Editing Medicine (section)

=== Ancient world ===
[[Prehistoric medicine]] incorporated plants ([[herbalism]]), animal parts, and minerals. In many cases these materials were used ritually as magical substances by priests, [[shamans]], or [[medicine man|medicine men]]. Well-known spiritual systems include [[animism]] (the notion of inanimate objects having spirits), [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] (an appeal to gods or communion with ancestor spirits); [[shamanism]] (the vesting of an individual with mystic powers); and [[divination]] (magically obtaining the truth). The field of [[medical anthropology]] examines the ways in which culture and society are organized around or impacted by issues of health, health care and related issues.

The earliest known medical texts in the world were found in the ancient [[Syria]]n city of [[Ebla]] and date back to 2500 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Radner |first1=Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&dq=oldest+medical+recipes+ebla&pg=PA690 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture |last2=Robson |first2=Eleanor |date=2011-09-22 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-955730-1 |language=en |access-date=26 December 2023 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227154617/https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvgz3NOuo5EC&dq=oldest+medical+recipes+ebla&pg=PA690 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Vogel |first1=Wolfgang H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_5pzrF1QocC&dq=oldest+medical+ebla&pg=PA16 |title=Brief History of Vision and Ocular Medicine |last2=Berke |first2=Andreas |date=2009 |publisher=Kugler Publications |isbn=978-90-6299-220-1 |language=en |access-date=26 December 2023 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227083815/https://books.google.com/books?id=t_5pzrF1QocC&dq=oldest+medical+ebla&pg=PA16 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Page(5) https://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Five_Articles_about_Drugs_Medicine__Alcohol_From_ANEToday_E-book.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120032650/https://www.asor.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Five_Articles_about_Drugs_Medicine__Alcohol_From_ANEToday_E-book.pdf |date=20 January 2024 }}</ref> Other early records on medicine have been discovered from [[ancient Egyptian medicine]], [[Babylonian Medicine]], [[Ayurveda|Ayurvedic]] medicine (in the [[Indian subcontinent]]), [[classical Chinese medicine]] ([[Alternative medicine]]) predecessor to the modern [[traditional Chinese medicine]]), and [[ancient Greek medicine]] and [[Medicine in ancient Rome|Roman medicine]].

In Egypt, [[Imhotep]] (3rd millennium BCE) is the first physician in history known by name. The oldest [[Egyptian medical papyri|Egyptian medical text]] is the ''[[Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus]]'' from around 2000 BCE, which describes gynaecological diseases. The ''[[Edwin Smith Papyrus]]'' dating back to 1600 BCE is an early work on surgery, while the ''[[Ebers Papyrus]]'' dating back to 1500 BCE is akin to a textbook on medicine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ackerknecht |first=Erwin |title=A Short History of Medicine |url= https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofme00acke |url-access=registration |year=1982 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-2726-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofme00acke/page/22 22] }}</ref>

In China, archaeological evidence of medicine in Chinese dates back to the [[Bronze Age]] [[Shang dynasty]], based on seeds for herbalism and tools presumed to have been used for surgery.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hong |first=Francis |title=History of Medicine in China |journal=McGill Journal of Medicine |year=2004 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=7984 |url=http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/MJM/issues/v08n01/crossroads/hong.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131201231218/http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/MJM/issues/v08n01/crossroads/hong.pdf |archive-date=1 December 2013 }}</ref> The ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'', the progenitor of Chinese medicine, is a medical text written beginning in the 2nd century BCE and compiled in the 3rd century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Unschuld|first=Pual|title=Huang Di Nei Jing: Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2ZdrPCbpNIC&pg=PR9|year=2003|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92849-7|page=ix|access-date=14 November 2015|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418053843/https://books.google.com/books?id=N2ZdrPCbpNIC&pg=PR9|url-status=live}}</ref>

In India, the surgeon [[Sushruta]] described numerous surgical operations, including the earliest forms of [[plastic surgery]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rana RE, Arora BS | title = History of plastic surgery in India | journal = Journal of Postgraduate Medicine | volume = 48 | issue = 1 | pages = 76–78 | year = 2002 | pmid = 12082339 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|reason=See this article's talk page under the section heading '''Reliability(History - India)'''|date=July 2024}}{{cn|date=July 2024}}Earliest records of dedicated hospitals come from Mihintale in [[Sri Lanka]] where evidence of dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients are found.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Aluvihare A | title = Rohal Kramaya Lovata Dhayadha Kale Sri Lankikayo. | journal = Vidhusara Science Magazine | date = November 1993 | pages = 5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Rannan-Eliya RP, De Mel N | title = Resource mobilization in Sri Lanka's health sector | work = Harvard School of Public Health & Health Policy Programme, Institute of Policy Studies | date = 9 February 1997 | url = http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ihsg/publications/pdf/No-42.PDF | page = 19 | access-date = 16 July 2009 | archive-date = 29 October 2001 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20011029204848/http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ihsg/publications/pdf/No-42.PDF | url-status = live }}</ref>
[[File:HSAsclepiusKos retouched.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Mosaic on the floor of the [[Asclepieion]] of Kos, depicting [[Hippocrates]], with [[Asklepius]] in the middle (2nd–3rd century)]]
In Greece, the ancient Greek physician [[Hippocrates]], the "father of modern medicine",<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grammaticos PC, Diamantis A | title = Useful known and unknown views of the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates and his teacher Democritus | journal = Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | pages = 2–4 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18392218 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/eccmid16/abstract.asp?id=50854 The father of modern medicine: the first research of the physical factor of tetanus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118132902/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/eccmid16/abstract.asp?id=50854 |date=18 November 2011 }}, European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases</ref> laid the foundation for a rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates introduced the [[Hippocratic Oath]] for physicians, which is still relevant and in use today, and was the first to categorize illnesses as [[Acute (medical)|acute]], [[Chronic (medicine)|chronic]], [[Endemic (epidemiology)|endemic]] and epidemic, and use terms such as, "exacerbation, [[relapse]], resolution, crisis, [[paroxysm]], peak, and [[convalescence]]".<ref>{{cite book | last = Garrison | first = Fielding H. | year = 1966 | title = History of Medicine | publisher = W.B. Saunders Company | place = [[Philadelphia]] | page = 97 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Martí-Ibáñez | first = Félix | year = 1961 | title = A Prelude to Medical History | publisher = MD Publications, Inc. | place = [[New York City|New York]] | id = Library of Congress ID: 61-11617 | page = 90 }}</ref> The Greek physician [[Galen]] was also one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations, including brain and eye surgeries. After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] and the onset of the [[Early Middle Ages]], the Greek tradition of medicine went into decline in Western Europe, although it continued uninterrupted in the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire]].

Most of our knowledge of ancient [[Hebrew medicine]] during the [[1st millennium BC|1st&nbsp;millennium&nbsp;BC]] comes from the [[Torah]], i.e.&nbsp;the Five Books of [[Moses]], which contain various health related laws and rituals. The Hebrew contribution to the development of modern medicine started in the [[Byzantine Era]], with the physician [[Asaph the Jew]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_13493.html |title=Medicine |website=Encyclopaedia Judaica |year=2008 |first1=Samuel |last1=Vaisrub |first2=Michael |last2=A. Denman |first3=Yaakov |last3=Naparstek |first4=Dan |last4=Gilon |publisher=The Gale Group |access-date=27 August 2014 |archive-date=18 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518071643/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_13493.html |url-status=live }}</ref>