a change in the general way of ical practice until modern times. This article reviews scientific thinking, which eventually led to the establish12 centuries of nephrological writings in the Graecoment of the precise biomedical model of modern Roman world of the Eastern Mediterranean, from 450 nephrology. However, Greek philosophers had two BC to 650 AD. disadvantages. The first was that the natural theories