Noah Riccelli

History of Western Medicine I

Dr. Rohrer
4 October 2020

#4 Title: Plague as Divine Punishment in Homer’s Iliad I: 1-119

     Approx Date: Seventh or eighth century BCE.
     Civilization: The Ancient Greeks
     Summary: The writing of the document occurred during the 10th year of the Greek and
Trojan war. There is a big religious focus when “The god Apollo punishes the invading
Achaeans with a plague for dishonoring his priest” (19). It is important to note that this
was not the bubonic plague. The religious focus comes into play when the thought of
healing comes up as the diseases “could thus only be averted and cures by religious means”
(19).
     What the document tells us: The son of Atreus was said to have dishonored the priest
Chryses. Chryses went to the Achaeans, “and had brought with him a great ransom” (19)
to attempt to free his daughter. A particular representative from the group responded in a
respectful manner but warned the priest to back off. “…so go, and do not provoke me or it
shall be the worse for you” (19). Chryses said a prayer to Apollo and he ended up
answering the prayer rather quickly. “First he smote their mules and their hounds, but
presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves, and all day long the pyres of the
dead were burning” (20). This went on for over nine days and then the Achaeans got
together and started to ask why Apollo was so angry. This document itself is revealing of
how much religion played a role in medicine in Ancient Greece. In this situation, a god had
inflicted physical harm on the people “for religious reasons” (19) (due to one person’s
actions) and it is a smart assumption that getting of the plague/physical harm would
involve religious interventions as well, though we are not told about these in the document.
 
#5 Title: Gods as the Source of Disease: Hesiod, Works and Days
     Approx Date: 750-650 BCE
     Civilization: The Ancient Greeks
     Summary: This document discusses the state of society constantly riddled with diseases.
It will discuss specifically how men, children, and women were typically affected by such
diseases. It is determined that such diseases are often present in the form of punishment.
“…some of which are specifically sent by Zeus to punish whole cities for the sins of even
one bad man” (21). The document is not meant to provide a natural or religious cure, but
rather “they are simply the fate of all people” (21).
     What the document tells us: The document starts out by discussing how in earlier times
men lived “free from ills and hard toil and heavy sicknesses” (21). There is talk of a great
jar that a woman opens, and it invokes “sorrow and mischief” (21) on the men. There is
Noah Riccelli
History of Western Medicine I
Dr. Rohrer
4 October 2020

said to be countless plagues ravaging the evil Earth. “Of themselves diseases come upon
men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently” (21). Zeus is
controlling all of these events. The violent and cruel individuals are punished by Zeus, at
times “even a whole city suffers for a bad man who sins…” (21). The issue here is that Zeus
threw down diseases at these people but also famine at the same time. The men would die
and the women could not have children, resulting in a chain effect of less population.
Similar to the last document, this is another instance of a Greek God invoking physical
harm (plague) upon the people. Medicine is clearly seen as a partially religious topic in
Ancient Greece. The document also speaks to the power that a god like Zeus has. “Zeus has
thrice ten thousand spirits, watchers of mortal men, and these keep watch on judgement
and deeds of wrong…” (21).
 
#6 Title: Violence and Healing in Homeric Greece
     Approx Date: Seventh or eighth century BCE again since it is referring to the Iliad.
     Civilization: The Ancient Greeks
     Summary: This document covers a lot of anatomical information, specifically “the effects
of violent wounds, and their treatments…” (22). For being in ancient times, the ability to
tell how deep and severe a battle wound was is quite significant in terms of the future of
medicine. All of this knowledge makes readers start to wonder if Homer was a physician
himself. It is important to note that unlike document 4 where it was mainly focusing on
religion to cure diseases, this document focuses on treating wounds “by surgery and
painkilling herbs” (22).
   What the document tells us: This document is broken down into two separate passages
from the Iliad. In the first passage, Menelaos is struck by an arrow that “struck the belt
that went tightly around him” (22). The belt was actually there to prevent arrows or darts,
but the arrow still managed to find its way through. It is obvious the attack could have
been very fatal if it were not for the belt as well as Menelaos kind of being thrown out of
the way. “She turned it from his skin as a mother whisks a fly from off her child” (22).
There was a wound present with blood flowing out of it. King Agamemnon saw this and
was initially afraid. Menelaos makes clear to him the attack is not as severe as it looks and
to not be alarmed. King Agamemnon tells Menelaos “…the surgeon shall examine your
wound and lay herbs upon it to relieve your pain” (22). At this point, we see the stark
difference from the first two documents because there is somewhat more practicality in the
practice of medicine (i.e. not totally religion). Machaon soon came into the picture and was
seen as the ultimate healer in this particular passage. He undid the belt, “wiped away the
blood and applied some soothing drugs” (23).
In the second passage, Menelaos is fighting and gets struck on his shield, but is protected
by it. Eventually Meriones “aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at him as he was leaving the field
and hit him on the right buttock” (23). This arrow ended up going through bone and into
Noah Riccelli
History of Western Medicine I
Dr. Rohrer
4 October 2020

the bladder. At this point, he is obviously deceased and bleeding heavily. It is interesting at
the end where it says “…but there was no ransom that could bring his dead son back to life
again” (23). This passage tells us simply a description of a deadly injury and includes some
anatomy. While the anatomy is relatively simple in today’s age, back that knowledge was
not readily understood. It also further backs the prediction that Homer may have been a
physician to know all of these anatomical things.