Asclepiades of Bithynia , also Asclepiades of Prusa ( Bithynia , 124 or 129 BC – Rome , 40 BC ) was a Greek physician, born in Asia Minor , Turkey ), practiced and developed his medical work in Rome . He began his career as a rhetorician although his fame reached it as a doctor. He was a friend and personal physician of Cicero . And he is remembered for being the one who introduced Greek medicine to Rome . He is considered the first to use the elective (non-urgent) tracheostomy technique for the treatment of some obstructive pharyngeal processes.
He founded the Methodical School based on his etiopathogenic theories, of great extension during the entire period of splendor of the Roman Empire . He was the promoter of hydrotherapy and the first major Greek physician.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Thought
- 2 Theory
- 3 Treatments
- 2 Sources
Biographical synthesis
Thought
He openly disagreed with the Hippocratic theory of the four humors , developed a theoretical medical body based on the atomistic theory of Democritus . He thought that diseases occur because of imbalances in the natural harmony of the human body.
Theory
According to his theory, the influence of invisible particles ( atoms ) when passing through the pores of the body, would be the cause of diseases, pointing for the first time something similar to a microbial theory . He reduced most of his doctrine to hygienic rules. To test the goodness of his theory, he bet that he would never be sick, and won the bet because he died very old as a result of a fall.
Treatments
His treatments were oriented, then, to the recovery of the corporal harmony lost by the influence of the atoms: diet, massages, baths, exercise, fundamentally. He also recommended the moderate use of wine . He promoted a non-reclusive treatment model for the mentally ill and based on the same therapeutic proposals mentioned above. His therapies were aimed at contracting or relaxing, taking into account the characteristics of each patient.
