Doctors the world over take the Hippocratic oath swearing to do no harm to patients. In doing this, to quote the words of the oath itself, they “call upon Apollo the physician and Asclepius, Hygeia...
A possible medical breakthrough has been made by experts, all thanks to a 1000-year-old medieval English medical text. A treatment, that dates to the Dark Ages , is helping researchers to treat a...
We have all heard of Bubonic plague , smallpox and typhoid , but between 990 and 1130 AD it is estimated that over 50,000 people died from the so-called “Holy Fire” disease in southern France alone,...
The internet is awash with comparisons between life during COVID-19 and life during the Bubonic plague . The two have many similarities, from the spread of misinformation and the tracking of...
About 60,000 years ago, pre-historic humans began emerging out of Africa and shared hunting places and cave residences with Neanderthal populations in what is today Europe. Meanwhile, on the other...
Human remains found on a Greek island are changing how experts view the development of surgical interventions in the proto-Byzantine period. A skull shows the traces of complex brain surgery . The...
New research from Adelphi University has revealed the first forensically-assessed archaeological discovery of remains of a group of domineering mounted archer-lancers and their kin of the Eastern...
A German research team has produced new nanosheets for near infrared imaging from ancient ‘Egyptian blue pigment’. In October 2018, I wrote an Ancient Origins article about Egyptian blue, a brilliant...
Trephination (known also as trepanning, trepanation, trephining, or making a burr hole), is a surgical procedure, which involves the drilling of a hole in the skull of a living person. Trephination...
Eutyches was a homo bonus - a good man - and evidently a good surgeon . His name was engraved, probably by a grateful patient, on the wall of the cubiculum where patients were kept under observation...
The ruins of a 14th century Aztec ‘sweat lodge’, known as a temazcal, have been unearthed in Mexico City . It is located in the historic La Merced district and helps experts pinpoint where...
Ancient Indian ghee butter has been turned into gold by a Brazilian entrepreneur. Raquel Tavares, who lives in Los Angeles, California , founded the company Fourth & Heart with her life savings...
A new study of the properties of the elderberry plant, published this year, suggests its compounds could be a powerful medicine in preventing and reducing flu symptoms. Elderberry, also known as...
A new study has shown that Michelangelo knew facts about the human circulatory system over a century before scientists and doctors. A prominent jugular vein in the neck of Michelangelo’s David shows...
Little is known about the origins of manikins- small anatomical sculptures thought to be used by doctors four centuries ago- but now advanced imaging techniques have offered a revealing glimpse...
It’s no surprise that the history of medicine had a rocky and somewhat gruesome journey before reaching its current, modern state. From the earliest meddling in surgery in Classical Antiquity to the...
Classical Greece is considered by many to be the birthplace of modern Western civilization. The ancient Greeks made astounding progress in a huge number of areas - from politics and governing to...
Most people have heard of the eminent physician Hippocrates and his famous oath. But far fewer know of Shennong, Avicenna, and Andreas Vesalius – some of the lesser-known figures to have transformed...
The Ebers Papyrus is an ancient medical document that contains over 842 remedies for illnesses and injuries. It specifically focused on the heart, the respiratory system, and diabetes. The Papyrus...
With innovations appearing in our lives seemingly every day it seems that new breakthroughs in science are the only ones we trust. New is always considered better. With this prevalent thinking those...
There have been hundreds of health food trends over the years – from green tea to coconut oil it can be overwhelming to know which of them really do have amazing health benefits . One health food...
The precious chemistry of a plant used for 2000 years in traditional Chinese medicine has been unlocked in a project that raises the prospect of rapid access to a wide array of therapeutic drugs ...
The Edwin Smith Papyrus is a medical treatise from ancient Egypt. This papyrus is named after Edwin Smith, the American collector of antiquities who purchased the papyrus. The Edwin Smith Papyrus is...
The Rod of Asclepius remains a symbol of health and medicine around the world to this day. Asclepius was a demi-god son of Apollo who developed such incredible powers of healing under the tuition of...
