HIPPOCRATES A WORTHY CHILD OF GREECE
Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis of
Amphiktyon
I
will not deal with the medical work and books of the Great Hippocrates because
it is the work of doctors. However, I will emphasize the
greatest contribution of this giant doctor and philanthropist to Greek patients
and to those of neighboring countries. Above all, what characterizes
Hippocrates is his love for his homeland. He refused to sell it for a
hefty fee offered to him by King Pesis and others and with his miraculous works
he promoted it to the world of the time. According to the testimony of
Professor Georg. Prinar: "He was so
admired throughout Greece as a healer that even under Perdiccas, the Macedonian
king, who was considered to be suffering from tuberculosis, he was publicly
requested to come to him with Euryphon, who was older than him and was marked
by the passion of the soul." (Healing the sick throughout Greece, he was
also invited by the king of Macedonia, Perdiccas, who was thought to be
suffering from tuberculosis, went with Euryphon, who was older than him in age
and they diagnosed that he was suffering from a mental illness) (The illness
was cured by the concubine Hera after the death of Alexander's father, who was
the girlfriend of his own concubine. She was informed of the fact of the
illness by her friend and cured him the king with her charms. And let the wise man
understand) He was also invited by the Abderites to go there to cure Democritus
who was suffering from madness (a mental illness). However, since the whole
city was suffering from a plague, he cured it. "But also in the land of
the Illyrians and Paeonians (Skopje) barbarians, a plague had spread, and the
kings there, having begged to come to them, despite the ambassadors who were
there, who were very knowledgeable about the spirits, sent them away as idle,
thinking that the disease would spread to Attica, foretelling what was
happening and taking care of the cities and the students" (He was also
invited by the barbarians Illyrians and Paeonians to go there and after
learning from the ambassadors what was happening there He expelled those who were
inactive, but thinking that the disease could come to Attica, he took the
necessary sanitary measures for the cities and the students. "He was such
a philhellene that his glory spread as far as the Persians, and for this reason
Artaxerxes, through Histanides, the governor of the Hellespont, invited him to
come to him, but because of his modesty and avarice and love for his family, he
refused, as this is also stated in the letter to him." He refused money and love for
his homeland, as is evident in the letter to him). He was honored by the
Thessalians, the Argives and the Athenians who honorably initiated him into the
Eleusinian Mysteries and granted him the privilege of free feeding in the
Prytaneum for himself and his children. He did not stop teaching the
medical art according to his oath, which is still valid to this day, because in
essence the very greedy doctors have violated it with the sachet and the trade
in health. Istomachus places his birth in Kos in the 80th Olympiad,
approximately in 460 BC, a fact that is also confirmed by Soranus of Kos. They say that he breathed his
last in Larissa at the age of 104 in the 106th Olympiad, which coincides with
the time that Democritus also died. He was buried between Gyrton
and Larissa, but his grave is unknown. It is rumored that he was buried with a
hat on his head, while others say that he was buried in official uniform and
the decoration of nobility on the hat or uniform. He was the son of Heraclides
and Phanarete, 19th in the line of succession after Asclepius and 20th after
Heracles, and had two children, Asclepian physicians. His biographer Grammaticus
the pseudo-Soranus gathered information from others before him and wrote many
lies regarding the life of Hippocrates. He visited many places and visited
cities in Macedonia, Thrace, Scythia, Smyrna and Athens, and islands in the
Aegean Sea, and particularly stayed for a long time in Thasos and Thessaly. I visited the most important
Asclepia, which had so many sick people that they looked like real hospitals.
Many kings and rulers of his time sent invitations to receive him, but he
rejected every invitation from the barbarians and the financial donations that
were promised to tempt him. He also saved his homeland,
which was about to become a war target of the Athenians after its apostasy from
the Athenian Alliance, because he acted as a self-willed negotiator. Most report that Hippocrates
went to Athens when the great plague broke out, which they say started from
Egypt or Abyssinia during the first year of the Peloponnesian War, and cured
the disease by fire.
This philhellene and
patriot doctor cured all of Greece of the plague that had spread to many
islands and the coasts of the land of the barbarians and Greece. The disease, Thucydides says,
began in Athens and spread to Lemnos, etc. But the glory of great men was
always followed by envy and slander, as happened to Hippocrates. The surviving writings in the
name of Hippocrates are 72 in number. From these it appears that in
addition to those published by Hippocrates, there were also anecdotes published
by his sons according to Hippocrates' medical theory. If he is famous for being a
great pioneer of Medicine, it is because he reduced the experience of many
centuries to science. And one should think that at
that time religious prohibitions on autopsies were in force. The Hippocratic doctrines and
axioms of this general nosology cannot be overturned by time and will always be
valid And Professor G. Prinaris concludes: "Such an equal life lived, O
most beloved young people, our fellow countryman, a great man and a great
physician, Hippocrates. If the doctors of all the
enlightened nations have not ceased to respect him, of course in your Greek
soul the respect must be deeper and the willingness to imitate him warmer.
"This is rather what I prefer (I) because we live in the bosom of a free
homeland under the powerful auspices of the music lover and protector of the
sciences, OTHONOS our KING. (18/10/25
(Sources:
"ON HIPPOCRATES" Speech delivered on May 20, 1851, ANNIVERSARY OF THE
FOUNDATION OF OTHONOS UNIVERSITY, UNDER GEORGIO PRINARIS Professor of General
Nosology and Hygiene and during the current year, PROVIDERS OF THE SCHOOL OF
MEDICINE)
*Amphiktyon
Major General (retd) Konstantinos Konstantinidis Author, Member of the Society
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