Bridging ancient wisdom and contemporary medical science: Contemplating on Hippocrates' <em>Theory of Humours</em>

Lempesis,Ioannis G.; Georgakopoulou,Vasiliki Epameinondas; Chrousos,Georgios P.; Spandidos,Demetrios A.

doi:10.3892/wasj.2024.233

Bridging ancient wisdom and contemporary medical science: Contemplating on Hippocrates' Theory of Humours

Authors:
- Ioannis G. Lempesis
- Vasiliki Epameinondas Georgakopoulou
- Georgios P. Chrousos
- Demetrios A. Spandidos
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Affiliations: Department of Pathophysiology, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece, Clinical, Translational and Experimental Surgery Research Centre, Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece
Published online on: February 29, 2024 https://doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2024.233
Article Number: 18
Copyright : © Lempesis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License [CC BY 4.0].

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Abstract

Ancient Greek medicine, influenced by religion, attributed disease to divine forces and developed treatments based on faith and the placebo phenomenon. Ancient Greek Medicine, beginning with Hippocrates, was influenced by the pre‑Socratic natural philosophers and was based solely on evidence and the use of reason. Hippocrates employed the doctrine of the four humours, which corresponded to the elements ‘fire’, ‘air’, ‘earth’ and ‘water’, to understand and explain disease and traditional drug action. This system foreshadowed the endocrine and biochemical aspects of human physiology and pathophysiology, and used the homeostatic concepts to explain health as ‘eucrasia’ (good mixing) and disease as ‘dyscrasia’ (bad mixing) of the humours. Modern hyper‑specialized, precision medicine and hyper‑compartmentalized science can still benefit from revisiting ancient wisdom towards a holistic approach, to achieve the ‘golden mean’ in the consideration of health and disease.

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