The Legacy of Greece

The greatest contribution from the Greeks to civilization is their contribution of medicine. Modern medicine originated in Ancient Greece by a man named Hippocrates. Up until he came along, early Greek medicine centered on the supernatural. Although Greek culture at the time believed rational and reasonable rules and believed in the power of nature, it was left up to Hippocrates to enunciate and apply these principles to human diseases. Hippocrates changed the art of medical diagnosis forever by replacing supernatural rules of conduct with observation-based methodology. Also, he stated that caring for a patient is not just treating the disease itself, but providing the patient with one hundred percent love for the profession, which would in turn allow the doctor to treat the patient with the best of his abilities.