Hippocrates of Cos Biography

Dictionary of Literary Biography on Hippocrates of Cos

Among the celebrated physicians in history, none is more widely recognized than Hippocrates of Cos. If modern doctors know a name from antiquity, it will be that of Hippocrates, whether from the bowdlerized Oath, supposedly written by this renowned ancient medical figure, or from some vaporous recollection of "Hippocratic principles" enunciated by professional mentors in the course of medical training. One would expect, therefore, much information on the life and times of Hippocrates of Cos, a contemporary of the equally celebrated Athenian philosopher Socrates (469-399 B.C.), and Pericles (circa 495-429 B.C.), the important political and military leader of Athens in its so-called Golden Age. The Golden Age of Greece resonates exactly as it should, when modern physicians lay claim to the founding of their profession. In company with the finest philosophy, the beginnings of scientific inquiry, the idealized democracy of an imperial Athens, and the justly esteemed tragedies of Sophocles (circa 496-406 B.C.) and Euripides (circa 485-406 B.C.) and the comedies by Aristophanes (circa 457-circa 385 B.C.), Western medicine can proclaim its origins in the fifth century B.C., and, even better, can have a founding father, Hippocrates of Cos.

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