Editing History of medicine (section)

===== Byzantine medicine =====
{{Main|Byzantine medicine|Medicine in the medieval Islamic world}}

Byzantine medicine encompasses the common medical practices of the [[Byzantine Empire]] from about 400 CE to 1453 CE. Byzantine medicine was notable for building upon the knowledge base developed by its Greco-Roman predecessors. In preserving medical practices from antiquity, Byzantine medicine influenced [[Islamic medicine]] as well as fostering the Western rebirth of medicine during the Renaissance.

Byzantine physicians often compiled and standardized medical knowledge into textbooks. Their records tended to include both diagnostic explanations and technical drawings. The [[Medical Compendium in Seven Books]], written by the leading physician [[Paul of Aegina]], survived as a particularly thorough source of medical knowledge. This compendium, written in the late seventh century, remained in use as a standard textbook for the following 800 years.

Late antiquity ushered in a revolution in medical science, and historical records often mention civilian hospitals (although battlefield medicine and wartime [[triage]] were recorded well before Imperial Rome). [[Constantinople]] stood out as a center of medicine during the Middle Ages, which was aided by its crossroads location, wealth, and accumulated knowledge.

The first ever known example of separating [[conjoined twins]] occurred in the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century. The next example of separating conjoined twins would be recorded many centuries later in Germany in 1689.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/the-case-of-conjoined-twins-in-10th-century-byzantium/|title=The Case of Conjoined Twins in 10th Century Byzantium|date=4 January 2014|publisher=Medievalists.net|access-date=25 February 2018|archive-date=4 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804174100/http://www.medievalists.net/2014/01/the-case-of-conjoined-twins-in-10th-century-byzantium/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Montandon D | title = The unspeakable history of thoracopagus twins' separation | journal = ISAPS News | date = 2015 | volume = 3 | pages = 46–49 | url = http://denysmontandon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/conjoined-twins.pdf | access-date = 2018-02-25 | archive-date = 2017-02-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170225215336/http://denysmontandon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/conjoined-twins.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>

The [[Byzantine Empire]]'s neighbors, the Persian [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid Empire]], also made their noteworthy contributions mainly with the establishment of the [[Academy of Gondishapur|Academy of Gondeshapur]], which was "the most important medical center of the ancient world during the 6th and 7th centuries."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cambridge History of Iran Volume 4|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1968|isbn=978-0-521-20093-6 |page=396}}</ref> In addition, [[Cyril Elgood]], British physician and a historian of medicine in Persia, commented that thanks to medical centers like the Academy of Gondeshapur, "to a very large extent, the credit for the whole hospital system must be given to Persia."<ref>{{Cite book|title=A medical history of Persia| vauthors = Cyril E |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1951|page=173}}</ref>