The Asclepion
Prof. Nancy Demand, Indiana University
- Bloomington
Medicine In Homer
The earliest source of Greek medical knowledge
and descriptions of ancient Greek medical practices is Homer.
The two epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and
the Odyssey, date to around the eighth century BCE. Of
these two works the Iliad contains the more information
concerning the treatment of injuries.
The Iliad chronicles part of the
tenth and final year of the Trojan War. Within the text of this
poem, Homer mentions nearly 150 different wounds. Most of these
wounds are described with surprising anatomical accuracy. For
instance, in the Iliad, Harpalion, a prince allied with the Trojans,
is struck from behind by an enemy arrow. Homer explains that
this was a fatal wound, for although the arrow entered near the
right buttock, it sliced through the body, missed the pelvic
and pubic bones, and hit the bladder (Il. XIII. 640-653). Wound
after wound is described in a similar fashion in the Iliad.
Spears and arrows strike specific internal organs according to
their point of entry and trajectory. Homer also seems to have
had an appreciation of which kinds of wounds were lethal. In
the Iliad, wounds to the arms and legs are painful but
not deadly (the story of Achilles' and his famous heel is not
mentioned in the poem). On the other hand, all of the 31 different
head wounds were lethal.
Beyond the description of wounds, to a
lesser extent Homer also recorded the care given to an injured
warrior. Generally speaking, medical care focused on the comfort
of the wounded man and not on treating the wound itself. Among
the warriors, however, there were a few who were considered to
be specialists in the art of healing through means of herbal
remedies and bandaging. One of these doctors was Machaon, the
son of the legendary healer Asclepius who later became deified.
When Machaon was wounded himself, however, he was treated by
being given a cup of hot wine sprinkled with grated goat cheese
and barley (Iliad XI. 638). From these meager beginnings,
Greek medicine rapidly developed over the course of the next
several centuries.
