Homer and Herodotus to Egyptian medicine
Rossi, M.; Homer; Herodotus; Plutarch
Vesalius Acta Internationales Historiae Medicinae Suppl (4): 3-5
2010
ISSN/ISBN: 1373-4857 PMID: 21657098 Document Number: 642499
Egyptian medicine is the base of Greek medicine. Egyptian people and their medical knowledge are often mentioned in the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (VIII sec. BCE). Many Greek doctors, such as Melampus, Asclepius as well as Hippocrates visited Egypt to study and understand medicine. This work intends to focus particularly on Homer, Herodotus and Plutarch's letters, where the importance of Egypt in religion, science and medicine is clear. Herodotus (484-420 BCE) in the second book of "The Histories" describes Egypt and the medical knowledge of its doctors. Plutarch (I-II sec CE) in "The virtues of Sparta" and "Life of Lycurgus", tells about an energy beverage, named nepenthe, made with drugs from Egypt.