Greek medicine

In the 5th century BC a Greek doctor called Hippocrates set up a school for medical students. He taught them about the body, about drugs and about how a doctor should behave. The student doctors had to swear an oath to live "pure and holy lives", and to promise to put the welfare of their patients first.

Greek doctors were trained to ask their patient many questions about how they were feeling, before they made decisions about what might be the matter with them. The patients were treated with herbal medicines, special diets or rest. Greek doctors carried out some operations, and surgical instruments have been found, including tweezers, spatulas, saws and spoons.

Some Greeks still visited the temple of Asclepius, the god of health and healing. They would stay in the temple for the night, and hope that the god would visit them in their dreams. If they were cured then they would make the god an offering shaped like the part of their body that had been healed, and the priests hung these around the walls of the temple.

Hippocrates