Week 10 (Alexandrian Medicine and Dissections)

Question 1

Rise of Macedonia (4th c. BCE)

Answer 1

Philip II & Alexander the Great expand Greek influence

Question 2

Magna Graecia

Answer 2

Greek culture spreads to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant

Question 3

Macedonia’s Differences from Classic Greece

Answer 3

Customs: polygyny, regional kingship

Similarities: Olympian gods

Question 4

Hellenistic Culture

Answer 4

A hybrid of Greek & Macedonian traditions

Question 5

323 BCE: After Alexander’s Death

Answer 5

Successor kings (Diadochi)

Ptolemy brings religious changes

Question 6

Roman Influence

Answer 6

Western Roman forces conquer Greece

Question 7

Cultural Hybridization

Answer 7

Delos: trade port with Greek temples (Artemis & Apollo)

Mixing of cultures & religious traditions

Question 8

Spread of Cults

Answer 8

Geographic expansion increased popularity

Example: Asklepion (Delos) → Sarpedon

Question 9

Rulers Supporting Religion

Answer 9

📌 Egypt: Sarapis & Isis
📌 Syria: Atargatis & Hadad
📌 Canaanite: Astarte & Baal
📌 Jewish Synagogue & Roman Shrines

Question 10

Movement of People & Religion

Answer 10

Immigrants adapted cultic practices of new regions

Question 11

Similarities Between Deities

Answer 11

Baal = Poseidon

Healing gods remained relevant in medicine

Question 12

Philosophical Schools

Answer 12

📚 Dogmatists: Use deductive & inductive reasoning
📚 Empiricists: Reject “hidden causes,” focus on observation

Question 13

Empiricism (Phyrron & Philinos)

Answer 13

📌 Observe & record symptoms, no need for etiology
📌 Reject anatomy & dissection

Question 14

Effectiveness of Healers (Empiricism)

Answer 14

3 Key Principles:
1️⃣ Accurate observation
2️⃣ Large medical library (collective knowledge)
3️⃣ Understanding similarities in the body

Question 15

Theophrastus (371-287 BCE)

Answer 15

Father of botany
Wrote “History of Plants”

Question 16

Diocles of Carystus (4th c. BCE)

Answer 16

First to systematize anatomy

Studied dietetics & classified medicine into:
1️⃣ Symptomology
2️⃣ Etiology
3️⃣ Therapeutics

Question 17

Praxagoras of Kos

Answer 17

11 humors (e.g., sweet, salty, bitter, blood, etc.)
Heart = seat of soul
brain = spinal cord appendage
Pulse as a diagnostic tool

Question 18

Hellenistic Botanists

Answer 18

Mantias (120-100 BCE) – Elite medicine, compound drugs

Krateuas (100-60 BCE) – Root cutter, early pharmacology

Apollodorus (~280 BCE) – First poison studies

Question 19

Ptolemaic Egypt & Medicine

Answer 19

📌 Alexandria = medical knowledge hub
📌 Temporary allowance of human dissection

Question 20

Greek vs. Egyptian Views on the Body

Answer 20

📌 Greek: Body & soul are separate
📌 Egyptian: Body must be intact for the afterlife

Question 21

Key Figures in Dissection

Answer 21

🔬 Herophilus (~275 BCE)
- Pioneer of dissection
- Identified sensory & motor nerves
- Coined “systole” & “diastole”

🧠 Erasistratus (~294 BCE)
- First to distinguish cerebrum from cerebellum
- Studied ventricles & heart valves

Question 22

Key Changes in Medicine

Answer 22

📌 Move away from supernatural causes
📌 Disease = imbalance in body systems
📌 Debate over humors vs. movement of substances

Question 23

Surgical Tools & Techniques

Answer 23

Medical Tools
- Tools found in Pompeii date back to Hippocrates & Egypt

Portable Probe Case
📌 Bronze case (leather possible)
📌 Held probes, hooks, forceps, etc.
📌 Used by traveling physicians

Scalpels
📌 Wooden travel boxes for organization
📌 Handles: bronze
📌 Blades: iron/steel (replaceable)

Surgical Scissors
📌 Used for haircuts, therapy, and surgery
📌 Made of steel, more common than bronze