Editing Hippocratic Oath (section)

=== Religious themes ===
[[File:HippocraticOath.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A 12th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Greek]] manuscript of the oath in the shape of a cross. The oath continued to be in use in the Byzantine Christian world, with its references to pagan deities replaced by a Christian preamble.]]
The oath stands out among comparable ancient texts on medical ethics and professionalism through its heavily religious tone, a factor which makes attributing its authorship to Hippocrates particularly difficult. Phrases such as "but I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art" suggest a deep, almost monastic devotion to the art of medicine. He who keeps to the oath is promised "reputation among all men for my life and for my art". This contrasts heavily with Galenic writings on professional ethics, which employ a far more pragmatic approach, where good practice is defined as effective practice, without reference to deities.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wear|editor1-first=Andrew|editor2-last=Geyer-Kordesch|editor2-first=Johanna|editor3-last=French|editor3-first=Roger Kenneth|title=Doctors and Ethics: The Earlier Historical Setting of Professional Ethics|date=1993|publisher=Rodopi|location=Amsterdam|pages=10–37}}</ref> The oath's importance among the medical community is nonetheless attested by its appearance on the tombstones of physicians, and by the fourth century AD it had come to stand for the medical profession.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=von Staden|first1=H|title=In a pure and holy way. Personal and professional conduct in the Hippocratic Oath|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=51|date=1996|issue=4|pages=404–437|doi=10.1093/jhmas/51.4.404|pmid=9019063}}</ref> The oath continued to be in use in the Byzantine Christian world with its references to pagan deities replaced by a Christian preamble.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nutton|first1=Vivian|title=Ancient medicine|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-0-415-52095-9|page=415, note 87|edition=2nd}}</ref>