Hippocrates
ca. 450–ca. 370 b. c.
Greek physician

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is often called the father of Western medicine. Although historians know little about Hippocrates' life, his teachings had a great influence on Renaissance medical practices. Much of what scholars know about ancient Greek medicine comes from a group of about 60 treatises* called the Hippocratic Corpus. However, they can directly link only a few of these texts to Hippocrates himself.

Hippocrates became famous in his own lifetime for teaching medicine on the island of Cos, where he was born. One important aspect of Hippocrates' teaching was that he rejected magical and religious explanations of health and looked for rational ones. He also emphasized the need to observe a sick person's physical symptoms and base the course of treatment on them. The Corpus also contains the Hippocratic Oath, perhaps the earliest statement of medical ethics. Although Hippocrates probably did not write the oath, it reflects his ideas.

Hippocrates' ideas influenced medicine for many centuries. The Greek physician Galen (ca. a.d. 130–ca. 216) included many of Hippocrates' concepts in his own works on the art and practice of medicine. By the 1100s, works by Hippocrates had become required texts at medical schools. Renaissance scholars such as the German physician Paracelsus praised Hippocrates for relying on observation and experience rather than theory. The writings of Hippocrates remained part of standard medical training until the early 1800s.

(See alsoMedicine. )

* treatise

long, detailed essay