The Invention of Medicine

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Medicine stands out as a significant achievement of the Ancient Greeks, with Hippocrates recognized as the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath revered as a foundational ethical statement in the medical profession. In the fifth century BC, the Greeks regarded medicine as a newly discovered craft. Robin Lane Fox's insightful work contextualizes this invention, tracing its evolution from Homer's epic poems to the earliest known Greek physicians. He explores the enigmatic figure of Hippocrates, his Oath, and the various writings attributed to him. Focusing on seven pivotal texts that detail the case histories of specific individuals, Fox argues that certain texts were composed much earlier than previously thought, impacting our understanding of medical awareness among notable Greek dramatists and historians like Herodotus and Thucydides. By analyzing Hippocrates' concise observations, Fox connects them to the broader history of Greek prose and intellectual thought. This engaging book illuminates various facets of the classical world, including women's medicine, urban life, empire, art, sport, sexuality, and botany. It offers a fresh perspective on a previously obscure decade and guides readers through an extraordinary journey from Homer's narratives to the legacy of Greek medical case histories in the Islamic world and early modern Europe.