God Of Medicine Research Articles

Ancient Era Hospitals “Asclepions” and their Heritage to the Day

Asclepios is the god of medicine and health in mythology. In ancient times, healing was sought in the worship of Asclepios. Ancient hospitals built in the name of Asclepios are called “Asclepion”. In ancient times, around three hundred and twenty Asclepions were built within the borders of Greece and Türkiye today. The most important of these ancient hospitals are located in Epidauros, Pergamon, Kos, Athens and Knidos. There was also a health center (an ancient hospital) in Allianoi. In this study, the most significant locations, architectural features, treatment methods, historical and cultural roles of the ancient hospitals among the Asclepions in Western Anatolia and Greece were investigated. When the treatment methods in Asclepions are examined, it is seen that holistic medical practices were applied with a biopsychosocial approach to the patients called guests. Diseases were not seen as one-dimensional but as the result of complex processes and negative environmental, social and psychological interactions. Patients were treated with respect as beings with mental, ethical, emotional, social, moral and natural characteristics. Centuries earlier in Asclepions, the first functional applications of hospital architecture and individual and holistic medical approaches are seen. We think that today's hospital architecture and treatment approaches have many features that can be learned from the heritage of ancient hospitals in history.

Exploring Cultural Differences Between Different Countries Through Realistic Films

Abstract: In recent years, films with realist themes and underlying narratives from different countries have gradually entered the public eye and received public attention. These films portray different underclass characters based on different cultural backgrounds and deeply reflect the problems faced by society according to the changes of the characters. This paper explores the cultural kernel of realism films in different countries by analyzing and comparing the plot content, audiovisual characteristics and other aspects of the three films Joker, Memories of Murder and I Am Not the God of Medicine, and finally concludes that this type of film plays a positive role in the development of contemporary society by warning and reflecting on the development of contemporary society and promoting the improvement of laws, and it also draws the common point that the three films show social problems through the imperfect minor characters. this common ground.

Artistic Value and Social Reflections of Realistic Movies

The movie "I Am Not the God of Medicine" is both an inheritance of neo-realist movies and an innovation based on it. The movie "I am not the God of Medicine" is a realist drama film directed by Wen Muye and produced by Ning Hao and Xu Zheng. The storyline in the movie is based on real-life events. Taking drug selling as a clue, the movie portrays a team of five drug sellers with different professions and personalities, and through a three-part narrative structure, each paragraph sets up a convincing plot point, parsing it out layer by layer, the protagonist is forced to become a "superhero" from the boss of a marketplace peddler in the end. The film uses the localized image construction of the Hao Cai Wu style narrative, the interaction between the fate of small characters and traditional philosophical concepts, and the imaginative transformation of the environment under the intertwining of documentary and art, to reproduce the real life of the characters at the bottom of the social ladder, and to truthfully and dramatically expose and criticize the true state of the society, focusing on the return of the value of life and exploration, highlighting the aesthetical characteristics of artistic innovation, which has a very great social value and practical significance. It has great social value and practical significance.

Anesthesia and the Classics: Essays on Avatars of Professional Values

Anesthesia and the Classics: Essays on Avatars of Professional Values

Asclepius in Messene

The city of Messene was re-founded as the central polis of Messenia after the region’s liberation from Spartan domination in 369 BC. At the end of the third or during the first half of the second century BC, an impressive sanctuary for the healing god Asclepius was built in the city centre. This contribution focuses on the question why the city built such a magnificent Asclepieum at this point in its history. Part of the answer lies in local and regional tradition. The Messenians claimed Asclepius and his sons as their compatriots, a claim dating back to the Late Archaic period, and part of the site of the Hellenistic Asclepieum had been a place of worship for the healing god since the Classical period. But in trying to explain the sanctuary’s grandiose rebuilding in the Hellenistic period, it is also useful to look into the political situation of the city in the early second century, a time when its independence and its dominant position in the region were eroding.

SOMNIFERA

“Somnifera” explores interactions between the opium poppy and humans. In their exploration of new habitats, human tribes curiously tested out plants that could help them transcend their “normal” state into expanded experiences, possibly communicating with their ancestors or gods, as part of their experimental quest for knowledge. Since the dawn of time, we have milked the benefits of the opium plant, while politics, religion, and a cynical multinational drug and pharmaceutical industry have assigned the plant a controversial role on the world stage. The plant’s power to both save life and take life is the essence of this artwork with the intention to contribute to a holistic debate about the opium poppy’s potential: To lift it out of the shadow of condemnation and give it its rightful bright place among us. This narrative dips in and out between trance-states and every-day-states-of-mind, while the author’s alter ego Sigma Woman enters love and grief – transitioning from emotional breakdown to possible healing. The figurative language of this text, and its accompanying images, are from visions emerging from ecstatic trance – described as the primaeval technique of a safe, natural physiological transition to direct experience of the eternal now and ancestral wisdom. In one of the trance-sessions we concentrated on the three-thousand-year-old figurine “The Poppy Goddess and Patron of Healing.” This inner journey gave rise to the idea of exploring reenactment, inspired by experimental archaeology. Approaching the goddess figure, the author anoints her body with Caput Mortuum-colored oxidized magnetite, adorns herself with poppy capsules, and mimics the statue’s apparent hibernation. In the attempts to find “surfaces of contact” between today’s imaginary world and prehistoric times – through speculation whether we and our ancestors can “meet” in some way – the methods used to develop the artwork range from knowledge acquisition through scientific papers to techniques for embodying knowledge. As part of the artistic research project Matter, Gesture and Soul (MGS), which seeks encounters and alignments between art and archaeology, my artistic contribution seeks to question how multispecies storytelling may connect us emotionally to our ancient distant past.

Public Health Management a Curative Tool for the Public Health Related Problems

Health always remains a core component in the life of human beings and considered as a major instrument of overall socio-economic development. Concept of health has been defined and understood in different ways by different cultures. The two major division of medicine namely curative and preventive medicine came into light at the close of 19th century. Although origin of Medicine and Public health goes back to ancient Greek mythology, Asclepius was the Greek god of Healing. He was the son of Apollo and the Coronis. Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had five daughters: Hygieia, Panacea, Aceso, Iaso, and Aglaea. Hygieia was the goddess of health, cleanliness and hygiene. Follower of panacea practiced curative medicine and were called healer and followers of Hygieia were called as Hygienist or Public Health experts (1). Concept of Public Health came from this hygienist category of healthcare personals. The Constitution of the World Health Organization, which came into force on April 7, 1948, defines health “as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.”(2) In today’s world more emphasis is given on physical health and most of the resources are diverted for the care of physical health especially for the medical treatment. Other domains of health care remain neglected. Public health applies to the holistic approach for the care of health. Physical health is best taken care by the judicious mix of public health and medical domain of health. The evolution of concepts of public health tries to address new challenges of population health like non communicable diseases, cancers, accidents, injuries, inequities, increasing cost of care, poor quality of care, and poor patient satisfaction etc.

Historical issues of hydrotherapy in thermal–mineral springs of the Hellenic world

Many springs have been recorded in Greece; some of them are characterized as thermo-mineral springs and are associated with their position between Eurasia and Africa, the volcanic activity, and the presence of tectonic faults. The therapeutic use of water (hydrotherapy) has been recorded in ancient Greece since at least 1000 BC. Asclepius was the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and priests operated his worship centers (Asclepieia) offering medical services in areas with proper climatic conditions. In historical times, Hippocrates from the Aegean island of Kos (460–375 BC) is considered the father of scientific medicine as well as hydrotherapy. During the Hellenistic period, the significance of water in health was widely recognized. In the Roman era, many doctors evolved hydrotherapy treatment and the use of hot baths continued in the early Byzantine period until the sixth century AD. Finally, during the Ottoman period, the kind of respiratory bath, named Hamam, was the dominant form in public baths. Their temperature ranges between 20.5 and 83 °C, and the dominant hydrochemical type is Na-Cl. This review describes the history of hydrotherapy in Greece through the centuries, the physicochemical characteristics of thermal springs, as well as contemporary and future trends and challenges are presented.

Enki or Ea: The god of medicine in Mesopotamia from the sea

Enki or Ea: The god of medicine in Mesopotamia from the sea

Popularity of the cult of Asclepius in the times of the Antonine Plague: Temporal modeling of epigraphic evidence

The research presented in the article tests quantitatively the existing hypothesis from the academic debate that the Greco-Roman cult of Asclepius was more popular in the times of the Antonine Plague which spread in the Roman Empire approximately in the years 165–180 CE. This hypothesis is based on the rationale that the god of medicine, Asclepius, could have been more appealing to the Roman population in times of health crisis. However, there are also voices in the debate arguing that there is no indication of an increase in popularity of the cult of Asclepius during the Antonine Plague. The article explores this question quantitatively by means of temporal modeling of epigraphic evidence from the Roman Empire, i.e., the primary material source for arguments in the academic debate on the topic. By employing Monte Carlo algorithms to simulate the temporal distributions of Latin inscriptions from epigraphic databases, the article demonstrates that there is no observable increase in the number of inscriptions dedicated to Asclepius in the times of the Antonine Plague that would deviate significantly from the temporal distribution of a) general epigraphic trend as represented by epigraphic databases Epigraphic Database Heidelberg and Clauss-Slaby Epigraphic Database, and b) inscriptions dedicated to other deities such as Apollo or Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The hypothesized increased popularity of the cult of Asclepius during the Antonine Plague is thus not supported by the results on the level of epigraphic trends. These findings have a significant potential to push forward the discussion which is divided by mutually opposing hypotheses that were constructed mainly by traditional historiographical approaches. The article also reveals the applicability of quantitative approaches in overcoming temporal uncertainties in archaeological data.

The spread of the cult of Asclepius in the context of the Roman army benefited from the presence of physicians: A spatial proximity analysis.

The article applies a GIS based approach to the study of the spread of the cult of Asclepius, the Greco-Roman healing god, during the Roman period. It explores the role of soldiers and physicians in the spatial dissemination of the cult along the transportation network of Roman roads in the border provinces of Britannia, Germania Superior and Inferior, Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia Superior and Inferior, Moesia Superior and Inferior, and Dacia. These provinces were selected as a suitable area for quantitative GIS exploration because they were all on the outer border of the Roman Empire, had a significant military presence, and there is a representative amount of inscriptions attested that can be used as proxies for the spatial occurrence of the three measured variables: the cult of Asclepius, Roman soldiers, and Roman physicians. After establishing by means of spatial proximity analysis that the cult of Asclepius occurred frequently in the context of the Roman army, the article proposes and quantitatively evaluates a more specific hypothesis; i.e., that the spatial occurrences of Roman physicians in inscriptions are a relevant predictor for the spatial occurrences of the worship of Asclepius in the environment of the Roman army because of the shared focus between physicians and the cult of Asclepius—health and medicine. The highly significant results of the statistical analysis reveal a positive trend in the spatial relationships between Roman physicians and the worship of Asclepius in the context of the Roman army in the majority of provinces of interest, thus supporting the proposed hypothesis. The results presented in the article demonstrate the potential of the GIS approach in testing assumptions produced by traditional scholarship and in nuancing our understanding of a specific process of cultural spread.

Quarantäne, Einsamkeit und Psalmen

Quarantine, loneliness and psalms: In times of a pandemic, quarantine and physical distance are acts of charity. Leviticus 13–14 show that even in biblical times such measures served to protect the community. But they also lead to the danger of loneliness or even depression. Physical distance must not become social distance. For believers, the Psalms can be a way of bringing the distress before the punishing and healing God. They are a proven way out of the lament to rejoice in the relationship with God. But this change of mood is not an automatism, but a prayer process in the hope of God. Contribution: A theological perspective on Covid-19 is given by bringing the current experiences of quarantine and loneliness in times of pandemic into dialogue with biblical texts.

Votive Reliefs of Lower Extremities Disorders: A Brief Review.

The purpose of this paper is to present a series of votive reliefs from Graeco-Roman antiquity related to disorders of the lower extremities, in order to comprehend the importance of anatomical offerings as gifts of gratitude to healing gods such as Asclepius. The selected offerings cover disorders such as varicose vein disease and deformities of the lower limbs and provide significant information on medical treatments in ancient Greece, as well as the importance of religious practices in the healing process.

From Healing Gods to Holy Doctors: Transformation and Continuity of the Space of Ritual Medicine in Late Antiquity

From Healing Gods to Holy Doctors: Transformation and Continuity of the Space of Ritual Medicine in Late Antiquity

THE SEMIOTICS OF THE SOUL IN ANCIENT MEDICAL DREAM INTERPRETATION: PERCEPTION AND THE POETICS OF DREAM PRODUCTION IN HIPPOCRATES’ ON REGIMEN

In the medical practice of Asclepian dream incubation, dreams offered a conduit through which the divine power of the healing god could be visited upon an ailing suppliant. This practice was enough of a part of everyday life in fifth-century Athens that it achieved the dubious honor of an extended parody in Aristophanes’ Plutus. An extensive inscriptional record suggests that it continued to flourish for many centuries. But there was another type of dream employed in ancient Greek and Roman medical practice, with a much scanter trail of evidence. These dreams had endogenous, physiological origins and provided information about the internal disposition of the body not by divine intervention, but by some manner of inward perception on the part of the patient. With the rising interest in observational methodology in the fith century, opsis, and ideally autopsy, became the basis on which scientific knowledge was produced and elaborated. Taboos against physically opening the human body, in life as well as in death, prevented physicians from directly observing their patients’ interiors. The visions of dreams, then, could potentially provide doctors with a uniquely valuable diagnostic tool: genuine access to the observation of a body's internal condition, albeit in a strange, mediated form.

Hospitals and Public Health: Conflicting Or Complementing Each Other

Hospitals - the original facilities for the sick date back to the temples dedicated to “healing gods” in Egyptians and Greeks. The oldest architectural evidence can be dated back to 9th Century AD in Sri Lanka. The word “hospital” comes from the Latin word “hoses” for host or “hospitium” meaning a place to entertain1

Medicine, religion and society in Dacia Porolissensis

The study aims to capture the diversity of medicine in Roman Imperial period, by investigating how people perceived illness and healing, both in medical and religious terms. First of all, the article examines some of the existent evidence for specialized medical care found in Dacia Porolissensis, in an attempt to validate the existence of specialized professional medical corps, to identify medical strategies adopted by them and ultimately to indirectly trace a list of possible ailments or diseases that the inhabitants of the province could have suffered of. Furthermore, the article tries to seize the social implications that emerge from the archaeological contexts or the particular decorations of some medical instruments. Finally, it maps a repertoire of the cult of the healing gods in Dacia Porolissensis, with a particular emphasis on their association with bathing in military contexts.

Aesculapius et hygia als Dii Maiores?

In an article published 1997 Géza Alföldy explained his ideas about the generic terms of dii Maiores and dii Magni. For the former term there are still no testimonies with theonymic referents known. This is not the case for the so called „Great Gods”. Exploring all epigraphic evidence including the epithets dominus et domina and other votive formulars, we come to the following conclusions: the dii Maiores rather do not refer to the main roman gods and goddesses but to the classical healers Aesculapius et Hygia. Like other Greek and Roman divinities they were together also invoked as dii Magni. It seems very likely, that the votive incriptions from Gorsium (dii Magni), which G. Alföldy was talking about, can also be linked with this famous couple of healing gods.

The snake in the clinic, psychotherapy’s role in medicine and healing

The frontispiece of Guy Dargert’s enjoyable and illuminating book is an image of an ancient statue of Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, with his staff entwined with a snake. This book is under t...

The Birth of Hospital, Asclepius cult and Early Christianity.

History of hospital is one of main fields of researches in medical history. Besides writing a history of an individual hospital, considerable efforts have been made to trace the origin of hospital. Those who quest for the origin of hospital are faced with an inevitable problem of defining hospital. As the different definition can lead to a different outcome, it is important to make a clear definition. In this article, the hospital was defined as an institution in which patients are housed and given medical treatments. According to the definition, the Great Basilius is regarded to have created the first hospital in 369 CE. The creation of hospital is considered to be closely related with Christian philantrophy. However, the question is raised against this explanation. As the religious philantrophy does not exclusively belong to the Christianity alone, more comprehensive and persuasive theory should be proposed to explain why the first hospital was created in the Christian World, not in the Buddhistic or other religious world. Furthermore, in spite of sharing the same Christian background, why the first hospital appeared in Byzantine Empire, not in Western Roman Empire, also should be explained. My argument is that Asclepius cult and the favorable attitude toward medicine in Greek world are responsible to the appearance of the first hospital in Byzantine Empire. The evangelic work of Jesus was heavily depended on healing activities. The healing activities of Jesus and his disciples were rivalled by Asclepius cult which had been widely spread and practiced in the Hellenistic world. The temples of Asclepius served as a model for hospital, for the temples were the institution exclusively reserved for the patients. The exclusive housing of patients alone in the temples of Asclepius is clearly contrasted with the other early forms of hospitals in which not only patients but also the poor, foreigners and pilgrims were housed altogether. Toward the healing god Asclepius, the Latin Church fathers and Greek Church fathers showed significant difference of attitudes. The Latin fathers were generally very critical on Asclepius while the Greek fathers were more favorable to the same healing god. This difference is also considered to be an important factor that can explain why the first hospital appeared in the Byzantine Empire.