Medicine
The science of medicine was
developed and practiced by eminent doctors in the major cities of the empire;
both in Late Antiquity and in Middle
and Late Byzantium, many studies were written on pharmacology and the means
suitable for treating patients.
The works of the great
Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen formed the foundation of Byzantine
medicine, which was further developed and enriched.
The practice of Medicine
Byzantium made a significant contribution not only to the
theory of medicine, but also to the fields of botany, pharmacology and surgery.
Indicative of this is the recording of around 700 animal, vegetal and mineral substances
suitable for the preparation of medicines, as well as over 200 kinds of
surgical instruments. Indeed, the advanced level of surgery can be surmised
from news of an operation to separate conjoined twins from Armenia, though
neither of them survived.
Written
references inform us that hospitals were charitable institutions operating
under the supervision of the Church. In the early centuries they were called inns
or hostels, and seem to have functioned as hotels where sick travellers could
receive rudimentary treatment. From the 6th century onwards they were used
exclusively for hospitalization. The major hospitals in 10th century
Constantinople were St. Sampson’s and the Euvoulos Hospital, which had doctors, nurses and ancillary
staff. However, the most important hospital in the capital was that founded by
Emperor John II Comnenus at the Monastery of Christ Pantocrator in 1136 - an
institution containing a nursing home, a leper hospital and a hostel (hospital)
with outpatient clinics and fifty beds, divided into five wards specializing in
surgery, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, gynaecology and pathology. The personnel
consisted of doctors, trainees and helpers, a female doctor for women, midwives
and nurses; there were also apothecaries, cooks, bakers, washerwomen and cleaners,
servants and doormen. Facilities included toilets, a bath house, a pharmacy, doctors’
areas, laboratories and auxiliary spaces for the staff. Of the aforementioned
institutions, perhaps the only one to survive to the end of the 13th century,
if not later, was St. Sampson’s Hospital.
The high level attained by Byzantine medicine is evidenced
by the complex techniques involved in the preparation of drugs, the surgical
instruments and the specialties which evolved (ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology,
dermatology, dentistry, cardiology, orthopaedics), as well as by laboratory
testing. Recent research points out that it was mainly the rich who went to
hospitals or private doctors, while the poorer generally resorted to the
churches of saints famed for their healing powers, where they would stay in the
hope of a miracle. Magic amulets were commonly worn to ward off diseases or
treat them, and astrology and horoscopes were employed to diagnose illness or
make health-related predictions.
Medical
writings
In Late Antiquity,
important names in medicine were: (a) Oreibasius, commissioned by Justinian to
write the Medical Collections, a
summary of the works of Galen, as well as Euporista,
giving a list of drugs easy to prepare; (b) Aetius of Amida, who lived in the
reign of Justinian, studying in Alexandria
and Constantinople. He wrote sixteen medical
science studies later organized into four books (Tetrabibli), of which that dealing with the anatomy and physiology
of the eye is considered the most important of its kind before the Renaissance;
in the other books he refers to drugs and the effective use of herbs, gives a
detailed description of intestinal tapeworms and shows interest in urological
problems and arthritis. He is, however, given to departing from scientific
knowledge and in some cases recommends the use of amulets to ward off the evil
eye; (c) Alexander of Tralles (brother of Anthemios, architect of Agia Sophia)
who specialized in the properties of herbs, extending the work of Dioscorides (a
major 1st century physician, pharmacologist and botanist); (d)
Paul of Aegina, who recorded his knowledge of gynaecology, toxicology and
therapeutics in his Medical Compendium in
Seven Books, which became also known to the Arabs; (e) Theophilus, a 7th
century doctor who wrote On Urine, where
he describes ways of diagnosing diseases based on a detailed analysis of the
characteristics of urine.
Writing in the field of medicine was similarly
productive in Middle and Late Byzantium, including works such as: (a) The Anatomy
of Gender by Meletius the Monk, referring to human anatomy and physiology;
(b) Leo the Doctor’s Medical Compendium, on issues relating to the
theory of medicine, remedies and surgery; (c) The Compendium of Disease
Treatment by Theophanes Chrysobalantes; (d) the Medical Compendium
by Simeon Seth; (e) Dynameron by Nikolaos Myrepsos, who gathered 2,656
prescriptions for eye drops, enemas, ointments, pain relieving medications, powders,
etc., in what remained the official pharmaceutical code in the West until the
15th century; (f) the Medical Method by Joannes Actuarius, etc.
We
also learn about diseases from references in the writings of non-specialists,
such as secular and church writers. As was only natural, Byzantine medical
knowledge was transmitted to other peoples, as in the instance of the Arabs,
with whom contact was established in the 7th century, and the Armenians
from the 10th century on.
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