Hippocrates' Memories of Scythia: Stories And

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Bra şov • Vol. 6 (51) - 2009 Series 6: Medical Sciences Supplement – Proceeding of The IV th Balkan Congress of History of Medicine HIPPOCRATES’ MEMORIES OF SCYTHIA: STORIES AND FAIRYTALES 1 Α. DIAMANDOPOULOS Abstract: This presentation will deal with Hippocrates’ journey to Scythia and with medical and general observations on that country and its people. The bulk of this information is derived from his work “On airs, waters and places” which is generally regarded as authentic. It is a comprehensive study of ethno-geography, correlating the medical problems of residents with climate changes, the political situation and the psychological aspects of their personality. We thought that an interesting way to present this would be in the form of a story, both because the country itself was considered legendary, and because its people - men and women – that invaded Greek myths and the descriptions by Greek authors were reminiscent of fairytales. We thus see that Scythia, a faraway country, unknown and charming, had, long before Hippocrates’ visit, penetrated Greek thought through mythology, religion, commerce and art and the descriptions of contemporary travellers, like Herodotus. It should be noted here that certain historians are unconvinced that he travelled to Scythia and believe, instead, that he describes the impressions of another. His work, however, “On airs, waters and places”, is believed to be authentic. It begins with a description of this nation, writing that “What is called the Scythian desert is prairies, rich in meadows, high-lying, and well watered; for the rivers which carry off the water from the plains are large. There live those Scythians which are called Nomades, because they have no houses, but live in wagons. The main diseases they suffer from are infertility and testicular atrophy. The love, admiration and cultural affinity that the locals feel for the Greeks are still as pronounced as we suppose and hope it was when Hippocrates visited them to write his “On airs, waters and places” Key words: Hippocrates, Scythia, Herodotus, Testicular atrophy, Scythian legends Introduction laudatory statements. Usually, when one speaks of As if he was a meteorite that fell from Hippocrates, at least to his admirers, not the sky and illuminated the hitherto dissenters, he will mention that “ He was superstitious and obscurantist medicine. If the first who separated medicine from the speaker is more educated on the matter, religion and laid the foundations of he will try to mention his intellectual scientific medicine. He is considered as the ancestors, namely the Pre-Socratic Father of Medicine ” and such similar philosophers and scientists. In a more in- 1 Past –President ISHM, Greece . 150 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Bra şov • Vol. 6 (51) - 2009 • Series VI dept analysis, he would comment on the Hippocrates acquired a mythical dimension cultural or political climate during in the public mind soon after his death and, Hippocrates’s era, which allowed his perhaps, even more so today. creative output. Pretty much though, we He competes only with Alexander the will experience an attempt to link the Great who through the century-old popular Father of Medicine in the Golden Age and book Phyllada, became a favourite story in its various exponents, such as Socrates and East and West alike. Plato, Pericles and Pheidias. I will present first, only a few This review approach is rarely extended Illustrations from three beautiful medieval beyond the Greek space. So, we thought manuscripts. that, in this open and productive event of the IV-th Balkan Congress of History of Illustration 1 Medicine and the VII-th National Congress The left side of the first Illustration of History of Medicine we should dare shows the delegation of Queen Saracinthe something quite different. visiting Hippocrates’ grave somewhere in To present the political and cultural Greece. Saracinthe was supposed to have environment of regions we know, with been converted to Christianity by Joseph of certainty or even with some doubts that he Arimathea. visited, outside the Greek territory. The Hippocratic shrine was decorated To proceed, that is, a more international with crosses, which makes sense, as in the description of said environment. Middle Ages the Father of Medicine was considered more or less a Christian. I do Material not know if the finding of the actual tomb This presentation will deal with of Hippocrates in Greece in the early 19th Hippocrates’ journey to Scythia and with century is any less mythical; the upper medical and general observations on that right side of the Illustration shows the country and its people. same scene in another manuscript that we The bulk of this information is derived will analyse later. from his work “ On airs, waters and The tale culminates with the fabled places ” which is generally regarded as discovery in Hippocrates’s tomb of an authentic. ivory box, containing the work “The Book It is a comprehensive study of ethno- of Prognostics”, which was in fact written geography, correlating the medical seven hundred years after Hippocrates’s problems of residents with climate death, a predictive text on dermatological changes, the political situation and the lesions. psychological aspects of their personality. In the centre of the Illustration, we see I thought that an interesting way to an Arabic copy of the work from the 13th present this would be in the form of a century. story, both because the country itself was considered legendary, and because its Illustration 2 people - men and women – that invaded The tale becomes extravagant, when, Greek myths and the descriptions by Greek the same manuscript, from the Circle of the authors were reminiscent of fairytales. And “Holy Grail”, shows Hippocrates treating even perhaps because we were often the nephew of Emperor Augustus (who narrated the life and works of Hippocrates lived half a millennium later). as a tale. The good doctor then stayed at in I will not delve into the general reasons Rome, got involved in a love affair and hid Α. DIAMANDOPOULOS: Hippocrates’ memories of Scythia: Stories and Fairytales 151 in a hanging basket to visit his illicit lover, produced vast quantities of gold, guarded as shown on the right side of the image. by the mythical sphinxes, creatures with a Given that such fictitious follies on a female body, a lion’s head and griffin fully documented historical person were wings. From the 4th BC century, we can largely credible, particularly in the West, talk about two different groups, those who we can see the room for the fantastic that live in northern Scythia and continue their folk tales about distant and unknown traditional lifestyles and those of the countries, like Scythia, allowed. South, who are somehow Hellenised. Let us try to understand this place. From the culture of the first group, we Starting from the land, this is a fabulous present in the next Illustration, an 8th area with dark woods, mist, dragons and century bronze buckle and a gold Panther, fairies. But let us define it geographically. while, from South Scythia a golden comb It is a huge land, north of the Black Sea. with Greek influences. Scythia’s location and size varied over This influence is most obvious in works time, from the Altai Mountains where from the Greek commercial cities of the Mongolia, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan North Black Sea, as shown by the meet, along southern Ukraine to the area of comparison between leaden bull head from the lower section of the Danube, Bulgaria their religious worship centre near Olvia of and Georgia. The Chinese called the Sake Scythia and similar relief heads from the (Asian Scythians) Sai. Scythia was noted base of a marble column in the sanctuary for its large rivers like the Don, which of Delos. formed its main communication routes, As time goes by, the Greek influence and its many high snow-capped mountains, becomes more striking, as shown by A which were responsible for the ever-lasting Scythian coin of the 1st century BC, which cold in the country. Its people, the brings to mind Cavafy’s poem on Scythians were tribes of undefined origin. Orophernes, son of Ariarathus. They were first referred to in Assyrian Before applied art however, religion codes of the 7 th century BC. had introduced Scythia in the cultural After many adventures, they left for the subconscious as a distant country that above areas where they lived as nomads raised gods or as a place of exile imposed, for centuries. again by the gods. Both men and women were excellent From the time lost in the mists of myth equestrians and warriors. More about these it was said that the father of Uranus, that is fearless women will be said in the body of the great-grandfather of Zeus, was born in speech on Hippocrates’ medical Scythia. Uranus’ father was Acmon of information. Later, the Scythians come in Scythia. That was where the northernmost contact with the Greek colonies of the gods were born. Black Sea; have extensive commercial, The son of Hercules, Scythis, became political and cultural contact with them and king of Scythia. Prometheus was exiled to are partly urbanised. Scythia, where Iphigenia was also taken, in Typical cultural elements of the specific to Tauris, when the goddess Scythian civilisation include abundant Artemis took her in a cloud from Aulis to scattered mined tombs containing spare her from being sacrificed. impressive gold jewellery. It fact, it was in In his tragedy “Iphigenia in Tauris”, the broader area of Scythia that the Euripides beautifully describes the moment Argonauts found the Golden Fleece, when Orestes recognizes his sister at the where, according to Pausanias, the land sanctuary: “ During the preparatory ritual, 152 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Bra şov • Vol.

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