Hippocrates, believed to have been born in Cos around 460 BCE, was a pioneering figure in medicine and philosophy. He traveled extensively as a physician and educator, gaining recognition from notable figures such as King Perdiccas of Macedon and Artaxerxes of Persia. Rejecting superstition, he emphasized inductive reasoning and the study of medicine grounded in natural laws, focusing on individual patients and their treatment through medicines and surgery. While the 'Hippocratic Collection' comprises around 70 works, many are not attributed to him, and even the renowned oath may not have originated with him. Nonetheless, he is celebrated as the 'Father of Medicine.' The Loeb Classical Library edition includes various volumes of his works: Volume I features texts like Ancient Medicine and The Oath; Volume II covers Prognostic and The Sacred Disease; Volume III includes On Wounds in the Head and In the Surgery; Volume IV presents Nature of Man and Aphorisms; Volume V contains Affections and Diseases 1-2; Volume VI discusses Diseases 3 and Internal Affections; and Volume VII presents Epidemics 2 and 4-7. Volume VIII addresses Places in Man and other medical topics, along with fragments of Heracleitus' On the Universe.
E. T. Withington Libros
