CHAPTER IV
GREEK MEDICINE AT THE DAWN OF HISTORY
It is from Greece and from Greece alone, says Daremberg, that our modern medicine derives its origin.
It has come down to us, in a direct line, through the sheer force of its inherent excellence, and with little or no aid from outside sources. Harvey, Bichat and Broussais are as much the legitimate heirs of Hippocrates, Herophilus, Galen, Berenger de Carpi and Vesalius, as Hippocrates is the heir of Homer, and as this divine singer of the anger of Achilles is himself the product of a civilization that existed before his day and that was in all probability the creation of Hindu influences.
It is to the development of medical knowledge in Greece, therefore, that our attention should next be directed, and more particularly to that period which belongs to the dawn of history—the pre-Homeric period.
The pre-Homeric Period of Medicine in Greece.—The poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, furnish us with the earliest and almost the only written evidence of the state of medicine in Greece during that period of time. They were probably written, according to the authority of the Earl of Derby, somewhere about 800 B. C., and modern investigations show that the siege of Troy, the theme of the Iliad, occurred between the years 1194 and 1184 B. C. These investigations also show that in this region, and especially in the Island of Crete and in Mycenae on the neighboring mainland of Asia Minor, at this time and probably several hundred years earlier, there existed a high degree of civilization. Specimens of a written language, for example, were found among the objects recovered from the ruins of the palace of King Minos at Cnossus in Crete, but hitherto no interpreter of this unknown language has been found. It is reasonable to expect, however, that in due time these Minoan records will be translated, that still other records belonging to this remote age will be discovered, and that much valuable information regarding the condition of medical knowledge in Greece during this long period will then be revealed to us. Strange as it may appear, the classical Greek writers seem to have possessed very little knowledge concerning this highly developed civilization at Cnossus. And yet, if we stop to consider the matter, their silence will appear less strange for the following reasons. Some great calamity (war, an earthquake, or a conflagration) must have destroyed many of the evidences of Minoan civilization besides those which are now being brought to light; then, also, several hundred years elapsed between the occurrence of this disaster and the classical period of Greek culture; and, finally, there is the fact that the knowledge of past historical events, when kept alive simply by tradition, slowly vanishes, until finally it becomes so vague as to possess very little value. The discoveries made in the Island of Crete and at Mycenae were not known to Daremberg when he wrote the lines quoted above, but he felt perfectly sure, from his knowledge of the laws of development in general, that a product so highly cultured as Homer could not have suddenly sprung into existence out of the apparent darkness and ignorance of the centuries immediately preceding his time.
The State of Medical Knowledge at the Time of the Siege of Troy.—It is from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey that our authoritative knowledge of the most ancient Greek medicine is derived. In the former work mention is made of Aesculapius and his two sons, Machaon and Podalirius, both of whom accompanied Agamemnon and the Greek host in their expedition against Troy. According to this author’s account they served in the double capacity of surgeons to the army and valiant leaders of troops. In order that the reader may judge for himself just what is the nature of the evidence furnished by Homer with regard to the medical knowledge of that period, it seems desirable to introduce here a few of the more characteristic references which the poet makes to spear, javelin and arrow wounds, to the injuries caused by fragments of rocks hurled by the assailants, and to various remedial measures, both surgical and medical, employed for the relief of the wounded or sick warriors. There are at least one hundred such passages in the Iliad alone, but the few which are here cited will serve as adequate examples of Homer’s familiarity with anatomy and with some of the methods of treating spear and arrow wounds,—a familiarity which indicates that the poet must have had some medical training.
Thus he; and not unmoved Machaon heard:
They through the crowd, and through the widespread host,
Together took their way; but when they came
Where fair-hair’d Menelaüs, wounded, stood,